A Quote by Mike Portnoy

I tend to like the heavier things, especially live on stage. I need that energy and interaction and feeling the audience. — © Mike Portnoy
I tend to like the heavier things, especially live on stage. I need that energy and interaction and feeling the audience.
When I'm on stage, my interaction with the audience is something that really makes me come alive. It's a feeling like no other. The energy of the crowd fuels something new inside. It reminds me to live in the moment.
When I'm on stage, my interaction with the audience is something that really makes me come alive. It's a feeling like no other. The energy of the crowd fuels something new inside.
With Dream Theater live, I may have been a bit of a focal point because I absolutely live for the energy on stage, and having interaction with the audience is absolutely crucial to me - regardless of how some others have described it!
Of course I love when people are quiet, but I also love when people are comfortable. I love when people emote. The flip side of having a totally silent audience is that they're less likely to react to you in the space, and I think that's one of the great things about performing live: you get energy from the audience, and you give energy back to them. There's interaction.
I feel like with our shows it always feels weird to be performers on stage and not engaging in audience interaction in some way - that exchange of energy is very much a part of the sound.
When I'm on stage, I turn into this rock person. I give everything I have. I sing with emotion, I'm loving it up there, and I think there's a lot of energy. In the same way that I'm open when I speak, I'm that open on stage. I feed off the energy of the audience too, so they're feeling what I'm feeling. And the set up is great - I have two drummers and a bass guy so it's just us four.
Live stage is being made as you go along. You feel the energy. There's nothing like a live audience.
I guess I prefer to play live, but I don't want to have only live CDs. I like playing live because there are alot of things that can happen. I can interact with the audience and say some things to get me in trouble. On the other hand, the studio is nice because you can really take your time and make something that you know is the best thing that you can ever do. But nothing beats being up on stage in front of all that energy.
In the same way that I'm open when I speak, I'm that open on stage. I feed off the energy of the audience, too, so they're feeling what I'm feeling.
The one thing that I love about the live audience is the energy level. Like, from the minute of cast introductions, it's just constant energy being traded back and forth. When you do something funny, the audience laughs; when you're being serious, you can, like, feel the tension going through the audience.
I'm always interested in audience interaction. Not so much aggressive audience interaction - I'm genuinely interested in how people see things.
'Full House' was the first time I had ever been in front of a live audience. I said a line I had rehearsed with my mom, and they laughed. It was wild. To have that energy of the live audience was like, Whaaat? Feeding off that live audience was, to a 4 or 5 year old, a high.
In film, the camera can get an array of shots so the audience can see the emotion the character is giving off. Using close-ups on the character's face really helps get the message across. On stage, you can't do that. But the stage has that live feeling that you can't get anywhere else because the audience is right there.
In film, the camera can get an array of shots so the audience can see the emotion the character is giving off. Using close-ups on the characters face really helps get the message across. On stage, you cant do that. But the stage has that live feeling that you cant get anywhere else because the audience is right there.
The world of the stage and the performance on the stage usually does not tend to translate very well - it doesn't tend to hold very well - once cameras are on it; it's not like it's terrible or embarrassing or bad anything, but, I, as an actor, would perform a role differently for an audience than I would for just cameras.
When you've travelled for 34 years as a musician, you do all the culture stuff when you're young and full of energy. In the middle stage, you indulge too much and are scared of daylight. Then, in the final stage, you've seen it all, so you tend to take things a lot easier.
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