Paul Simonon Quotes

Music was an experience, intimately married to your life. You could pay to hear music, but after you did, it was over, gone - a memory.

Musicians are there in front of you, and the spectators sense their tension, which is not the case when you're listening to a record. Your attention is more relaxed. The emotional aspect is more important in live music.

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.

There's nothing to compare to live music, there just isn't anything.

When people pay to see you live, they connect with you on a much deeper level than people who just buy your records.

Bonnaroo is the most significant festival in the country. I can sometimes just get caught up in the moment and listening and say, 'Oops, I gotta go sing now.'

There's nothing better than live music. It's raw energy, and raw energy feeds the soul.

People discover you at festivals. They come to see Coldplay or whoever, and then wander over and catch your act. Festivals make a lot of sense to me.

I think the only festival I ever went to was Warped Tour.

Immediate, simultaneous connection between the audience and a performer is crucial to me. It's why I do what I do. Other things, like recording, are satisfying, but they're not the same. I love the connection I get with the audience when I'm sitting behind that piano.

Music is so much fun because each song is like a film in itself. You get to go from beginning to end and interact and exchange energy with a live audience.

My favourite two festivals have always been the Big Day Out and Summersonic in Japan. The Big Day Out is a little more fun because it lasts longer. It's like an abbreviated version of the Warped tour because you get to play with the same people every day, which is really fun.

The reason I love Lollapalooza is because it's a great music festival.

Whatever I do, I'm always struggling to create a visceral experience. With my music, I'm more of a live performer these days. And film is such a different thing. It's where people sit in a dark theater. I want them to feel me as viscerally as if they were at a live show.

During any performance, I love to connect with the crowd and hope fans leave my show feeling happy.

When you see a band, you want to see characters.

I've seen Coldplay live a couple of times, and you feel like you just got rained over with glorious, glowing love. That's a good feeling to leave people with.

When I go to a live show, I want to be moved. That's why you do it. And it's not very often that a band will move you live.

We think of the Warped Tour as kind of like everyone's big birthday party.

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

There's just a completely different vibe at festivals. Everyone gets to hang out and enjoy their favorite music all day. I really do try and play as many festivals as possible!

Apart from working on music, I'd rather play big festivals than almost anything else.

With so many ways to communicate at our disposal, we must not forget the transformative power of a live music experience and genuine human exchange.

There is something about live albums that I enjoy so much more than studio albums from all of my favorite artists. When I am listening to them live, I get to connect so much more to their truth than in studio albums.

I've been to the Reading festival twice before-as a punter, though I stayed backstage in the hospitality tent!