Sharon Van Etten Quotes

Music is a performance and needs the audience.

We had something to say. Whenever we played, people didn't dance, they listened.

When we were younger, playing a bar or a club, we did what we did to get as many people to like what we were doing. I wanted the person in the back of the room to like it as much as the ones in the front. That's how I've always looked at it.

I appreciate an audience that reacts to the music, even if they jump on stage and try to beat us up, I think that's a fantastic reaction. I think that they're really hearing something then.

I love playing to people and seeing them react.

Performing music live, there's a certain magic to it.

When I started out playing small clubs, you could feel the room recoil from certain kinds of songs. Anything that was too personal, that had a sentiment to it, or was laying out your feelings, was immediately booed. People would start throwing things. And anything that was really provocative or humorous or radical was embraced or cheered.

When I tour with the new album, I still do the classics, and I love the atmosphere it creates with the whole audience singing along.

I want to play in a place people want to hear me.

That's one of the good things about music. You get to do it live, where you can touch the people and interact with them.

I'm very proud of my records, but my most natural creative tendencies have been in live performing. There's a beautiful element to recording and making records, but I've always felt a little shy with it.

I went from a playing in a bar on a bar stool for free beer and tip money, where people weren't paying attention to me, to now I've got their attention. It's up to me to what I feed them with my music. It's up to me how I do that. I've put a lot of thought into how great the songs are, and how I want people to perceive me.

I just wanted to say one more thing: I also think that when you go to play music, you're there to play music.

How does my music connect to an audience? That is just a complete mystery to me.

I love the intimacy of venues like the House of Blues. When everyone is packed in and so close to you, it makes you play differently. It's so much more fun to play because there's so much more high energy in a place like that.

I never go back and listen to the recorded document. The thrill comes when the balance can be attained. Everyone in the room can have a shared, communal rock experience.

I think the purpose of a piece of music is significant when it actually lives in somebody else. A composer puts down a code, and a performer can activate the code in somebody else. Once it lives in somebody else, it can live in others as well.

Playing live is such a total visceral experience, and really, as a musician, you're trained from the beginning to be a live performer.

It's great when you play to an audience that knows the words to all your songs, and sings them back to you.

I had so much fun playing songs from 'Based On A True Story...' and getting to see the crowd's reaction to those songs was unforgettable.

One of the fun things about playing live is watching the audience sing the songs back to us.

I have no reason to sit home and write songs all day without going out and playing for the folks. And I have no reason to go play for the folks unless I'm writing new songs so they can sort of feed off one another. And I just try to do the best I can.

I love playing live, I don't like studios all that much. I need the reaction of the audience.

I'm a live performer and I love playing live.

What I like about playing America is you can be pretty sure you're not going to get hit with a full can of beer when you're singing and I really enjoy that!