Each one with their own Gig from Hell and another looming around the next corner. They don't have an agent. Do their own booking. Getting the gig is often an exercise in massaging the fleeting friendship one has with presenters. Joe and Jane don't have the classic worker vs. management view of their worklives.
Promoters become their friends.
They sleep in their houses. Trade baby pictures. Go out for a beer afterward. They want and need a promoter's success. Not every relationship is like that, but enough to throw the idea of sharing the stage with a non-union opening act into limbo.