the performance of the real

We went back the next night, and it was the exact same songs, but it was totally brand-new. This had nothing to do with last night, this had nothing to do with rehearsal, this had nothing to do with sound check–this was living and being born and coming for your fucking children in the middle of the night right in front of you....

And every time I saw that band it was the same thing–there was never a yesterday, there was never a set they'd played before, there was never a set they were ever gonna play again. Iggy put life and limb into every show. I saw him bloody every single show. Every single show involved actual fucking blood.

From then on, rock & roll could never be anything less to me. Whatever I did–whether I was writing or playing–there was blood on the pages, there was blood on the strings, because anything less than that was just bullshit, and a waste of fucking time.

Scott Kempner in Please Kill Me