Richard Thompson Quotes

But I always communicate with the audience. I never pretend like I'm just in my bedroom making a track. The whole point of doing a gig is, like, a feedback thing between you and the audience.

I don't sing to people. I sing for them. I told that once to Elvis Presley. He bought it. After that Elvis sang not to but for the audience. A subtle difference.

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

Whenever I sing a song, I just want it to reach out to the audience.

I love connecting with the audience, and there's more ways than one to do that.

I just play to good people; they seem to like what I do, and the more they like it, the more I play.

I use Twitter as a tool to get involved with people, to sell tickets to gigs where I can stand in a room and smell the audience - and I love that!

I like doing theaters. I like being up close and personal with the fans. It's really cool.

I don't care who I play to, as long as they enjoy listening to what I play.

As actors, you do have to be aware of your audience. You can't act in a vacuum, even if that audience isn't exactly present with you.

Music is a performance and needs the audience.

I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music.

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

It's amazing when I do a gig how many people of different ages come up to me afterwards and chat to me about songs. The emotions I feel are what any person can relate to. Sometimes I'm just a narrator.

You know, we're not on stage, we're not doing a play, so we don't have a relationship with the audience but going through that process and also just hearing how much people love the film, you feel like you do have a relationship with the audience.

Singing well has always been important to me, but the most important factor is the connection to the audience.

I don't know if I ever really considered making a connection with the audience.

From my standpoint, being an artist, I want to see what the new construction is between artist and audience.

It still amazes me how many musicians aren't really interested in engaging with their audience at all. Alfred Brendel, a pianist for whom I have the greatest respect, has described performance as a sacred communion between the artist and the composer. But what about the audience? Music is communication, a two-way street.

When I use music on stage, the prime directive is to entertain the public, so it is different.

If I'm doing a show on Sunday at 7 P.M., that wouldn't be the same show that I'd do at 11 P.M. on a Saturday - it's a different room at a different time of day with different sensibilities. That doesn't mean you have to compromise your art, but it is communication: you have to know how to talk to people.

The premise that we're working with is that when most people go to a show, they're not really watching what's going on onstage. They may be watching what's on the screen. But when the songs are playing in their mind's eye, they're actually watching a movie.

The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.

In my case, I take part in performance-oriented music and believe it is my call to show the audience something that both their eyes and ears can enjoy.

I try to do a lot of direct contact with the audience, because the audience is part of the concert, too, as much as anyone on stage, and it's a shame not to get to meet them if you get the chance.