Constantin Stanislavski Quotes

It took time to really build myself a reputation as a good live performer, a musician and an artist.

It's much better to wreak havoc on a show and be a maniac than promote myself. Plugs and anecdotes aren't really in line with my beliefs. Besides, if someone sees me on a morning show and thinks, 'That's not funny; this guy is crazy,' then I don't want them to come to the show anyway.

The difference between a theatre with and without an audience is enormous. There is a palpable, critical energy created by the presence of the audience.

Own every note I sing and sell it. Make a connection to the audience. That's what it comes down to, you know?

Part of the gestation of 'The Wall' was this business of alienation from the audience, and so the interesting thing was, what 'The Wall' eventually became was something that absolutely engaged the audience.

When onstage, I always try to take my audience through as many emotions as I possibly can. I want them to go from laughter to tears, be shocked and surprised and walk out the door with a renewed sense of themselves - and maybe a smile.

I have sung to large crowds since then, and there is a feeling that once you get over 100,000 people, you kind of lose the control element, you don't know if you are really getting through or not.

Personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is.

I never turn on the crowd. Sometimes, you think it's a terrible show, and then afterward, sometimes people say they really liked it. So turning on the crowd is only going to alienate the few people who might like it. What do I do in that situation? Get through it.

I have expertise of performing, not promoting.

I make sure I say something important without being preachy through all my performances.

I know that as a performer how much we rely on the fans for how we feel and react.

I never wanted to perform and never proclaimed myself to be a performer.

It's almost going to sound like a jerk thing to say, but it's so easy to manipulate the fans to love us or hate us. It's fun. It makes it really fun.

The connect that I have with the audience comes from my hard work and sincerity towards my craft and also because of the opportunities that I have had. I have been able to engage with my audiences. They observe my performances minutely. They think I will do some magic on screen. They like me because I don't do over-the-top acting.

Until I started performing in public, when at the end of the concert people would come to me with teary eyes and say that my performance took them to a trance zone, I had no idea that I can create an impact with my singing.

Diamond Dallas Page didn't have that larger-than-life persona, but he had a different connection with the audience.

It's just an impulse, in some actors. You want to make the audience like you. That's the aim of the exercise.

When you play a smaller, more intimate venue, you can have real conversations with your audience, take risks, and stay current. You can also change the set list, on how the day feels or how the audience reacts. When you do arena shows, every arena looks and feels the same. You can't see who is in the room.

I'm not a performer. If they're looking for entertainer-in-chief, I'm probably not the guy.

Performing onstage is all about reacting in a grand way. You're playing an arena of seventeen or eighteen thousand people and it's your job to make sure the person at the back feels as cool as the person all the way in the front. Being on stage is a bit of a façade. You get to walk out there and be the coolest version of yourself that you could possibly have imagined and then you come off stage and you're just like everyone else.

You don't have to patronize your audience, and you can mix art and commerce in a profound way. You can simultaneously play to the sophisticated, 60-year-old theatergoers and to 4-year-olds.

My [singing] style really has no style, because I try to sing each number differently. I’ve always believed that if style takes precedent over the words and music, the audience get’s cheated. It’s like when people see a fine play or movie. They imagine themselves in the leading role. I want them to imagine that they’re singing - not just listening to someone else.

What good is it if a guy can sing real good but he sits on his ass and doesn't make anybody feel anything? I can connect with an audience every time I play. When I sing, they listen.

I don't suppose I would describe myself as a showman.