Michael Franti Quotes

When I'm doing a set as an artist I'm right in front of the stage the entire time, interacting with the crowd. The DJ set's a little different but they both are great and high energy for the crowd.

One of the main reasons for wanting to perform live again was to have contact with that audience.

So you can have your program, but you also have to be ready to change it immediately because there are certain kinds of people who like certain kinds of songs and they like - some people want to dance when you come out, some people just want to be intimate with you. So you kind of feel your way through a show.

I just feed off the energy of the audience.

There's nothing like walking out and watching the people get turned on. Nothing in the world could replace it.

I love playing live, I don't like studios all that much. I need the reaction of the audience.

What I like about playing America is you can be pretty sure you're not going to get hit with a full can of beer when you're singing and I really enjoy that!

I love playing to people and seeing them react.

When I played in a band, people just stand there and look at you and criticize what they didn't like. But if you watch a D.J. show, people go crazy from beginning to end. Say what you want against D.J.'s, but you can't deny that the energy level in the audience is for the most part far above what rock bands have.

I'm learning what I gotta do to get people hyped up. It doesn't matter even if they're not dancing, as long as they're bobbing their head and as long as it looks like a mosh pit down there.

There's nothing like performing in front of a live crowd and just having people literally react to whatever it is you do, and there's nothing better than when you get that connection with the audience.

It's awesome to play 1 1/2 -hour shows because it's so much fun, and we enjoy every single minute of it.

We spent night after night out there learning the art of entertaining a crowd.

I think live stuff is certainly stuff I enjoy doing. I do like performing for people and bringing it to people.

It's strange to play outdoors, especially in the daytime. But we're figuring it out. The rules are different for festival shows - how you talk to the crowd, how you can try to get them involved. Things are just a little different, and I think we've learned to adapt our show.

This is the way I wanna die. Torn apart by angry fans who want me to play a different song.

Just me onstage with a mike having an intimate relationship with the audience. I don't get nervous for that. I just get excited.

We just did what we'd done when we were an act in the '60s. But I found it impossible to hold a dialogue with 500,000 people. In a certain sense, it was numbing.

And it really is a good feeling to get up there and make that sound. I'm not stuck in a time warp, because I can use as many of the old songs as I want to, just the favorites.

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

At a festival, a lot of people came to see other artists, so you have to put on a signature set and performance: 'This is what I do, this is why I'm here.' At solo gigs, I'm a DJ - I'll play two-and-a-half hours, and not just my own music, also my favorite songs by other artists.

I think a theater show is a pure version of me doing my material. The theater crowd is a bit more polite, there really aren't hecklers, and there are a lot of people there to see me, and they're excited about the jokes and hanging out with me for a show.

I don't really like doing big stand-up. Whenever I do theaters, I don't like 'em. I don't think they're right for stand-up. I've seen people in theaters, and it just doesn't work, because you're talking to the guy next to you the whole time.

It was so much fun to do, play the blues and then play a Monkees' set on the same night.

I take a lot of pride in my live show and put more energy there than I do in the studio.