I don't know, when I was a kid, when I would see shows that changed my life, I would go to see shows where there was my mother taking us to see classic rock concerts, like Zeppelin, or when I saw Pink Floyd or when I saw, you know, when I was a little older, and I saw Nine Inch Nails, and I saw The Cure.
I've been to two concerts in the last 10 years.Bob Seger and the Eagles.
Ultimately, people do want to buy merch and tickets to support their favorite bands, but they don't want to feel like it's the only thing going on.
What excites me is doing shows now. I don't really get excitement from doing music because you never know what your music is going to bring. It seems like now it's all for nothing.
I've seen every one, from Motley Crue to John Denver, with tears running down my face. I had no idea everyone had such a hard time.
My love is new music, I tend to go and see a lot of bands, while [co-producer] Mark Cooper spends his time reading the press. It's often the new acts that strike a chord, because they aren't seen on other shows.
Most of the people at my headline shows are in their 20s, but it varies a ton: like, I've had a six-year-old hug my leg after the show and a 60-year-old shake my hand. It's cool to see people connecting with the music across different generations.
I spend most of my time at concerts hoping for that one second that the artist looks at me, I look at the artist, and that's when I get to say, 'Thank you.'
I would do nightclubs and concerts - particularly concerts, which is mostly what I did - and only people who already agreed with me would show up. People weren't going to come and inadvertently turn on their television set and find this offensive stuff coming out.
Most women can't handle the reality of what comes with being with me. It takes a very secure woman to be backstage at a concert hearing 15,000 females going crazy.
The live concerts are still one of the two greatest joys of my life.
We toured with Iron Maiden and we opened and they'd come in later and I didn't have a lot of time to get to hang out with those guys. Whenever you did, whether it was sitting down at catering or something, you tried to take advantage and just hang out and talk and trade stories.
I never went to rock concerts when I was a kid. I didn't see any rock & roll bands.
I literally wouldn't have dreamed of it in a million years that I'm going to be standing there with George (Strait) and Garth and Kenny (Chesney) and Reba (McEntire) and Brooks & Dunn. I don't really have any clue what I'm actually doing with those people because I feel like I'm still just getting started and I've seen them all in concert and they're all my heroes.
When you tour as much as I do, you're always on the road, and you tend to gravitate toward cities where you're like, 'Every time I'm in that city, the shows are fun.'
The best thing about being on tour is meeting the fans.
If you watch Michael Jackson [1992] concerts from Budapest and compare it to a Madonna concert of today, you'll see such uplifting beauty and a message that you won't see in any other artist of our time.
As music becomes less of a thing--a cylinder, a cassette, a disc--and more ephemeral, perhaps we will begin to assign an increasing value to live performances again.
Not many shows bring fans and artists together, and 'Rock Dinner' is one of the few shows that does it. Every opportunity I get to get closer to one of my fans - and get to know them and talk to them - I'm always going to take that opportunity with arms wide open and make it a priority.
We started out as a bar band. We were sometimes playing in front of 20 people.
Onstage I've been hit by a grapefruit, beercans, eggs, spit, money, cigarette butts, Mandies, Quaaludes, joints, bras, panties, and a fist.
I grew up in Iowa, so we had Cheap Trick come through a lot, but some of the other acts were a little harder to find.
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.
Growing up, I was a little hippie kid. I went to some good concerts... Amnesty International with Bob Dylan and Tracy Chapman... The best concert I ever went to was this one at the Cow Palace my freshman year in college on New Year's Eve. It was Pearl Jam opening for Nirvana opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I like to talk about things when it pertains to a band. I like to talk about things that matter and music.
