On accepting the role and playing the part

From Maclean's interview with Gord Downie:

Q: You are a showman of epic proportions, and yet offstage you are a very different person. Where do you go when you get up on stage?

A: I surrender. I throw myself on the altar of song and I see my own personal musical life in fast flashes of faces and names and colours and sounds and I get lost in the euphoria of standing up there like Howlin’ Wolf or Otis Redding or David Bowie with a mike in my hand and an audience that’s ready.