What's the farthest you've traveled for live music


I have only traveled 6 hours for live music, although my wife has seen 124 Grateful Dead shows, so she has me beat big time. I'm not talking about seeing live music because you happened upon a live venue while traveling for work or vacation. I'm talking about finding out one of your favs is playing in L.A., and it's the closest they're playing to your home. You live in let's say Dallas. (I personally live in Rochester N.Y.). You take time off work and board a plane or hunker down for a nasty car ride.
donjr
flown 6000+ miles to watch a concert at Royal Festival Hall (London). done similar distance to watch an opera at Teatro Alla Scala (Milan).

would like to attend the New Year's Day Concert at Musikverin (Vienna), but hv not been successful in tkt draws...
Flew from upstate NY to SF, CA to see Grateful Dead on New Year's eve. No doubt lots of stories like that on this site; the Dead may hold the total fan mileage record. Would not consider anything like that now (and now, unlike then, I can mostly afford it), unless there were other reasons to make the trip as well.

Have now started a modest July 4 tradition of driving 250 miles from home in St. Lou to Iowa City for the Iowa City Jazz Fest, which I recommend. Times do change . . . .

John
Have traveled 250 miles to Lake Tahoe many times over the past 35 years to hear live music. Have found out that some live music can actually be very dead music. And we're not talking Grateful Dead.
When I was in a band we toured the US coast to coast in 2.5 weeks. Four 18 year olds, with a van and trailer. Most memorable summer of my life.
erie pa. to raleigh north carolina to see the black crowes was probably my longest drive,ive also driven to philadelphia,chicago,louisville,washington dc,indianapolis area,washington dc,richmond va.,and detroit for live shows when i was younger and had more time and money to see shows than i do now,im pretty much limited to cleveland/buffalo/pittsburgh shows for the time being

What were you thinking marrying a "dead head". You must have gotten married when you were very young, and single. I mean those people will leave their families to see a Dead concert and they may never come back home.

I traveled about 5 miles to see a Beatles concert at Red Rocks. Now I am virtual and listen to concerts in my listening room. Much more life like and more intimate.
I've traveled from USA to finland, just to watch a nightwish live concert...crazy right?
Drove from Boston to Denver to see the Grateful Dead at Red Rocks in 1982. More recently drove from New Hampshire to NYC, once to see Cream in 2005 then to see King Crimson in 2008. Also drove to Ridgefield,CT from NH to see the Allan Holdsworth Trio at the playhouse a couple of years ago.. I once hitch-hiked from Boulder,CO to Austin,TX in one day to catch the Grateful Dead though I was only able to make it there as the show was emptying out and catch a ride to their next show over in Northern California at Grass Valley.
Horseface. I also saw The Who in '83 in Buffalo. John Cougar and The Clash were the opening acts. I can't remember but would imagine that show cost $15. I know that most of the shows I saw in the early 80's ran from $7 to maybe $9 at most.
I like the smaller venues now. I saw David Byrne this past summer with a crowd of about 4000 and it was great. I also saw The Cranberries a couple of months ago with the same sized crowd and it was great.
I can get to Montreal in about 6 hours and the Montreal Jazz Festival is a killer, with acts from around the world. Canada's a great place for stuff like that because the Canadians don't get hammered and make fools of themselves as seems to be so common in our country. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it's their publicly funded healthcare?
The prices are slightly more than obscene as time progresses. Don't mean to
be a whining old coot but, when you've payed $6.50 a ticket to see Zeppelin
or $5.50 (a ticket and zero service charge) to see Pink Floyd back in the day...
paying $1153.00 (retail) plus almost $25.00 in service fees for of pair of riser
tickets to see The Black Eyed Pees in a basketball stadium is approaching
ridiculous. Yah, the band is excellent and Fergie is smok'in when she
throughs down, but geeeeez! And in a word "no", I'll pass this one
up.

Happy Listening!
Portland OR to NYC

The Allman Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater. It was well worth the trip ... both times. Thinking about Bonnaroo this year or Warren's Christmas jam in NC. Living 4 hours from the Gorge amphitheater makes traveling long distances to shows somewhat of a waste to me. I'm getting to the point where seeing shows in big auditoriums is just not for me. I only do outdoor venues and smaller club settings.

