ankoraŭEncore! (Ow!)still/yet

I went to see a live orchestra last night. It was very enjoyable, and the final song was especially moving. In fact, it was so good that the audience called for an encore.

Now, normally calls of "Encore!" are a way of showing appreciation. They're a formality. Nobody really expects someone to perform the piece again. But last night's audience was different. They really demanded an encore. When the conductor began to leave the stage to the applause and calls of "Encore!" the applause stopped by the "Encore!"s continued.

He looked a bit bewildered at that and paused for a moment. And that's when the rotten vegetables began to fly. The conductor rushed back to the front of the orchestra yelling "Ow! Ow! Ow!" the entire way as he was pelted by tomatoes. He rushed to get the orchestra playing again to avoid a further barrage.

But after the 2nd performance, the audience still was not satisfied. The calls of "Encore!" picked up again. This time, the audience didn't wait before they began to throw rotten vegetables. Yelping "Ow!" in apparent pain, the conductor quickly got the message and began conducting another performance of the same song.

After the 3rd performance, would you believe that the audience still demanded more? They began chanting "Encore! Encore! Encore!". It had taken on the rythym of a group of high schoolers in a cafeteria. And by this point, it looked like a cafeteria food fight too. Old food was still flying at the conductor dispite the clearly audible "Ow! Ow! Ow!" from the stage.

The conductor managed to make his way to the microphone to ask the audience "You haven't had enough of this song yet?" Immediately the chanting of "Encore!" raised in pitch and the food began to fly faster (which of course meant even more and louder "Ow!"s from the conductor).

By the time I left, the orchestra had performed the song 16 times and the audience showed no sign of slowing. In fact, I bet that the poor conductor and orchestra are still there performing that same song right now...

jekor
2009-05-27