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An encore is an additional performance added to the end of a concert, from the French "encore", which means "again"; multiple encores are not uncommon. Encores originated spontaneously, when audiences would continue to applaud and demand additional performance from the artist after the concert had ended. In some modern circumstances, encores have come to be expected, and artists often plan their encores. This is sometimes necessitated by noise curfews at venues, which may also sometimes require an artist to forgo encores if the concert has gone long. Traditionally, in a concert that has a printed set list for the audience, encores are not listed, whether they are planned or spontaneous. Though the word derives from French, French-speaking people commonly use either une autre, un rappel or the Latin bis in the same circumstances.
Classical music
Soloists or classical music groups like orchestras often show off their artistic potential by playing fast, high or loud pieces in the encore, but sometimes they also close the performance with slow and calm pieces to let the applause ebb down. It is also common to play a popular music song or the most famous pieces of a composer in the encore. A well-known example is the performance of the Radetzky March and The Blue Danube at the end of the Vienna New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; both pieces are never listed in the official setlist, but are traditionally played every year.
Popular music
In most circumstances, it has become standard for rock and pop artists to give an encore; especially in large setting such as stadiums and arenas. Artists often plan their encores in advance, and they are commonly included on the artist's setlist; one common practice is to leave one or more of their most popular songs for an encore.
Some artists include their encore as the second half of the concert. For example the Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley and his band The Wailers were known to play the concerts of their last two tours in 1979 and 1980 in two halves: after the first half was performed they stopped performing for some minutes to tune their instruments again or to have a break, while the audience was demanding for more. They continued to play the concert with the encore which lasted about an hour. Sometimes they even played one or two additional songs after the actual encore. Similarly, former Guided by Voices frontman Robert Pollard generally plays songs from his solo career for the first half of his shows, and then, for the inevitable encore, will play a lengthy selection of Guided by Voices songs, with the two halves generally having roughly equal duration.
In the early days of modern rock music, one of the biggest artists ever, Elvis Presley, never played encores; a practice his manager Col. Tom Parker felt was the best manner by which to leave audiences wanting. The now-famous phrase "Elvis has left the building" was used at the beginning of his career when Prestley was not the headliner, followed by a plea for the audience to return to their seats so as to watch those artists following Presley. Once he became a headliner, it was invariably followed by a polite "thank you, and good night", to imply to those present at the concert that there was not going to be an encore.
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- This page was last modified on 19 December 2008, at 05:47.
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