Is it me, or have big live shows become overly commercialized? It's more like going to a movie ... I remember as a kid waiting weeks in anticipation for a big show - buying the album listening it front to back 100 times. I guess it seemed like so much more of a big deal. I remember traveling to see the Who in Denver and seeing them outdoor with about 50,000 screaming fans. It was absolutely crazy and nothing since has even come close. That was 1983 by the way … “It’s Hard” Tour … incredible.
Weather Report? Wasn't that Wayne Shorters band? Please send some Garafalos italian sausage.

I saw Iron Maiden in Toronto in 1986. My buddy went to some college for the recording arts.
From my home(near philly)to Las Vegas to see my all time favorite band--The Outlaws.We have also incorporated concerts into several vacations including two labor day weekend shows at the Pechanga Casino in Temecula,CA.In '07 we saw Lynyrd Skynyrd and the following year it was CCR(Credence Clearwater Revisited).
I went to Hampton Beach, NH from Albany, NY to see Santana.

Other than that, went to Montreal to hear/see Phanthom of The Opera.
Speaking of Rochester, NY; traveled from Oswego, NY in June 1981 to see Weather Report in Rochester (about 75 miles), remains to be one of the most memorable concerts of my lifetime. I guess that's as far as I've gone! not very impressive...
By car, from Detroit to:

1. Philadelphia
2. Toronto (3 times)
3. Chicago (5 times)
4. Red Wing, Minnesota
5. Pittsburgh (2 times)
6. Hammond, Indiana
7. Cleveland (2 times)
8. NY (2 times)

By plane, from Detroit to:

1. Austin, TX
2. LA
3. Las Vegas

all of these just to see Tower of Power. And this isn't anywhere near a complete list. I need help.
Detroit to Pittsburgh to Detroit in one evening to see Richard Thompson play a solo gig on acoustic guitar at the Rosebud March 8,02. It was a great show, and the artisan pizza was nice, custom made to order, a couple of tasty micro brews on tap, and I met and enjoyed the concert with a beautiful young lady and here friends that I met before the show. The lady and I meet again the following year in Chicago, shared another evening of music by RT at the House of Blues, small world. Another fine evening, well worth the drive! Sad to hear that the Rosebud, a beautiful live music venue was no more as of 01/31/04.

But the trip that probably takes the cake, miles wise was Detroit to Alabama, with basically three days to put the trip together for Tom Waits "Glitter and Doom" tour at the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham on July 3, 08. Great seats, first row, mezzanine, just left of center, first time seeing Tom and wow what a trip! Just missed meeting him at a local record store by about ten minutes before the show that afternoon... I would have enjoyed rifling the used jazz records with Mr. Waits. ;^)

Happy (live) Listening!
I lived in N.J. all my life and in 1969 headed to Woodstock in N.Y....A time to remember...
London to see Van Morrison and the Clash in the same week. I'm dating myself.
Jaybo, you've got good taste! For me, it was from Vermont to Toronto for Iron Maiden. Car, then bus, then train. I got into Iron Maiden just after their '85 tour, and always regretted missing that one. They revisited that historic tour on their latest tour, so I had to make it this time. It was worth the trip.
columbus,ohio to los angeles,ca to see the flamin' groovies...by car no less.
just flew across half the nation to catch 3 phish shows in miami to close 2009.
some bands you do it with. phish is one. grateful dead were one.
Went from Albuquerque to Portland, Oregon with some friends for a dead show. It was the seventies and gas was cheap and time was plentiful.
I'm a lightweight myself; but I'll never forget June of '76, and driving from L.A. to San Diego to go to the Kool Jazz Festival. Get a load of this ticket: The Staple Singers; B.B.King; Al Green, and The Temptations headlined!
i've driven about 330 miles from mobile, alabama to see a concert in atlanta, georgia a few times. typically though, i drive to new orleans for live shows and general debauchery.