Norman Cook Quotes

Most of the time - at the Grammys for example - a DJ will perform with just their hands in the air because they can't do anything and that makes it a little awkward, I think.

A performance is only as good as the audience you are playing to. A lot of times you feed off of the audience, and we always try to give them all we've got and sometimes you don't get a lot back, but we've never been dead whenever we've performed.

Anything you can do to get more people to come to your live shows is good, because that's where you can really do what you do. Everyone's on the same page, and you don't have to win strangers over as much.

As much as only playing clubs can become tedious, performing in huge venues can also become off-putting. To go from one to the other feels great. And sometimes playing clubs can be even more stressful, because you really have to think about what you're going to tell the audience between songs.

Some guys like myself, we like to play off the crowd.

Just me onstage with a mike having an intimate relationship with the audience. I don't get nervous for that. I just get excited.

Something that I think I figured out slowly was if you're playing a show and there's a chatter or there is, you know, a lot of noise - people talking or something - I was never the one whose instinct was to try to be louder than them.

There's something about small venues that's amazing for developing material. It's almost like you can not only hear people's response, but you can understand it. In bigger venues you lose that, but you gain this sense of camaraderie in the audience.

One of the main reasons for wanting to perform live again was to have contact with that audience.

I just feed off the energy of the audience.

When I performed at 'Open Mic U.K.' I had this connection with the audience that I'd never felt before, and I loved it. It was my first big thing, and looking out into the crowd... was just amazing.

I just play to the people I can see. So it's almost like you are playing to the first few rows of the crowd. You can see the faces of the first hundred people, but then it becomes a blur as the crowds disappear over the hill.

There's nothing better than making music and hearing 3,000 people chant, 'Afrojack! Afrojack!'

But I always communicate with the audience. I never pretend like I'm just in my bedroom making a track. The whole point of doing a gig is, like, a feedback thing between you and the audience.

There's nothing more fun than being out on stage and getting the vibe from the crowd. There's nothing like being on a set where you are there to make other people happy and to make them laugh. That's the best job in the world.

When I play live, I feel how the audience is going and follow and lead at the same time.

The live setting is always better for me. I usually thrive at live. I feel like having a band behind me and being able to interact with the crowd helps boost my energy up.

It's a constant challenge to get your arrangement and musical expression across to a new audience, especially when you're playing live every night like we are.

Those minutes that I'm on stage are the best! Being there and looking at the crowd and seeing their faces, hearing them sing the positive words from the songs.

A performer needs and craves a live audience.

I love doing concerts. For me, it's the favorite thing I do. I get to communicate with the audience in a direct way.

I always say, you gotta play a dive bar like you play an arena, and you play an arena like you play a dive bar.

I feed off the audience a lot, their energy.

It doesn't matter if you're the best wrestler in the world and can do every move perfectly; if you don't connect with the crowd or sell well or have good promos, nobody cares.

I first came across Langhorne Slim when I saw him play live, and he's an incredibly infectious performer. The way he works the crowd is mind-blowing. You can listen to his music without really listening to his lyrics, but it pays off if you do.