Why Concerts End with Encores

A concert ends. The band walks off stage. The lights stay low. The crowd does not leave. They clap. They shout. They stamp their feet. After a few minutes, the band comes back. They play two or three more songs. This last part is called the encore.

Encore is a French word. It means 'again'. The custom began hundreds of years ago in opera houses. Listeners who loved a piece would shout for the singer to repeat it. The singer often did, on the spot.

Today, encores are mostly planned. The band knows it will play them. The set list is printed and taped to the floor. The 'main' songs end, the band leaves, and then they come back for songs that were always going to be played.

But the planning does not kill the moment. The crowd still has to call them back. If a crowd is quiet, some bands really do skip the encore. This is rare, but it happens.

So an encore is a small ceremony. The band ends. The crowd asks for more. The band returns. It is a polite way of saying: thank you for being loud, here is one more gift.