When I was growing up, there were a few musicians who would have regular gigs at restaurants, and I always thought it was so cool and unexpected how they would spontaneously perform. Being the ambitious kid that I was, I got into it and really studied it. I was so inspired by it.

Borns

I'm pretty lucky to work on both 'CSI: NY' and 'Supernatural.' Not bad gigs!

My grandfather, Arthur Baskerville, he played and still plays a little bit piano and trombone, and so when I was a kid, I always heard jazz around the house, but I also went to his gigs, whether it be a Saturday brunch in my hometown Columbus, Ohio. We'd go and hear him play with some of the local musicians.

Aaron Diehl

Music Home Art

I'm waiting for them to come up with a 'Star Trek' thing so they can beam me from my house to the gigs and back.

Aaron Neville

Wit Waiting Wait

Comics are regularly asked to perform for impossible rooms. They're called 'hell gigs.'

Adam Conover

T Rooms Room

At a festival, a lot of people came to see other artists, so you have to put on a signature set and performance: 'This is what I do, this is why I'm here.' At solo gigs, I'm a DJ - I'll play two-and-a-half hours, and not just my own music, also my favorite songs by other artists.

Afrojack

Nature Music Art

I went to see Billy Connolly do two hours with no break at the Apollo, with Parkinson's disease, during the winter, and it was one of the most important gigs I have seen in my life.

Aisling Bea

Life Wit Winter

I see myself as a comic but the acting helps sell tickets for gigs.

Alan Davies

Tin Tickets Ticket

Folk rock was my real roots. I did a few gigs as a folk artist, in the style of Fairport Convention.

Alan Parsons

Art Vent Tis

One of my least favourite gigs was a festival. There weren't many people there and they were all talking.

Aldous Harding

Were Talking Talk

I get nervous about gigs sometimes, but not with records - I always get excited.

Alex Turner

Time Wit Ways

I sign up whatever live shows I get simply because every gig is a chance to reach out directly to the audience. When it comes to gigs, I try mixing personal picks with what the audience demands.

Amit Trivedi

Chance Wit Whatever

Basically, I live to do gigs.

Amy Winehouse

T Live Gigs

I've never relied on one job and usually have a few different gigs going.

Ana Kasparian

Usual Us T

After my day at the Uni winded up, I used to go and perform gigs - I used to look forward to playing in front of an audience. It was when people came to me and gave me positive feedback that I got the confidence to pursue this as a dream.

Ananya Birla

War Positive Yin

We've always got to look for opportunities for our English coaches to get more experience than just doing county coaching gigs. They need to do more than that if they're going to be viable candidates for England jobs going forward.

Andrew Strauss

War Experience Ways

I do radio gigs, three-minute spots, solo shows, so I still get plenty of practice at the sniper attack - me at a piano or with a guitar, having to win people over fast.

Andy Grammer

Wit Win Till

The early gigs were pretty panicky - and great, sweaty fun. We were brand new to most people, and they were willing to take anything brand new, for the first time in years.

Andy Partridge

Time Great Years

I remember one of the first gigs I played with that amp was at a local church. They wanted someone to fill in with the guitar and my friend say, 'Ah, he can play.' And so I dragged the amplifier down and started playing and everybody started yelling 'turn it down!'

Angus Young

Art Yin Yelling

I'll do two gigs on a Saturday night until four o'clock in the morning, wake up, and do drag brunch on a Sunday, and then another party Sunday night. I definitely take what I do very seriously.

Aquaria

Morning Art Wake Up

Before really high-pressured gigs I tend to freeze and crawl into bed. Under the covers you just feel safe for a little while.

Ardal O'Hanlon

You While Us

I am focusing more on overseas gigs, as my international fans do not get a chance to be a part of my live concerts, as they visit India once in a blue moon.

Armaan Malik

I may have done an every-night gig in Hong Kong because I was there for almost 16 years, and in Manila, Philippines, I did gigs there.

Arnel Pineda

Now I'm fortunate to have a good band in CA, and play many solo gigs as well. My point is that I stopped playing in bands and played solo for four years, to get back into the groove and pulse of writing and singing and who I am on stage.

Arthur Godfrey

In Japan, you get on the bullet train or the airplane, and I loved the little speeches the stewardesses would do. They even do little speeches before you play gigs.

Beck

I used to do this big rant at the end of some gigs with Ben Folds Five. The band broke into this big heavy metal thing and I started as a joke to scream in a heavy metal falsetto. I found myself saying things like: Feel my pain, I am white, feel my pain.

Ben Folds

I went around driving myself to gigs everywhere, and eventually, people just kept coming back.

