Jamie xx Quotes

It's strange to play outdoors, especially in the daytime. But we're figuring it out. The rules are different for festival shows - how you talk to the crowd, how you can try to get them involved. Things are just a little different, and I think we've learned to adapt our show.

At a festival, a lot of people came to see other artists, so you have to put on a signature set and performance: 'This is what I do, this is why I'm here.' At solo gigs, I'm a DJ - I'll play two-and-a-half hours, and not just my own music, also my favorite songs by other artists.

I can read a crowd pretty well. I know what to play and know how to keep it interesting for them and for myself as well. Most of the other DJs are more like producers so they become famous because they make hits and then they start DJ-ing. But I'm more from the other way around.

Club DJs don't talk to the crowd.

The crowd really controls how I am onstage. One show, it might be a lot of young people, super-high-energy dancing. I mirror that. Other shows, it's much more calm.

When I was a kid and went to shows, my favorites were Live Events. You really see a performer's personality on Live Events than on TV.

Playing a room, it's a real dictator-type situation - you can really move the crowd the way you want to. In a festival, there's a sea of people, and it's harder to lock in on any one group.

Anyone can be a DJ but it's understanding how to read a crowd and keeping them on the floor is what takes years of experience.

When I'm doing a set as an artist I'm right in front of the stage the entire time, interacting with the crowd. The DJ set's a little different but they both are great and high energy for the crowd.

There's a different energy at one of my shows than anybody else's.

You can only absorb when you look back at photos: like when we played Coachella, and there are thousands of people in the audience, and you just walk on stage.

For me, I feel most at home when I'm playing live.

The thing about doing gigs is you make music, and then it is gone and that is being watched by thousands of people.

Our show is all about energy and all about the skill, so we never have to alter it for different audiences, although maybe we might get crazier at a punk-rock show. With kids moshing and crowd-surfing, we might have to get crazy as well.

Studio work is very methodical, while live concerts must be very spontaneous.

I've played to audiences where people are sitting there with their arms crossed, just kind of watching. Although they might be having a great time, and they might be really enjoying the spectacle, if I'm not getting anything back, it does affect the way I perform and project.

It's awesome to play 1 1/2 -hour shows because it's so much fun, and we enjoy every single minute of it.

In an arena, with Girls Aloud, it's a big production and you don't have time to talk to the crowd about the songs.

The first time I performed onstage was at church. Then I formed a rock cover band - Pink Floyd and Joan Jett. We'd play at birthday parties, since it wasn't exactly church material.

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.

Obviously, Iron Maiden is on a way bigger scale to British Lion, but as a musician playing live, it's just the adrenaline rush of playing in front of an audience that gives you that rush.

I think our strongest suit is our live show.

I'm always making micro-adjustments onstage, listening to the audience, and what a crowd is like can be infectious.

I'm quite a reserved person, but when it comes to being on stage, something just clicks, and I sort of run around like a mad man. I find myself jumping in the crowd, climbing up on things, and dancing absolutely atrociously. I like to see the whites of everybody's eyes, jump around with everybody.

I saw B.B. King in concert one time where he had this guy that would bring him out a glass of water and towel to wipe his forehead with.