Eternal Encore

Someone told me once about how Rammstein at their concerts play their set, say their goodbyes, leave the stage, only to come back cheered on by fans and proceed to play for another whole hour. What they're doing here is assuming the symbolic device of the encore but entirely bypassing its traditional implication. What the encore game usually entails is that the band does their set and, if they were really good, the crowd will cheer loud enough at the vacated stage that the band will return and thank them with one more song. Or more perversely, the band may simply return if given the chance, simply because they assume the crowd must want to hear more of them, making it all a game of self-indulgence rather than entertainment for the crowd. Regardless, the encore game has long been part of the modern festival and, in single band concerts, just another part of the performance as a whole, which brings us back to Rammstein. They refrain from playing the game by playing it completely straight, going so far as to give yet another (true) encore before the end of the show. The wise know, there's no way around games, one must appropriate them, necessary and useless as they are, for what they are: a means to an end. Between a man meeting a woman and a man having sex with a woman there must be (at least some) symbolic games in between, sometimes they further nothing, mere formalities, and yet they are a requisite.
This, amongst other things, like for example exiting the stage, are zero signals: nothings, necessary nothings. Yet what is this irresistible allure but a veiled threat of abandon? There is always a chance to lose the bet, the probability that the band will return is never 100%, not certain. The loving couple, the band and the crowd, the stupid little fight. Always both parties know "I'm leaving now but I know you'll come get me back, and we both want me to come back, but I have to go anyway because it's the only way we can be sure". Indeed, as people we can't be purely rational. I can't very well threaten to leave and expect the power of my threat to be felt by words alone. The play must be enacted, the "what-ifs" must be contemplated briefly by our eyes and hearts, even if only virtually so, to perceive them as possible reals. Suspension of disbelief in real life. And a social life without games is hard to imagine, not to mention possibly boring, the best thing to do is just to expose them privately to yourself as you play them. To deceive the puppetmaster by acting out what he tells you, turning him into the puppet. There is no one more easy to control than one who thinks is in control. Wear your suit, laugh at the mirror.