I'm 41, and I've gigged very little.
I've been in a few garage bands in years past, and we typically never got past just doing the garage, an occasional house party, open mic nights, or even once got invited to fill some time with some other music heads at some dive bar. That, or else being in a straight up college band, and playing stupid college gigs, wherever they booked us,... dive bars, rest homes, elementary schools, prisons,...
Honestly, gigging out was never a big priority, but I enjoy playing.
If you can find some really good friends, who are musically in tune with each other, then being in a band can be a lot of fun. On the other hand, if members have wildly different ideas, or maybe infighting or whatever, then being in a band can really suck.
Personally, now I'm at a point where I don't want to put up with people's crap, when a few years ago I'd make certain sacrifices to hook up with band members. Not any more. I have no desire to indulge people's personal whims, other than my own, or those of my immediate family.
Gig or no gig, it doesn't make any difference to me. I may not be 'all that' as a 'playa', but I just do my thing to amuse myself, and if someone else likes it, or maybe other people find it fun to listen to, then that's fine too.
I wouldn't mind hooking up with some really cool players who I clicked with, but that's rather unlikely, because I hardly ever go out, and I really don't know anybody, other than the neighbors and people at work. I don't go to clubs anymore.
It's funny though, that the two houses across the street both have teenage kids with garage bands, who believe it or not play pretty well for their age, so I have fun with that,... mentoring them, helping them with equipment and even recording them occasionally. We trade our demos, etc, just for fun. I'm not sure if they think of me as "old" or a "geezer", ha, but I certainly couldn't presume to sit in with them, because I don't listen to their music, and to a certain extent I can't relate to it either.
I consider myself to be on the tail end of the Beatles' generation, and in the generation of the 70's, [straddling the 60s & 70s], and that's the music I play. Classic Rock, god I hate that term,... more like "Fossil Rock". Haha, that's what it is, Fossil Rock, but I love it! Haha.
I definitely can't relate very well to the "post-Nirvana" generation of contemporary rock music, although I think some new modern rock music is cool, I don't concentrate on listening to it, and I certainly can't play it.
Same with metal,... I like some of it, but don't listen to much of it, and I certainly can't play it.
It would be nice to find other players who I could relate to, where everyone was in tune with each other, and there wasn't a lot of head trips and downside to it all, but until then, I'll be what I am, a solitary man.
Thank god for home recording, 'cause I can throw down tracks just for the fun and pure enjoyment of music. Bands are fun, and I really enjoyed myself when I was in them, but solo recording is as much fun or more so. With a band, I get the highly charged, immediate rush from creating music and playing together, and with recording, I get a rush out of playing all the parts, building up the sound, and doing it myself, to a point where the tape has that 'band' sound when I'm done.
No doubt, I'd venture to say my music and recording is better as a solo production than it was when I was in a band.
Bands are fun, and gigging is fun, I'll give that to ya. Recording solo projects fills that void for me.
