If you’ve been to any Pop/Rock/Country show in the last 30 years, you know the artist/act will always come back out for an encore. Most save their biggest hit for this part. I already knew these things were scripted in when I had an internship with the concert promoter Stardate; it was written into the rider and often said the band must play 80 minutes with a 10-minute encore, everything after this was gratis.
The lack of spontaneity has never bothered me nor did I have this sudden disillusionment after seeing my first rider. I felt more like I knew how to play the game. Besides, arena shows are very staged events. The whiney Washington Post critic Mental Floss linked off of is probably an aging Baby Boomer or Classic Rock stooge.
However, I am not surprised that the finger of blame has been pointed at Bruce Springsteen, the King of Arena/Dull Rock. To be fair, he is a good writer when others cover his songs (Manfred Mann, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Natalie Cole, Basia Bulat). Bruce’s sincerity and energy are impressive too. I just can’t get into his stuff after I went to college despite having a reconciliation with other Classic Rock acts. The Boss ruining the encore is another demonstration of how American Exceptionalism entails the “more is less” problem.