Ben Howard

Just to be around that, to feel a part of it and be able to integrate the experience while I was with the Messengers, of going and playing gigs with other drummers, gave me the chance to realize that it was not just me that was making it happen.

Benny Green

I've had some great gigs and had horrible ones. I always look at the horrible ones, and think there's got to be something in this that I can use later in my show. It all pays off in the end.

Bianca Del Rio

The best practice you can get is on the bandstand, but in between gigs I feel I have to stay in shape.

Bill Bruford

I have been passed over on some things because people didn't think I was edgy enough. But the people who took those gigs are gone now, and I am still here.

Bill Engvall

As my wife says, I'll never fully retire, but it'll start to slow down. I'll continue to do the local gigs or go to Las Vegas. But I won't be going out to Ohio to play an Indian casino anymore. Those will probably go by the wayside.

Bill Engvall

I came into this whole business by going to see Rock Against Racism gigs with the Clash.

Billy Bragg

When I was growing up, there were a few musicians who would have regular gigs at restaurants, and I always thought it was so cool and unexpected how they would spontaneously perform. Being the ambitious kid that I was, I got into it and really studied it. I was so inspired by it.

Borns

I've been to two stadium gigs in my life. One was James Brown and the other was Pink Floyd. They both sounded the same. I couldn't tell the difference between James Brown and Pink Floyd. I've never liked stadiums.

Boz Burrell

Placebo is music for outsiders, by outsiders and our gigs are like conventions of outcasts, which is cool.

Brian Molko

As black Americans continue to be insulted and dismissed by protected white liberals, the Black Talented Tenth will continue to benefit from political donations, speaking engagements, national media presence, accolades as the official black leaders, and perpetual gigs on MSNBC and CNN.

Burgess Owens

I originally envisioned myself doing something with the suffix 'ology' at the end of it, like marine biology or entomology. But after I started to do some acting gigs, I thought it wasn't a bad thing... I said to myself, 'I might as well keep riding this bus until the wheels fall off.'

Callan McAuliffe

Well, I actually first got into music as a small child, and as I became a teen, I sought out making money from music, weather that was singing lounge gigs, backup in studios, or weddings.

Chantal Kreviazuk

As a stand-up, as a storyteller, as an improviser, I've done thousands of shows. They allow me to work out new material that might turn into something later. They let me keep my muscles sharp for when the rent-paying gigs do come along. They keep me sane.

Chris Gethard

Sometimes I get gigs in weird, artsy places because weird, artsy people embraced my public-access show, which I could only have done in the way I did in New York.

Chris Gethard

After college, I was burdened with student loans to repay, no financial cushion, so I wasn't in a position to bet everything on a creative-writing career - neither the writing-workshop academia life nor the freelance-writer version, trying to scrape by on short stories and house-painting gigs.

Chris Pavone

I've always felt that if people just came to one of my gigs, all would be revealed.

Chris Rea

Swimming and athletics are the big gigs at the Olympic games. Cycling and rowing are pretty big for Britain, but globally, the two big things are athletics and swimming.

Clare Balding

I cannot wait to come back to Glasgow. I know the place like the back of my hand. In fact, one of the jobs I had as a student was in Cineworld. And I was always at gigs in King Tut's, Nice 'n' Sleazy's and the Barras. I played Ultimate Frisbee down on Glasgow Green and pulled pints in O'Neill's on Queen Street.

Colin Morgan

I'm a big fan of live music and going to gigs, but I'll leave it to the professionals.

Colin Morgan

In my case, I've always been interested in law enforcement. I've always dabbled in law enforcement in between gigs, quite honestly. Back before things really began to pop off for me, I would work in private security for companies and stuff.

Corey Reynolds

Growing up, my parents did everything they knew how to do to support me. My dad was always kinda my roadie; he drove me from gig to gig. But I got my own gigs. I was this 12-year-old kid, shuffling business cards, calling people, telling them I wanted to play.

Crystal Bowersox

I knew from the time I was 6 or 7 that music was something I had to do. Growing up, my parents did everything they knew how to do to support me. My dad was always kinda my roadie; he drove me from gig to gig. But I got my own gigs. I was this 12-year-old kid, shuffling business cards, calling people, telling them I wanted to play.

Crystal Bowersox

MySpace is just spam central. I mean, every day I just get mail inviting me to gigs that are nowhere near Los Angeles!

Curt Smith

When we started out in the U.K., there were songs that we made, we put them on the Internet, and we immediately started touring the U.K. We borrowed our friend's mum's car, and drove ourselves around for, like, a year playing gigs in pubs and tiny little venues. In that respect, we're pretty grass roots as a band. We've done all that together.

Dan Smith