What is it about pop concerts and encores? “There isn’t a soul on earth with even a passing connection to the popular culture who isn’t familiar with the faux art of the encore. Jackson’s divalicious milking of the audience was an especially unsavory example, but the fact is that, by and large, most encores are simply the final two or three songs of a show preceded by a built-in adulation break. They’re not only prescribed, they’re scripted. Typed on the set list. Preprogrammed by the lighting technician. Complete with pyro, videos, and confetti-strewn finales. We live in the auto-encore age, and we jump through the hoops like trained animals.”