Mine was Spiritualized at Royal Albert Hall 10 October 1997. A full gospel choir a perfect rendition of 'Oh Happy Day' and we were festooned with balloons at the end.

A gig I thought of immediately was this Waterboys gig from 25 years ago. Mike Scott and company were on white-hot form that evening. After the standard 1 hr 30 min set, they came storming back for another 13 songs over four inspired encores lasting a further hour and a quarter. A quick google reveals that this was that superb, monster encore:

The Wayward Wind
A Girl Called Johnny
A Pagan Place
________
Spirit / The 4 Ages Of Man
Can't Help Falling In Love
We Will Not Be Lovers
Purple Rain
________
Trumpets
I'll Meet You In Heaven Again
My Generation
Hound Dog
Death Is Not The End
________
Saints And Angels

and his Orchestre Super Matimila were brilliant. Didnt know he had died. They were on at Stockton Riverside festival several times. You danced until you dropped. Then got up and danced some more. And I am not a dancer. I suspect their records would not do them justice.

His farewell tour and he knew it. Having ripped through the whole of Forever Changes, he returned to the stage visibly moved to a stadium chant of 'Arthur Lee' to the tune of 'Wemb-er-lee'.

"I never heard it done like that before." he said with tears in his eyes.

Mine is probably The Undertones on their first visit over to the Marquee around 78 or 9, playing Teenage Kicks a second time as they didn't have anymore songs.

Or possibly Elvis Costello at Robert Wyatt's Meltdown a few year's back, playing solo and very experimental all evening (samples abounded) before unveiling the Imposters for the encore in the first ever public outing and thrashing thru a quantity of This Year's Model.

Oh and I remember the Ramones at Brixton Academy, the great shout of 'wontufreefor' upon which they all appeared to start in on a different song.

Not sure I can remember any really spontaneous ones though. In the 70s Deep Purple would gloriously trash Lucille - but they did it every night. Any one seen a genuinely unprepared encore?

My best gig experience. It was The River tour. Wembley Arena, I think. He really had a great atmosphere going throughout the three hour concert. People were intermittently calling out for Jungleland, but he dismissed the requests saying that the band hadn't rehearsed it. Then the final encore and Roy Bittan played those beautiful opening chords, and a whole arena went crazy. Just magic.

The Bends tour - If my memory serves me correctly, I seem to remember all the lights coming on, gig over, and just as we got to the back door to leave, they came back on, house lights up, and did Street Spirit. Anyone else there to corroborate the story? I'm sure that's what happened, at least I think I am. Magical. Anyone?

...headlined at Belfast's Waterfront Hall in the late 90s (his biggest gig to that point) and boy was he going to enjoy it! After a typically high-energy show with his band Brian came on to encore with Elvis' 'Suspicious Minds'... roar of applause at the end... band goes off, applause dies down... Brian comes back out and shamelessly whips up the applause again, and the riff starts up.... more Suspicious Minds... finishes, applause, band exit... people start leaving the hall, lights up and... it's Brian again from the wings! Riff starts up, MORE of the perpetual-false-ending-Elv-athon...

we hurried off to the foyer then, fearing that if we left it too late Bri would have rushed round to keep it all going again: 'We're caught in a trap,' I said to Mrs H. 'We can't get out!'

Shepherd's Bush Empire, around Christmas 1996.

If memory serves, it was the last gig of the tour. The band was in great form, the audience very appreciative, the joint jumping.

The final encore was Three Lions and the place erupted when Skinner and Baddiel walked on stage to sing their parts and fling unravelling toilet rolls into the audience.

I don't know whether they did the same thing anywhere else but it was fabulous that night.