Mark Burnett Quotes

Live music is better.

I'm a big 'American Idol' watcher, and sometimes I like to watch 'America's Got Talent.' Those are big, corny admissions, but sometimes it's so fun to see those kids really sing their hearts out.

A performance is only as good as the audience you are playing to. A lot of times you feed off of the audience, and we always try to give them all we've got and sometimes you don't get a lot back, but we've never been dead whenever we've performed.

Nothing beats a live performance. Nothing.

There are a lot of singers who cannot sing to save their lives. We have to accept it, but thank God there is such a thing as live shows. It's only when people are faced with live shows that the world gets to know how good or how bad they are.

Older people generally appreciate live music.

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

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind.

I've never, ever in my life enjoyed playing live the way I am now.

You play with the audience, and they play back with you. They get into it, and then everybody gets into it. I don't want to be like a monkey on stage and just go through the motions because then it wouldn't be fun anymore. I just pay attention to the audience and appreciate the fact that somebody wants to see us. That gets me psyched.

Not everybody likes or understands a drum solo, so I like to bring in effects and sounds to keep their interest.

Somewhere along the line, a concert became a variety show. It was no longer enough for four dudes to play together in front of some guitar amps. Costume changes, an army of dancers, and Broadway theatrics suddenly became standard for a 'concert.'

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 90% performer, 10% musician. I've always said that Gossip are a band I would go see, not a band I would listen to.

Music is a performance and needs the audience.

It wasn't just about flashing lights and pinball machines blowing up and things like that. It was about using encores, bringing back the good songs and using techniques that I knew about from rock performance.

I prefer working in good cinema, wherever it is. I like subjects that have a universal appeal.

When it is good, theatre takes a lot of beating both to watch and perform.

At the Muddy Waters thing, I played the first song by myself on an acoustic guitar. I thought that was great that y'all did that tribute to Muddy Waters. I had a real good time.

Whether your audience is in a sweaty basement club or nestled in a favourite armchair, good money has been paid, and attention has got to be grabbed if you are not to be heckled off the stage or find your novel discarded in favour of the latest volume of 'Fifty Shades of Whatever.'

I love live performance and have huge admiration for people who can really do it. It's the same with music: I'll play a record and think that I'm not really into country or ragga. But, if it's live and the musicians are good, I'll listen to pretty much anything.

Why there aren't people out there willing to have fun playing rock 'n' roll. I just don't get it.

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.

'Back In The Saddle' - I never realised what a good riff that was, or at least how much it satisfied me. And when we play it live, it comes across much better than I ever expected it to.

You don't work as hard to watch a movie. You work harder to watch a play, so what the audience puts into it is interesting.