#Encores

I'm starting to think encores are just a way for artists to gauge how much they're liked. You know, make the crowd beg for more and then reward them with a perfunctory two-song set. Maybe I'm just cynical... but is it really that special when every single concert I've been to in the past year has had an encore? It kinda feels like the norm now, not the exciting exception it's supposed to be. Can we ditch the charade and just play a longer set instead?... or am I just missing the point of it all?