Nickolas Ashford Quotes

I like to say, 'I hit every type of music in a show, and I play the people, not the instruments.'

We would play songs live on stage, and then we'd watch their reaction we were receiving immediately, if people were dancing and singing along. If they weren't, then we'd go into the dressing rooms of the different NBA teams that we were playing in their arenas, and we'd change the songs right there.

Playing live is such a total visceral experience, and really, as a musician, you're trained from the beginning to be a live performer.

For me, performing is the biggest part of being a rapper. There's nothing like the feeling of screaming your story to people.

Set lists are tough because you come up with this structure of how the songs are going to go from one to the next, but at the same time, you have to be spontaneous and take requests and change the set list at the drop of a hat.

Sometimes if you get 'em too drunk they don't pay no attention to what you're doin' anyways, so you might as well just do old songs. But if you get one that's paying attention, sometimes we'll do some new material.

When you are on stage you are having an affair with three thousand people.

The bulk of my set is instrumental and you have to give yourself and the audience some relief because a performance is not about great guitar playing it's really about entertainment.

I am always excited about playing in front of live audiences because I really enjoy it, for the most part.

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

I don't know how other bands play the same songs every night.

I think doing more live stuff's made us feel a certain way about that particular point. I quite like small clubs. I don't really like playing in big clubs, and I think I'm really into the idea of a few people being together.

Each gig should be unique. You're always treading that line between keeping yourself fresh and giving people something they want to hear.

At its best, a live show is completely transcendent. The image I get is breaking through glass or shooting out into the free zone.

The stage is close to being in the middle of the hall, so that the performers are surrounded by the listeners. I feel that we are all experiencing the music together.

It's great when you play to an audience that knows the words to all your songs, and sings them back to you.

From the first time you can look in the paper and you accept that you're the entertainment for some people that night, it becomes so much more enjoyable to play live.

Rock and roll is a contact sport. I enjoy playing the tunes that really get the people going.

The jazz rhythm won't be understood by the bulk of my audience. That's the problem. We can get away with maybe one tune a night. It depends on where we place it. A song like 'Beyond the Sea,' the fans love that. It's fresh.

My live performance, it just comes from feeling an energy and emotion from the crowd.

San Francisco has always been my favorite booing city. I don't mean the people boo louder or longer, but there is a very special intimacy. When they boo you, you know they mean you. Music, that's what it is to me. One time in Kezar Stadium they gave me a standing boo.

I love playing to people and seeing them react.

My shows are always a mix of songs from all my albums with some rocking covers thrown in for fun.

People don't come to my concerts because they know the program. They come because they love the atmosphere and because they know that when I offer them a program it will be a night they never forget.

You get on the radio by writing your own songs. But we had the dilemma of not being able to play anywhere because we weren't able to play anything that anyone wanted to hear. So we learned songs that we thought that we could do without puking.