Gene Simmons Quotes

Backstage, I get sleepy, and want to curl up and snooze. I never get nervous, whatever the event. I feel quite detached until I walk on stage, and then some gear inside me clicks and off I go like a wind up doll.

There's the fatigue that you have to forget about, because the red curtain still has to rise.

Believe me, it jabs you. When you're on the side of buses and New York loves you, you love to go out there every night. It's like a race. Curtain opens, out you go, and New York is yours.

When you do RAW or Wrestlemania or a PPV where there's 10,000 people or more, you don't necessarily look at the people. The only time there's a realization that there's that many people is when you walk to the ring. Once you get in the ring, your focus is only on the ring, and maybe the front few rows.

The excitement does not change. After 40 years in the business, I still find the show to be a magical moment - the performance anxiety, the litmus test.

The best feeling I get is when I walk on stage.

I love to be nervous before a scene.

All these years later, I have almost no memory of the shows themselves. It's a blur. I remember my jogging runs better - that was my way of getting my energy together. I used to try to get to the arena as late as possible; otherwise, I'd just be pacing around, waiting to go on.

There was something about being in front of audiences when I was in elementary school plays that gave me a thrill. It was like the rush you get from a roller coaster drop.

If I have a gig in the evening, I get 'the doom' at about 5 P.M., when I think I'm getting flu.

No matter how many shows I've done, as soon as they say it's time to start, I get that nervous sensation and feel like I have to pee. So that's where my mind is. That and making it to the end of the runway and back as fast as I can.

When you model for a show, you get this real sense of adrenaline. It's difficult when the shoes are so high - that part's quite scary - but you just have to do it.

All I have to concentrate on is my performing.

There's some anxiety the 30 minutes before the show starts. But once you step on stage and face the people, everything goes away, and you have fun and enjoy the audience.

Performing is my passion. Being onstage is at once exhilarating, beguiling, and fulfilling. But it's hard.

There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.

I go through insanity before a show. It's not really a process but it's like absolute mortal fear.

My act is always a work in progress. I pray I have a bad day before a show.

Every time I get up and sing for people, I get such a high. I just want to do it again and again.

The lights go down, you hear the applause and you're up there, and then everything else is forgotten.

When I got on stage, I would have a rush of adrenaline; everybody gets it. Normally after the first night it becomes more controllable, and as long as I could ride the wave, I was still in charge.

The excitement of stepping onto a stage - there's nothing quite like it.

You don't realize how much you miss it until you get back onstage and feel that buzz.

Nothing is real until you walk out on stage.

The night before a show, I don't sleep. Really. I've been doing this for 30 years, and the night before a show, I still don't sleep.