Let’s be clear from the beginning here: What you are reading is a review of Ben Harper’s encore last Friday at Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend.

Of course, Harper didn’t only play an encore. That would be impossible, right? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be an encore. In fact, his main set clocked in at 90 minutes, longer than many full concerts including the encore. And he sprinkled it with older favorites (“Diamonds on the Inside,” “Another Lonely Day”), new stuff (“Rock N’ Roll Is Free”) and a nice but puzzling cover, Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” to start the night on a reserved note.

But I am going to fast-forward to the encore for three reasons:

1) I spent much of the main set engrossed in my steak chilaquiles from Spork. Have you had these things? They are amazing. Amazing enough to possibly distract you from a concert. I’m just saying.

2) OK, I am overstating my distraction in the first point. I did listen to the main set while eating. The thing is, it seemed sort of middling: no real highs, no real lows, no sense of momentum and too much jamming.

Even a guy with a mouth full of chilaquiles could hear that.

3) The encore was pretty much awesome.

It started with the fastest way to Bend’s heart: a song about marijuana. After a short break offstage, Harper emerged with an acoustic guitar, stood alone in a bright spotlight, and sang “Burn One Down” as dense plumes of smoke rose above the crowd.

Like, more smoke than I have ever seen at a show in Bend, and I’ve seen some smoke.

Harper’s band joined him for “Don’t Give Up On Me Now,” a beautifully desperate song and one of the best on his new album, the excellent “Give Till It’s Gone.”

And then things took off.

Now, I’m no classic rock connoisseur, but even I admired Harper’s epic cover of Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter,” with its unmistakable, roiling guitars and dynamic extremes. Set against a subtly psychedelic light show, Harper ably handled Robert Plant’s vocals while his band jammed with significant crunch for a good 10 to 15 minutes.

Then, as if to declare himself unafraid of any classic guitar riff, Harper launched into Neil Young’s protest song “Ohio,” which predictably provided a perfect showcase for his deceptively strong voice and his not-so-deceptively prodigious skills on the slide guitar. The crowd around me — filled with 30- and 40-something rock ‘n’ roll lifers — went wild, fully satiated by the 20-minute nostalgia detour.

But with Ben Harper, the music always comes back to positive, forward-thinking messages. He closed the show with one of his best tunes, the globally flavored “Better Way” (complete with shrieked final verse) and an unreleased song called “Better Than I Deserve” that I’m still humming six days later.

Harper used the catchy chorus of “Deserve” to fuel a amphitheater-wide sing-along, and he spent the last few minutes of the song clasping his hands in thanks to the crowd of more than 3,800, as if to say his fans are better than he deserves.

Harper’s so humble, you get the sense that he believes that.

And with the way Bend loves the guy, at least in this town, he just might be right.