Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik doesn’t “lecture” his fans during live shows.
The 60-year-old singer-songwriter wants concert-goers to leave his gigs feeling “happier and better for it” after seeing him live, so he tries not to convey his own political beliefs in between tunes.
Speaking to Rick Beato on 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 his fans’ political or religious beliefs, and is just pleased to see them in the audience at his shows.
He added: “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, veteran rocker Sir Mick Jagger insisted he isn’t interested in getting political during Rolling Stones concerts, because he just wants fans to have a good time and forget the stresses and strains of everyday life.
Speaking 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.”
In 2018, Alice Cooper admitted he wants his concerts to be an “escape from the world” for fans.
He told The Guardian newspaper at the time: “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.”