Years ago, an act would only come onstage for an encore–i.e. play a few more songs that they hadn’t planned on performing–if the crowd kept screaming and applauding and refusing to leave the building.
But over the years, encores have become baked into the concert experience. The performers take a few minutes to grab a drink, a shot of oxygen, or maybe (just sayin’) a little sniffy-sniffy. They then reappear on stage to perform the hits they didn’t play as part of the main set, complete with lighting cues and special effects.
Hardly spontaneous, right? So what’s the point?
Some artists love the drama of it all and the ego-boosting that comes with it. Prince was known to come back up to seven times in a single gig. But then this article appeared in the Washington Post over the weekend, saying that more and more acts are considering encores to be passé and gauche.
How do you feel about encores? Yes, no, or you don’t care either way?
Take the survey here.
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