Me,personally, I like to get to know people who run the concert before I get up on stage. On the occasion when I have an opening act, I like to hear them, too. It's just what I enjoy... not right or wrong. But then, I don't do 300 gigs a year as some friends of mine have. Then, you have to put your own emotional and physical survival ahead of everything else, as Harvey points out. It's no wonder if it seems at times like the busiest performers go onto auto pilot sometimes. Or that they are heavy drinkers. How would you like it if you had a whole room full of people staring at you every night? Sometimes the people who are most critical of performers not wanting to jam after the concert are those who are too terrified to get up on stage to do a single song at an open mike.

Jerry