Encore (concert)

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For other uses, see Encore.

The encore is an additional extra performance of a musical piece at the end of the regular concert, which is not listed in the event setlist, from the French encore, which means again. (The French themselves, however, use the word bis in the same circumstances.) The artists usually perform an encore when the audience requests it by long applause or standing ovations, in order to thank the audience for their appreciation. In most cases, encores have been planned for in advance. If the applause is extraordinarily long, however, unplanned additional encores can happen. This is sometimes recognizable when the performers are seen conferring about which song or piece to play next. Some musicians then simply replay a well-known song from their repertory.

Soloists or classical music groups like orchestras often show again 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 the hit songs of a band 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.

Some rock or pop bands 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.