Steven Curtis Chapman Quotes

Music - you need the give and take from the audience, the feeling of attention. It's not about me: it's about the music itself.

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.

When playing any song in front of an audience, you're watching them experience it, and it changes. In a lot of ways, it's almost like the music is just the background buzz to what's happening between you and the audience in the room.

I love playing to people and seeing them react.

When you come to my show, I want it to feel like opera, like a theatre.

Musicians are there in front of you, and the spectators sense their tension, which is not the case when you're listening to a record. Your attention is more relaxed. The emotional aspect is more important in live music.

There's nothing like walking out and watching the people get turned on. Nothing in the world could replace it.

Immediate, simultaneous connection between the audience and a performer is crucial to me. It's why I do what I do. Other things, like recording, are satisfying, but they're not the same. I love the connection I get with the audience when I'm sitting behind that piano.

Music is so much fun because each song is like a film in itself. You get to go from beginning to end and interact and exchange energy with a live audience.

The only real satisfaction is live performances. That's when you can actually get some feedback from what you're doing. You get that artist-to-audience chemistry. I love it!

When you see a band, you want to see characters.

The most amazing thing is being onstage and watching the audience sing every song lyric for lyric.

With Dream Theater live, I may have been a bit of a focal point because I absolutely live for the energy on stage, and having interaction with the audience is absolutely crucial to me - regardless of how some others have described it!

The power of live music is vast. Live music is a wonderful way to spend some time.

We enjoy playing small shows, big shows, whatever. There's the energy of the visual production, and all that stuff starts to happen, so when you see it come to life, it's pretty exciting.

When I perform, I like to immerse myself in the music, and I just try to get off on the diversity of music.

I was really sick of bands just ignoring the audience as a posture in rock music. And I think we fed off each other in terms of trying to engage the audience, not in a hammy way, but actually trying to be aware of the space that you are playing in and trying to connect in some way through the music.

When I'm on stage, my interaction with the audience is something that really makes me come alive. It's a feeling like no other. The energy of the crowd fuels something new inside.

I feel my live shows are my music; everything blossoms from the live shows.

Feeling emotionally connected to a song, and accumulating every bit of the moment's energy to sing out to the audience is what I believe makes a great performer.

The best part of touring, still, is touching people's hearts and igniting my band and igniting the people into what you call a spiritual revelation is sound and emotion.

I haven't been to many music events where somebody was performing and it actually made me cry.

A tour is the most intense, stimulating way to hear music; it's the best form to receive it. There's genuine excitement from people. I feel like we've stepped up a level.

Live music is better.

I just think, certainly for live music it should look as good as it sounds.