Jon Batiste Quotes

At some of the venues, the audience was so loud we could hardly hear what was happening on stage, which kind of threw us back to 1983, when we had very similar reactions on a much bigger scale.

It was mind-blowing. It was a small place with 2,000 standing-up tickets. It's great to have your band back and working and playing again, people have been so generous.

I don't actually go to that many concerts.

I just want my audiences to be entertained and feel like they're part of the show. I want to show them a good time and create an experience they're going to enjoy.

Everywhere in the world, music enhances a hall, with one exception: Carnegie Hall enhances the music.

I don't go to a lot of shows. If you go to too many shows, then it doesn't become a special thing. Whenever I've been to a concert, it has been such a cool experience.

I was there the night John Lennon was shot, three blocks away. It left a lasting impression on me.

When my dad toured in '91, I think my first gig properly was the Tokyo Dome, 50,000 people indoors. That was pretty scary. I was 12, or 13.

I think an encore is perfectly acceptable, but I find it so weird when people do two or three.

Carnegie Hall was real fabulous, but you know, it ain't as big as the Grand Ole Opry.

'Homeland' does have that ability to tear the rug out from under you.

The Bad Seeds are a band I will travel a great distance to see whenever possible.

I go to more open mic nights than open mikers.

One time, I was literally stopped on the street, literally and physically whipped around by this guy who looked at my face and was like, 'Are you Felix?' I looked very different then. I was like, 'Yah... Oh, yah!' I was stunned and slightly frightened.

Performing at Madison Square Garden is a real honor, so we had a lot of fun.

Doing the acoustic at Carnegie is basically advised because electric music tends to get, let's just say, acoustically unsound.

For a rock band, I didn't see the point in live albums. To my mind, you've got to be there.

I remember when I went to see Led Zeppelin live in 1979 at Knebworth, there were certain songs that stood out to me and will stay with me forever.

I saw Led Zeppelin live for the first time when I was thirteen.

Tony night was probably the highlight of my time with 'Newsies' - heck, of my life for that matter!

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.

I remember, this one time, one of my best friends was living with us for a little while, this place we were renovating. We got back, we'd been cleared out. The place had been robbed. They must have backed up trucks to get the appliances. And our buddy was still sleeping.

It would be a dream to perform at Radio City Music Hall.

Carnegie was a life-long dream because I was a born New Yorker. I was born in upstate New York, and we've played Radio City, and we've played The Beacon, but Carnegie was this mystical place, you know?

I catch Filter in Des Moines doing their soundcheck at a small club. After tearing through a few songs, they spend nearly an hour meeting with fans as part of a radio station meet-and-greet.