What exactly did You did after Your last gig ?

[TimR]

The audience has to earn an encore. 

 

Tell them it's the last song and then stop. Bass comes off and is put onto stand, if there's no immediate shouting for more. Then the amp goes off. 

 

I've seen a few bands hovering around expecting to be asked to play more. It's not a good look.

 

 

Edited April 11 by TimR

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, Muzz said:

See, that's a pro setup, that is... 🙂

 

Ohhhh, I don't want to even introduce the concept of playing something from the set again: that'd give the BL 40 more songs to go at, we'd be there till it was light... 😐🙂

Its an odd one cause its the same drummer and female singer in both bands so why the punk band doesn't have a song up its cuff for an encore has always surprised me but if suggested we do a song for an encore in both bands then that song ends up in the set list and we just do it leaving us with considerably longer sets than we need or venues expect with no encores to do.

With the Glam band we always keep the last song as the encore and the singer will announce this is our last song knowing we have one more to do. We always seem to get asked for an encore but in the rare occasion we dont he'll ad-lib his chat and announce something daft that by special request or because you've been such a great audience we'll do one more song. Wearing all the glam gear etc with those platform boots and wigs does make it difficult when finished as we sometimes need to walk thru the venue to get to our changing rooms so we will linger a bit at the end like you say put the bass on the stand and put the amp on standby to see what happens. I totally leave it up to the main singer to make the call.

Dave

[peteb]

2 hours ago, TimR said:

The audience has to earn an encore. 

 

Tell them it's the last song and then stop. Bass comes off and is put onto stand, if there's no immediate shouting for more. Then the amp goes off. 

 

I've seen a few bands hovering around expecting to be asked to play more. It's not a good look.

 

 

 

The fact is that, these days, the encore is part of the show (whether you like it or not). Especially at the bigger gigs, where punters pay to see you, not doing an encore (assuming that there is any sort of audience reaction) makes you look unprofessional, or even worse, like a diva! 

 

For the tribute gigs, we always play one three song encore and that's it! In fact, more often than not, it ends up being a two song encore because the singer has had enough and wants to protect his voice. In a pub band, we will play until the punters stop calling for more, or (more often) the barstaff want us to finish so they don't get in trouble with their neighbours / because of their music licence curfew / they want to finish up and go home! 

 

Edited April 11 by peteb

[Lozz196]

2 hours ago, TimR said:

The audience has to earn an encore. 

 

Tell them it's the last song and then stop. Bass comes off and is put onto stand, if there's no immediate shouting for more. Then the amp goes off. 

 

I've seen a few bands hovering around expecting to be asked to play more. It's not a good look.

 

 

I’ve always thought that too. There’s also the thought that if they’re not asking for more it might be cos they don’t want it.

[tauzero]

We have two songs for the encore but the second one is Twist and Shout/La Bamba which we just keep going with until we've worn them out or we get sick of it.

[TimR]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

 

The fact is that, these days, the encore is part of the show (whether you like it or not). Especially at the bigger gigs, where punters pay to see you, not doing an encore (assuming that there is any sort of audience reaction) makes you look unprofessional, or even worse, like a diva! 

 

For the tribute gigs, we always play one three song encore and that's it! In fact, more often than not, it ends up being a two song encore because the singer has had enough and wants to protect his voice. In a pub band, we will play until the punters stop calling for more, or (more often) the barstaff want us to finish so they don't get in trouble with their neighbours / because of their music licence curfew / they want to finish up and go home! 

 

 

Tribute acts are going to be different and I'd be surprised if people have come to see you specifically that they'll not ask for me.

 

If you know there's a curfew at a pub then probably so do the locals. Usually the bar manager will be indicating when to stop. We play to the curfew, if there's calls for more after that, yes, it's up to the bar manager to say yes or no. So that's the get out.

 

I just find it's a bit cliché, same with introducing the band members and giving them a little solo. Some bands carry it off, others, it just looks odd. 

 

You have to judge at each gig rather than setting out - this is what we do.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

The fact is that, these days, the encore is part of the show (whether you like it or not). Especially at the bigger gigs, where punters pay to see you, not doing an encore (assuming that there is any sort of audience reaction) makes you look unprofessional, or even worse, like a diva! 

 

No. As others have said both the band and the audience have to earn an encore.

 

AFAIAC as a band member if I want to play a song it's in the main set. It's not put aside to persuade the audience to get you to come back on. An encore is a bonus and a "thank you" for both the audience and the band. A lot of the time even for well-known bands there is an expectation that the band will be back and shouts for more are minimal because the audience thinks they are not needed. Personally I think it's pathetic. As an audience member I'll only shout for more if I actually want to band to come back on, and if they don't I might be disappointed, but I'll also respect their decision not to play another song.

