"Rosalita", the "Detroit Medley", "Quarter to Three"... for 30 years or more, his encores have always been as carefully constructed as his setlists. In fact, they're part of his setlist:

"Saw Bruce Springsteen last night. Great show. Nearly three hours. No encores though." Not going to happen is it?

(Things I learned this week: Not even Bruce Springsteen can spell "Cadillac".)

...I saw Dave Allen live many moons ago - in response to all the welcoming applause he received on taking the stage at the beginning of the show...

"What'yre all clappin' for? I haven't even fucken said anythin' yet!!!"

(apologies for poor "Dublin accent" typing)

but I seem to remember reading somewhere that "Blue Monday" was written after New Order got a drum machine and a sequencer that they would leave to play at the end of a set, so they wouldn't have to play an (expected/required) encore.
I don't think that one really panned out.

But at least the Spice Girls wandered out, looked amazed and flattered and pretend they didn't know what to do next. And then, just as they were about to leave - Mel B would say - "Hang on, girls! We've forgotten one!" to stage-shrugs of confusion from the others. Then and only then they would they perform "Wannabe". Splendid.

I would love Thom Yorke to do something like that before "Creep".

the 'Artists' needing to 'top themselves up'?

The legendary (well round here he is) Chicken Shack bluesman was once playing a gig (can't remember exactly where, I wasn't there but read about it) and at the end said (I paraphrase)"look, the dressing rooms here are miles away in the basement......you know and I know that this encore thing is a farce so we'll just carry on and play a couple more and then finish".

Seems like a sensible approach.

Jackie Leven has made such comments about the farce of leaving and coming back. Similarly, at the Ceol Castle in Brum there was nowhere to go from the stage, bar standing in the audience area, which made it all a bit daft. Even at the end there was nowhere for the band to go, other than to the signing and CD sales desk. Which was part of that venues attraction, as the stage and the stage door johnnies were in immediate vicinity to each other and had to mingle with each other. If the artist didn't want to meet 'n' greet the great unwashed, then they would just have to keep on playing!

Bands pencil in encores that they know full well in advance that they're probably going to do them for a very specific reason: if the gig is really tanking (whether down to the band or technical mishaps or unresponsive crowd or whatever), they can dump the encore and cut and run.

It's certainly not there so they can reward the crowd.

Haven't performed an Encore, I think, ever!!

**Waits for comments about them not being asked**

is a man that never does encores. I saw him a few years ago in Vicar Street in Dublin. Fantastic show and the crowd were eating out of his hand – you could 'feel the love'. He finished with ‘Love & Happiness’ and exited. A few minutes later the house lights came on and the crowd stood and booed for a good 5 minutes before starting to leave. If he had walked off one song earlier and come back to sing ‘Love & Happiness’ all would have been well.

I saw him at the same venue last summer and he ended exactly the same way after another great show. This time the crowd clearly knew what to expect and gave the man a well deserved 5 minute ovation that continued even after lights up.

there is an admission they don't know any other songs, and reprise one done earlier. Either brilliant or pisspoor depending on whether 1st or 45th encore. On a different note, Elvis Costellos encores can be longer than the original show.

Manic Street Preachers don't do encores (except the once at their New Year's Eve show, apparently) which seems like a reasonable policy.

I've seen artists muddle through songs in a genuinely unplanned manner before giving up half way through (Beth Orton) but getting credit from the audience for trying.

I've also seen venues so small that the artist acknowledges that there'd be an encore here if only they could get back off stage and back on!

Dublin, around 10 or 11 years ago ... called back for two encores, but came back for four. You really can have too much of a good thing.

in late 1970s London gig. (Hammersmith Odeon perhaps?) No encore. Audience riot, trashed seats, PA wrecked, etc etc.

Abandoning the charade only works when BOTH sides know that's what's happening and they're not being cheated out of their last couple of songs.

Seeing PJ Harvey many years ago; the set was completed, two encores, band leaves, house lights go up, background music starts playing.
The crowd, however, refused to leave and kept applauding (in varying degrees of volume) until after about ten minutes Ms Harvey came back armed with guitar (no band) and did two songs. Crowd impressed, goes home.

to do encores several minutes after the lights had been up? Nearly every time I have seen them they have come back on to do another song - usually a cover or b side and left all the lights on.

Prince also did it at the O2 a couple of summers back

...there are exceptions to this rule. Sometimes encores are little nuggets of gold that need that sense of separation from the main show. As is the case with the Thom Yorke anecdote above, so it was when I saw the magical Fleet Foxes a few weeks ago at the Metro in Sydney.

Following a full gig featuring their bigger 'hits' (Blue Ridge Mountains, White Water Hymnal, etc), the band went off as per usual. After a suitable delay, Robin Pecknold returned to the stage alone, and, taking an acoustic, proceeded to step beyond the mikes to perch on the stage's edge. Asking the very appreciative audience for silence, he then proceeded to sing without any form of amplification. His voice, as pure and clear as on the record, carried clear across the space. That was a magical moment, well worth the artifice.

Barring that sort of distinct identity from the main set, I don't see much value in the encore. It has now become so normal as to be expected, leaving people frustrated when it doesn't happen as though they deserve it. Completely illogical in most instances, and almost always about the artists' egos rather than the audience.

on his 99 tour with Steve Nieve. Used to do 'Couldn't Call It Unexpected No.2' and occassionally 'Favourite Hour'. If you were near the front you could hear his v squeaky shoes.

The mighty (in every sense) Robert Fisher, when last I saw him, did a droll speech along the lines of, "look, if you you want to pretend at this point in the show we finished the set, you stamped and applauded wildly, and we were so overcome by the applause that we felt obliged to return and play some more, go right ahead - I'm just going to carry on". Top man that, how about a piece on him Wordees?

A couple of months ago I saw Anberlin at a small venue in Birmingham. Coming over from the states they were genuinly amazed of their brittish fanbase. They first did a regular encore, but then the audience kept crying out for more, so they came back on stage once more. Spontaniously they played their lesser known songs that the audience wished for. Great night.

The wonderful Dirtbombs (who I would highly recommend) were playing the Barfly in Liverpool, and I managed to see nothing of their set - apart from the bit where they came off stage.

I was DJing in the room next door and, because there was no backstage area in the room they were playing, they ran in en masse, danced on the empty dancefloor for five minutes, then ran out again. I only worked out what was going on because I recognised them.

The conjoining of "I was DJ-ing" and "the empty dancefloor" suggest it wasn't your best night :-)