We all know you’re coming back, the lights haven’t gone up. I’m sure it’s nice to feel wanted, but you’ve already had loads of applause, just give us the show.
Anyway I saw Kneecap last week and they just put out an hour of bangers and left without an encore. Tight as fuck, energy stayed through the roof the whole time, one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to.
Agreed, just drink and smoke on stage like a fuckin professional and give the fans more music
death grips stay winning (they play through the set wordlessly w/o breaks and then bounce)
I’ve been to shows where right before the last two songs they preannounce they don’t do encores, and then blast full energy into the final two songs. The crowd was chill with it and didn’t try to force one.
I always figured part of the reason more artists don’t is they just want to have some water, a keybump, or a bathroom break or something before they close out.
When I saw warmdüscher the singer definitely did a keybump mid set, even if he tried to hide it by turning his back to the audience. I don’t know why he bothered, he was obviously really high from the moment he walked on in sunglasses and started talking about taking speed in the dressing room.
I saw system of a down for one of their comeback shows, and they didn’t give an encore.
I think the crowd was chanting for a solid 15 minutes begging for one.
Shit sucked, honestly
Serj and Daron probably arguing about whose song to play
I felt this when I saw Uncultivates, the extent of their stage banter was “Here is another song… that we wrote”. Great reprieve from all the yapping and carrying on.
They had some solid banter, they’re bouncy Irish hoods so they’ve got great craic, but it kept everything moving rather than letting things deflate between songs - telling the audience to form up pits for the real headbangers or cracking jokes about paying to watch their film (the official Kneecap stance on viewing their film is “steal it off dodgy box”).
but i want to feel involved. it my was MY cheering that made them come back
Sorry, but this is a bad take. 90% of people are gonna be happier with “bonus songs” than they would with an abrupt ending, even with a warning to let them down gently. Yes, I know it’s the same amount of music either way. No, that doesn’t actually matter psychologically speaking.
I saw Kneecap last week
unbelievably jealous
LCD Soundsystem just tells you they’re doing a piss break, which I appreciate.
LCD Soundsystem is a bunch of music nerds for a bunch of music nerds so I love that they do this. Why bother with the pretense everyone at that show knows what’s going on. They did the same when I saw them as well.
The best art revels in it’s own artifice. “you wanted a hit” is such a banger in this regard
Thinking about it, I’ll give some credit to Yard Act who did about half of their set before announcing they were going to do the encore early because the rest of the set fits together really well and they don’t want the flow interrupted.
Good post. Just have an intermission.
If you’re going to big/medium-sized acts from musicians that have definitively “made it” then I think this makes sense. I’ve been to plenty of shows where an encore was neither expected nor desired, and others where an encore came at (what looked like) genuine surprise to the band.
So yeah, when you’re selling out all your shows and the last 10 all demanded an encore, then just start baking it into your set, but there has to be some marker of when you’ve reached this point.
Only time I’ve enjoyed an encore was Blanks 77 playing we kept them on stage until they played literally every song they know including covers.
At the end they announced ‘okay, we literally can’t play any other songs cause we don’t know any. You win!’
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Move to Japan?
I saw Asian Kung Fu Generation, and they gave an encore.
But they were in America, so maybe they adapted
I’ve seen Acid Mothers Temple a few times in the states and they did the no encore thing each time. Probably depends on the band or promoter?
