Ben LeeBen Lee isn’t a fan of encores. And, he represents fellow artists who believe they’re stupid and should be phased out.
In a video posted to social media - which he says you shouldn’t take seriously, by the way - the Catch My Disease hitmaker framed himself as a “representative of live musicians” and discussed removing encores from setlists.
“You may have heard different artists recently live expressing their discomfort with the encore experience being a little bit outdated,” Lee said, describing the “role-playing” and “hide-and-seek” of encores as “silly.”
He continued, “Our research has indicated that every time you cheer for an encore, and we do one, we both get a little bit stupider. So, we are going to be phasing out encores.
“We’re currently sort of in this intermediate period where we have to talk about not doing encores before not doing them, but that is gonna come to an end as we train the audience and we get you guys used to the fact that we’re just gonna be playing all of our songs in a row, without some kind of arbitrary and artificial divider in the middle of the set.”
Lee added that he and other artists joining his anti-encore agenda will present a “special offer” to fans: the songs that would usually be performed during the encore will be played “completely free.”
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“This is in recognition of the fact that we are currently in a cost-of-living crisis, and people are discriminating and savvy about how they spend their money,” Lee continued.
“You don’t need to cheer for an encore. We will be offering those extra songs to you free of charge. In the meantime, get used to the process—we’re in an adjustment period… Within the next five years, we will be phasing out encores entirely. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
While Ben Lee isn’t being totally serious in his video, a growing cohort of artists are being serious in their removal of encores.
Artists such as Gordi, IDLES, Poppy, Frank Turner, Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers, HEALTH, and others haven’t played encores at their latest Australian shows. Meanwhile, it seems that the bigger the act, the more likely an encore becomes. Acts such as Billie Eilish, Metallica, Deftones, Linkin Park, and Ed Sheeran all featured an encore during their recent Australian tours.
The encore has become a polarising topic for artists and punters alike, and Lee is simply giving a voice to that fact. Where do you stand?
Check out the video below.
Ben Lee’s most recent album, This One's for the Old Headz, dropped in 2024. Last year, he embarked on a national tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of his seminal album, Awake Is The New Sleep. His current tour concludes on Saturday (9 May), after spending the first couple of months of 2026 on the road.
“Album anniversaries and special events are lovely, but being out on the road just for the sake of it is what it’s all about,” Lee wrote on Instagram in November. “Night after night, always changing, sweaty, a little chaotic, unpredictable. Hand-to-hand combat.”
