Raphael Saadiq Quotes

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

I don't get stage fright, I actually love the energy, I love the spontaneity, I love the adrenaline you get in front of a live audience, it actually really works for me.

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.

There's such an adrenaline rush for me on stage and having all these people look at you. There's an adrenaline rush from not having things written down, too.

I love getting cheers. I love giving scares. Anything that really works with the audience makes me happy.

Every time you get in front of the lights and the cameras and you think, 'Okay, well, we've done this before, but we have to do it again? Oh, we're doing it again? We're doing it again?' It's so gratifying, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I hope I won't.

When I go out on the runway, I can feel the audience vibrate.

Playing in front of a crowd is something you learn. You accept it and then you start to relish it.

I know what to expect from the crowd and enjoy playing in front of the big crowds.

That's what I always enjoyed about acting, the real adrenalin rush. My heart - still before I go on stage - crashing out of my chest. That's thrilling to me.

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.

If I was going onstage, of course I would talk about it. How could I not?

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.

I think if I were to go back on stage I might be in great danger of acting.

I don't really feel any different when I get up on stage.

When you get onstage, you can see everyone in the audience's face, down to the detail. You can see who may or may not be yawning.

I definitely enjoy being in front of people which gives me that exciting immediate rush.

Sometimes, the most daunting thing about performing is making eye contact with your audience, so just look above them and at the corners of the room. Soon, you'll totally forget they're there.

You want to have butterflies in your stomach, because if you don't, if you walk out onstage complacent, that's not a good thing.

I'd say three years ago we played in my hometown of San Antonio for 55,000 people at the Alamodome and walking out there with a crowd like that is just, you're excited, you're scared. There are just so many emotions going on. I still get nervous for things like that until after I sing about the first one or two songs, then I settle down.

When you go on the stage before thousands of people, you can be excited and nervous, but it's not fear.

I've never not appeared in front of a live audience for any longer period than a month or two.

Once I'm on stage, the energy of the crowd wipes my nerves away.

Certainly, being on stage is a rush.

Reading a piece of poetry with no beat in front of 20 people is way more challenging than rocking for 10,000 people.