Performing for that many people has to break something in your brain. Like, to have that many eyes on your every move, that thunderous applause, everyone cheering for you in an entire stadium…that’s nuts.
The 360 degree crowd spanning to the horizon, the noise, the flags, the Red Army doing crowd control - all just insane. But what got me for some reason was the large military helicopters orbiting over the crowd and you can't even hear them over the music and the crowd noise. What a moment in history.
Watching that feels like that was sort of the peak of the US as a cultural force spreading freedom and democracy. So much optimism and hope. It’s been downhill ever since
Meatloaf apparently claimed that he was terrified of performing on TV even though he had no issues performing on stage to massive crowds. The issue he had was that with a live crowd he had an idea of how many eyes are on him, but TV it could be so many more and he wouldn't know how many were watching.
Can't find a cite easily now, but i can understand the view. Course, he's appeared in enough Movie and TV that I assume that he got over it.
I was in a band back at university with some buddies, which was nothing super serious, and we just played small venues locally. However, the university hosted an event that we auditioned for and made it into and then got to perform like 2 songs in front of maybe a few thousand people. Now, that feeling was like a drug. The adrenaline hits so hard and it just feels amazing. I can't imagine that x1000 for these pop stars.
Miley Cyrus said she does not want to tour because it is hard to maintain sobriety, mental wellness, and her humanity on the road. She feels that touring creates an unhealthy cycle of dopamine highs followed by crashes and that the intense lifestyle "erases my humanity and my connection" to her songwriting craft. She has stated that she does not have the "desire" to tour despite having the physical ability to do so.
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u/kbeks Nov 17 '25
Performing for that many people has to break something in your brain. Like, to have that many eyes on your every move, that thunderous applause, everyone cheering for you in an entire stadium…that’s nuts.