"I guess I knew it was coming..."

I saw the Hold Steady last night at the House of Blues in Chicago. They referenced "Dick in a Box." A fellow next to me in the audience was thrilled, yelling "Step one!! Step two!!! Step three!!!!" as loud as he could.

Later, a kind of sour thing happened at the end of the show, between the first and second songs of the encore, when everyone was yelling out requests. "Hey," the bass player sneered, "this is the part of the set when people prove they know some of our songs" (I'm paraphrasing). Like, I understand that since most bands openly prepare their setlists in advance, this practice/tradition is sort of questionable, especially when people ask for b-sides and obscure outtakes. But this was the fucking encore, which is the only part of the show when yelling out requests makes sense. It's the part of the show that follows five minutes of applause; ostensibly, the band is there because we love them so much, because we don't want them to go quite yet. Again, I realize that encores became standard practice many years ago, and that most bands plan them just as much as they plan the rest of the show. But still, if you're going to go through the motions of playing an encore, don't fucking degrade your fans by making fun of them when they make requests. Leave that to the concert bloggers (more on those guys here).