[peteb]

2 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Tribute acts are going to be different and I'd be surprised if people have come to see you specifically that they'll not ask for me.

 

If you know there's a curfew at a pub then probably so do the locals. Usually the bar manager will be indicating when to stop. We play to the curfew, if there's calls for more after that, yes, it's up to the bar manager to say yes or no. So that's the get out.

 

I just find it's a bit cliché, same with introducing the band members and giving them a little solo. Some bands carry it off, others, it just looks odd. 

 

You have to judge at each gig rather than setting out - this is what we do.

 

Don't get me wrong - if there's only two men and the ubiquitous dog there and they've been ignoring us for most of the night, then we won't bother doing an encore. However, that never happens on the tribute circuit (and to be honest, hardly ever on the pub gigs I generally do). The fact is that if people have paid to see you, then they want to feel that they're getting their money's worth and they want an encore. Of course, we want to keep the punters (and the promoter) happy to ensure that we get a re-booking, so we play one!

 

It's all a bit of a game really, and yes, sometimes the audience will hardly shout for more because they know that there will be an encore anyway. But that's showbusiness for you! Similarly, manipulating the audience by holding certain big songs back (among other things) to keep their interest is also part of the game. If you learn how to do it properly the you will always get a good reaction, which will also allow you to challenge an audience a little and get them to listen to something a bit more obscure. At the end of the night, we thank the audience, introduce the members of the band and take a bow. You might think that some of these things are a cliché, but if you know how to do them properly then they will work and help the audience to enjoy themselves as well as appreciate your craft! Which is what it is all about really... 

 

 

[dmccombe7]

On one occasion we had 2x1hr slots so that meant cutting a fair few songs out of our 2:45 min set. We left out Slade mainly because the singer struggles with them a bit. At the end when we got to the encore we did the usual extended encore medley and the shouts continued with we want Slade so we did a Slade song as the last song and we've kept a Slade song as a final encore ever since providing the singers voice is ok. On the longer sets where its up to us to decide when to finish each set we'll just play the full list of songs. That all depends on the audience and if they are up for a full party night. I think the longest we've done is almost 3hrs at a Xmas party night. I was absolutely knackered after it wearing all the Glam gear incl the wig and wearing platform boots. Sweating like .......... well you know and legs and feet aching with those bloomin boots but i loved every minute of it.

Dave

Edited April 11 by dmccombe7

[Stub Mandrel]

11 hours ago, Muzz said:

What is it with some singers and not being able to frickin stop? I was spoiled for years with a very pro outfit that had a strict 'Two encores and they're lucky to get that' policy, and it never did any harm, in fact it kept us in high regard, but the current band/BL drives me nuts: if there's a single drunk (who's invariably spent most of the evening talking through the set and only come up for the last two) asking for more, it happens...and keeps happening until there's literally no-one asking for more. I've called it at five encores before now. There's a perfectly good get-out clause to stop, too: we used to just tell the drunks we had to stop because of time/the landlord, and that always worked. Bah, humbug, and probably pfffttt... 🙂

 

Oh, and back OT, if there's a Maccy D's on the way back (and there usually is), the Wrap Of The Day happens in the car (most of my gigs are 20 miles+ away), before a sit at a quiet telly with a brew while my system slows down before bed... 🙂

 

My brother's band took the "leave them wanting more" approach on the grounds it makes them look good and helps secure more bookings.

[meterman]

On 02/04/2024 at 10:40, nilorius said:

What exactly did You did after Your last gig, before or after packing Your instruments and gear ?

It was 2022. I ate some pizza, drank a beer, went home, and retired from playing live for the foreseeable future. Pretty easy, really 👍

[nilorius]

10 minutes ago, meterman said:

It was 2022. I ate some pizza, drank a beer, went home, and retired from playing live for the foreseeable future. Pretty easy, really 👍

As i remember my last 6 years gigs, i always thought a little bit of retiring after every beer or whiskey, but next morning i purely rethink - no....i love it, i can do it !!! 😜 To You - it seems like it was really easy for You and You must be proud of Yourself, the big black point was set - You say....You do ! I think Your band mates will always ask You to play some special gigs together again, no matter Your teqnique low down or bad song memories ! 🤘

[meterman]

6 minutes ago, nilorius said:

As i remember my last 6 years gigs, i always thought a little bit of retiring after every beer or whiskey, but next morning i purely rethink - no....i love it, i can do it !!! 😜 To You - it seems like it was really easy for You and You must be proud of Yourself, the big black point was set - You say....You do ! I think Your band mates will always ask You to play some special gigs together again, no matter Your teqnique low down or bad song memories ! 🤘

It was just a solo gig, guitar and vocals. I don’t totally rule out live shows again but there’s no venues where I live, so it’s unlikely I’ll play live again. I still make records so I still play and get paid, but nobody sees me and my terrible technique. Perfect really 😂