I'm in a band. We don't always plan an encore, but if the audience asks for one, we usually deliver. Last time, we played about an hour and fifty minutes, and then we stopped, and they wanted more, so we did an encore of three songs, one of which was ten minutes long. Then we stopped. The audience still wanted more. So we played one more long song. Some people still wanted more, but that was enough.
Bands should play it by ear somewhat. I agree it can seem contrived and lame. But no, 5 minutes is quite a bit to catch breath. Five minutes even two or three minutes can make a world of difference, after playing like an hour or two in a row without much of a break. Al's shows are a little unusual in this respect, since he has costume changes, which probably allow him to rest his voice somewhat, but they also require him to be active changing during those breaks.
I'm a little disappointed to say that I won't be attending any of these shows. All of my Weird Al-loving friends are in other parts of the country right now doing the college thing. Ithaca is kind of in the middle of nowhere and while Verona is pretty close, there's no way I'm paying $60 to see this show. Hopefully when the dates flesh out a little, there will be some shows in NY around that time, which is near my graduation. Who knows, maybe I'll even convince the gf to go with me... But as for now, I'm waiting.
Oh, and I'm not spoiling myself on what the setlist will be, so I'm going to be very careful not to read this sub-forum once the tour starts in Australia. It's gonna be a tough few months to be an Al fan...
I couldn't tell a dirt clod from a plate of caviar.
FWIW when I was doing my time in Ithaca the closest they ever came was Syracuse (this would have been the Bad Hair Day Tour) I found out after the show happened, but I would not have been able to go anyway since the date of the concert was bad for me schedule wise.
You'd think that being a 2 college town with a LOT of varied size places for bands of all scale to play, Al would end up somewhere in Ithaca.
Jackie
"Positioning is everything in life." A. de La Hunta
Well, IC hasn't had any concerts yet, so I guess it's a possibility, but the fact that Al often plays in casinos makes me think he's probably too expensive for a small college like mine.
I couldn't tell a dirt clod from a plate of caviar.
He's not coming anywhere near me, and I'm actually a little relieved. I probably wasn't going to be able to go anyway, and now I don't have to think about it.
Wishing you a Twisted Christmas and a Twisted New Year!