With an interview with GuitarPlayer, John Petrucci discussed the pressure of performing flawlessly in an era where audiences frequently record shows on their phones. He stated:
“Whenever I’ve got a really difficult part to play, I’ll catch a glimpse of the audience and there’s hundreds of phones pointed at me. Everybody’s filming me, and I know that video is going to go online for hundreds of thousands of people to see. That can mess with your head, if you let it.”
He also admitted that it used to be easier to ignore slip-ups on stage. He said:
“In the days before cell phones and the internet, if you messed up something onstage, it was over and you could just move on.”
John Petrucci On Performing Difficult Songs Live
Even John Petrucci can have concert anxiety. When Petrucci picks up the guitar nowadays, he only practices the challenging songs he will play in concert. In an interview on Ola Englund’s YouTube channel in February, Petrucci explained how he practices for the difficult songs he plays live. He said:
“You can sit there while you’re on tour, practicing that backstage. But then you flash forward to yourself on stage, playing the song and everybody there who bought tickets expecting you to do it. And you’re like, well, really, the only thing I’m responsible for right now is to be able to play my own music. So a lot of times, I will drill the difficult sections of the show. And still not play it right and then walk offstage and be like, ‘Alright I have another day to practice’ and try it again.”
When asked how he deals with fans who are judgmental about his mistakes, he said that the best thing to do is to ignore them. He replied:
“Yeah, you have to kind of block it out. Because if you’re too conscious of that, you’re going to become self-conscious. It’s definitely unnerving. But if you just kind of block it out… Sometimes I set my eye line kind of above people to do that. Because that could freak you out. If somebody’s that close, and you’re playing something that is challenging.”
According to Petrucci What Matters On Stage Is The Connection
Petrucci is all about connecting fan bases through music at live shows. In an interview with Japanese news platform Jrocknews in August, he talked about the music’s international impact and how it can break language barriers. He said:
“Music is an emotional experience. It’s how something moves you as a human being. That could be anything. It doesn’t have to be sensitive or melodic. It could be the heaviest, most crazy stuff you’ve ever heard. The point is there’s an emotional connection.”
After his own depiction of music, Petrucci touched on the unifying power of live shows. He said:
“What I love about playing live is that we have such an international fan base, from Malta to Dubai to Tokyo to California. When you’re on stage and playing music, you see the reaction of the people in front of you, whether they can speak the language or not. Dancing. Moving. Smiling. Singing along, even if it’s just phonetically. Laughing. Crying. Screaming.That’s when the language barrier and the international barriers break down. It doesn’t have to do with where you come from or where you live or what your culture is. It all has to do with the emotional connection.”
You can watch the full interview with Ola Englund where John Petrucci talks about his live performances below.
