Plus, you know, when I was young, there was a lot of respect for clowning in rock music - look at Little Richard. It was a part of the whole thing, and I always also believed that it released the audience.

The audiences are there as a result of my history with the band but also as a result of my being able to reach people with a tune.

I hadn't performed by myself in a while. It feels very natural to me, and I assume people come for the very same reasons as they do when I'm with the band: to be moved, for something to happen to them.

But the star thing I can live with. The music I can't live without. And that's how it lays out for me, you know. I got as big an ego and enjoy the attention.

The life of a rock & roll band will last as long as you can look down into the audience and see yourself.

There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.

I think politics come out of psychology.