John Rzeznik Shares the One Rule He Always Follows on Stage

Goo Goo Dolls singer John Rzeznik avoids “lecturing” audiences when he performs live.

The 60 year old musician wants people to walk away from the band’s concerts feeling “happier and better for it,” which is why he chooses not to share his personal political opinions between songs.

During an interview with Rick Beato for his Everything Music YouTube channel, he said: “I got people, fans, friends from every walk of life, every political stripe, everything.”

“And I always stress, we got one thing in common, because we're living in weird times, we got one thing in common, and that's we're all here to see a show.”

“I'm not going to lecture people about anything.”

“I'm going to play a bunch of songs and we're all going to leave here, and we're going to be happier and better for it. That's it.”

John “doesn't care” about the political views or religious beliefs of those attending his concerts and is simply grateful that they have come to watch him perform.

He continued: “I don't give a s*** who you're voting for, I don't care if you go to church.”

“We've all got one thing in common. That's a start. You've got to work within that little Venn diagram.”

In July, legendary performer Sir Mick Jagger said he also has no desire to discuss politics during Rolling Stones shows because his priority is helping audiences enjoy themselves and briefly forget about the pressures of daily life.

Appearing on The New York Times’ podcast The Interview, he explained: “The bottom line is that my job in the live music world is to [ensure] people that come have the best time they possibly can, and for two hours forget all their problems and the problems of the world.”

“Their mortgages and whatever. Just so they can have the best time.”

“Your job is to make them go more apes***. You don’t want to lecture them.”

Alice Cooper shared a similar opinion in 2018, revealing that he wants his live performances to provide fans with an “escape from the world.”

Speaking to The Guardian newspaper at the time, he said: “I want my shows to take you as far away as possible from politics.”

“It’s supposed to be an escape from the world we’re living in.”