How do geography and social networks affect your concert-going?

[johnfrank1970]

I have averaged several shows per year, but I still clearly do not enjoy them as much as many metalheads do. I saw Satan in Chicago on Saturday. They performed well, and their set list was great. I enjoyed seeing them, but I do not know if I would do it again. Traveling 2.5 hrs one way gets really old, as does standing for hours amongst all the farts, butt-stank, and stale cigarette stench.

The stank is ubiquitous at shows for the most part, but most of you frequent concertgoers do not have to travel far to get to shows, right? That seems a bit odd to me given that only about half of the US population lives in the top 50 metro areas in the country where tour stops are a regular occurrence, in general. I realize that even some of these areas get skipped.

So does anyone here not live in or near a regular touring stop? If so, do you travel for shows? How far away?

For the majority of you, which major metro area do you live in? If you also go to shows outside of that area, where do you go?

I guess I still find it a bit weird that I know so few metalheads who live in metro areas with a population of under 400,000 or so.

Are concerts social events for you? I have gone to PPUSA and Chicago Powerfest purely for social reasons, but that is because friends from this board and others were attending.

In almost all other cases, concerts are not a social outing for me. I typically go by myself. I do not know anyone else in the crowd, and I have never met new people at a concert.

What is your experience at concerts in terms of socializing?

 

[Smitdawg]

When I was still living in Mississippi, I would have to drive the 6 hours to Atlanta for pretty much any show I wanted to see, so I would do it for ProgPower USA and maybe 1 other show a year, so I missed a lot of concerts.

Now I am in Louisville, KY and we sometimes get some of the shows which is great, but I generally go to Chicago which is about 4.5 to 5 hours from here 2 or 3 times a year for tours that don't make it to Louisville.

Also, I am normally pretty shy, so I may strike up a conversation occasionally with someone next to me, but I don't generally do much except enjoy the music, even at ProgPower. And it is always a case of me making the trips on my own for any concerts as I don't know many people into metal.

 

[Finn Mac Cuhal]

I live outside Montgomery, AL so Atlanta is usually the closest place to catch most acts. Travel time is about 2.5 to 3 hours and I make most trips in the same day (except for ProgPowerUSA - I stay with a cousin up near Jefferson, GA).

I have weighed trips to Nashville and New Orleans but pursuing such a show would cause a fair bit of strife in my house. It would have to be an absolutely bucket list show for a band I have not yet seen.

It looks like Birmingham (1+ hour away) is starting to get some bands of note. On 10/26, Amon Amarth/Sabaton/Skeletonwitch hit Iron City with Kamelot and Dragonforce coming in May 2015. I will be grateful if that trend holds up.

ProgPower is always a solo event for me although I have met a few people over the past few years with whom I stay in contact. I really enjoyed the Forum lunch this year and hope it continues. When attending events in Atlanta, I frequently recognize other ProgPower alumni as well as people I have seen at other shows.

Meeting people at the concerts themselves is tough. My hearing is sketchy enough that I have trouble conversing even in moderate noise. People might as well be shouting Greek at me if a band is playing!

Other shows I attend are about 50% alone and not one person has attend twice with me (although will change when I take my daughter to see Amaranthe on 10/31). I actually took my pastor to see Sonata Arctica/Delain/Xandria. I hooked him with Sabaton although taking him to see Skeletonwitch seems...ill advised!

I love introducing people to the genre but I am torn on whether I want to attend alone or in a group. Sometimes its great to just cut loose with a bunch of strangers" and other times, I think a group of 4-5 would make it more entertaining.

 

[High Speed Kurt]

I live in New Orleans and find myself going to Biloxi as much as shows locally. Lafayette, LA is about 1:45 away, but I dont like making that drive. Biloxi is a 90 min drive, and most shows are at the hard rock casino, which are over around 945. Im home about normal bedtime.

 

[mattbrood]

I live an hour and 15 minutes from Worcester, MA which is usually on every metal shows tour routing so I attend most that fall on a weekend, except for King Diamond which was on a Thursday..but an exception had to be made!

