Les Paul Quotes

My dream has been to have my rock band behind me, play live, and entertain.

I love playing to people and seeing them react.

What makes you a rock star is what are you able to do when you get behind that microphone, when you put that guitar in your hands, when you wield those drumsticks, and when you raise your hand in front of twenty thousand people: do they respond? That's being a rock star.

When we're on tour, we try to keep our voices sharp. We get up there and put on the best show we can.

I grew up going to bluegrass festivals, and there were performers who got on stage and didn't say much. They would stand there, stone-faced, picking. I could appreciate that, but it taught me that a little showmanship and some personality adds so much to a performance.

I am blessed to perform in the studio and on the concert stage.

The bulk of my set is instrumental and you have to give yourself and the audience some relief because a performance is not about great guitar playing it's really about entertainment.

I am always excited about playing in front of live audiences because I really enjoy it, for the most part.

Cyndi Lauper knows how to work a crowd.

Rock stars are good at making noise.

I don't get on stage and give a social diatribe. I am a performer and an entertainer.

I think he's an entertainer. I would prefer if he were a performer.

Growing up, I was so inspired by front men like Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury, and Kurt Cobain - real showmen that put on 'a performance' every time they walk out on stage - so it's important for me to feel like I deliver that.

My job, if someone picks me, is to come and perform. That's what we do for a living.

I'm not a DJ. I play live and think we put on a show. That's it.

My abiding childhood memory is watching my uncle perform to thousands in Madison Square Garden. He wore a white suit and came down from the ceiling on a rope, and the crowd went crazy.

You're in for a live band. That's really what I wanted; I wanted to put on a show for people where they could come for the gay and stay for the musicianship. It's a live show; there's some rock stuff, too. Some rock and roll. Get ready.

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

Everybody has forgotten about showmanship. People don't look like rock stars any more. They just look like regular dudes off the street.

I went to see 'Shine a Light,' and it was the most perfect thing I could have done to watch that man do what he does in front of an audience. It's primarily Mick Jagger, but they're all so confident and relaxed and in love with what they do, and aware of the power of what they do. It's just deeply, deeply attractive.

What I do is I'm a bandleader, frontman, entertainer.

I've always enjoyed playing live onstage.

I don't think I'm an entertainer. I never think, 'Wow, I can't wait to get the crowd moving.' Some of my favorite bands never moved an inch.

I am a performer; that's what I like to do.

The cliche of what a rock star is - there's something elitist about it. I never related to that. I'm an entertainer. I think of it as, you're performing for people. It's not a self-glorification thing.