Imagine, if you will, playing at least 10 shows a week for a major production. That’s what the guitarist for Cirque du Soleil gets to do. Yeah, you dress up in a costume for each show, but you get to rip it up! I just saw the show this evening (my wfie and I are in Vegas), and the guitarist playing in the band was a monster with great chops!
His chops were excellent, and it appeared he got to do lots of free-reign soloing! Of course, a lot of what he played was by the chart, but there were several parts in the show where it seemed he was able to just run freely. But irrespective of that, I’d love to have a gig like that where I can play every day in one city – it would be my job.
Maybe it might get old, but with a family, it would be tough being on the road all the time. For me at least, with a gig like this, you do two shows a day at 7pm and 9:30pm, you have Thursday and Friday off, and you play five days a week! If it’s a great-paying gig, well, I could hopefully support the family.
Unfortunately, once guys land these kinds of gigs, they rarely, if ever leave. I suppose you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time…
Guitar Gear 
Cirque has some of the best musicians I have ever seen. The music is always innovative and, if you think about the logistics of what they have to do (cuing from the acts), pretty amazing. The musicians also occasionally have to get off the stand and become part of the action (in Kooza, one of their travelling shows, the drummer’s kit was dragged center stage and the drummer did a solo while some rigging was brought down; in Allegria, the musicians formed a procession that marched behind one of the main characters in one section of the show). I often spend as much time watching the musicians as the acrobatics at their shows.
Also, if you were in Vegas, you saw one of their fixed shows. Now think about doing this and getting the sound right for a travelling show – granted, the tents are big and are semi-permanent structures that get put up the same way in every location, but the logistics of all of this – getting the costumes, performers, sound systems, etc. in the right place at the right time – is daunting. And the incredible thing is that they carry it off without a hitch, setting up in one city for 3-6 weeks, tearing it all down and moving to another city to set it all up and do it over again.
Just. Freaking. Amazing…