 

[TychoCelchu]

Meeting people at the concerts themselves is tough. My hearing is sketchy enough that I have trouble conversing even in moderate noise. People might as well be shouting Greek at me if a band is playing!

Same here. Trying to answer someone talking to me during a song is so awkward. I have utmost admiration for bartenders who can tell what multiple people are trying to order throughout a night.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

I live in northeastern PA. I'm approximately two and a half hours from Philly and N.Y.C. and most New Jersey shows are rather easy to get to. So, in the grand scheme of things I'm very lucky because I get to see a shit load of shows.

 

[Diamond45]

I live in Fredericksburg, VA, about an hour south of Washington, DC and an hour north of Richmond, VA. For metal shows, I occasionally go to a place called Empire (formerly known as Jaxx) in suburban Springfield, VA which has been (until recently) where good metal shows of our genre play.

In the last couple of years these bands are either going to other DC venues or skipping DC completely and now playing up in Baltimore, which is about 90 miles north of where I live. That's a bit far to go see a show, but I did see Voyager play there the last time they did a US tour. I would have seen Sonata Arctica there, but they played in Baltimore the Saturday of ProgPower. Some bands have "outgrown" Empire and are playing larger venues. Nightwish will be playing at the Filmore in suburban Silver Spring, MD next May and I'll see them there.

For the most part, ProgPower is about the only event I'll travel a great distance to. However one of these years I'd like to fly west to see a band who is doing a west coast-only tour. Or to see TSO west, as I've only seen TSO east. Maybe next year!

 

[dcowboys311]

I like going all over to see shows and taking a day or two to check out different cities. It's fun to grab some local food & beer and enjoy the sights. So far I've seen shows in Baltimore, Austin, Chicago, Prague, Budapest, and a couple cities through the southeast. Gonna hit up St. Louis this week for King Diamond. Seattle's next on the list.

 

[Diabolik]

Living in a large city I have many clubs of all sizes by me. Reggies is the one that does the most metal shows. It is a short train ride for me there from my apartment. We have smaller places like Cobra Lounge, Beat Kitchen, Live Wire and Red Line Tap for smaller shows which have metal shows on all year long. Then there is also many suburban clubs too which host many metal shows. So I am very spoiled when it comes to shows. Usually to there is two to three metal shows a weekend here and on the weekdays as well.

I used to go to shows by myself or with Jason. From going more and more to shows and meeting new people on facebook, forums and just going to shows I know tons of people at shows so if my usual bunch are not going I have people there to hang out with.

I will also travel overseas once a year to see a festival...so far Germany for Keep it True and Newcastle UK for Brofest. Depending on if a show has some good bands I have no issue with doing a roadtrip to a show out of state.

 

[kellsco]

I live in New Mexico. Many bands will play in Texas, Colorado and Arizona then fly or drive right past me. So I travel often for shows, and always meet up with friends.

Let's see, I've gone to shows in Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C., and Georgia. Most of the shows on the east coast have been large meetups with a large group of people, some local and some traveling like me. The shows closer to home have been just a friend or two that I've met or traveled with. I've also had friends travel here to meet up with me for local shows.

 

[dtfanatic]

And Dallas next month for the King!

 

[March Hare]

Living in Port Huron Michigan it's a minimum 1 hour drive to get to any venue in the Detroit area. If the bands don't skip over us which is happening more and more. I've seen almost as many shows in Toronto, which is a 3 hour drive, than I have in Detroit area this year. I'll also make the drive to Chicago, Grand Rapids, Cleveland or Columbus. Mostly I travel by myself and usually run into a couple people I know at the shows. Most of my current group of friends are people I've met at shows.

 

[jaimek]

I do not live anywhere near a common tour stop (Wilmington has 260k people) - I'm at least 2.5 hours from Raleigh - and consequently I only go to PPUSA and travel to one, maybe two other shows during the year, and I don't generally travel that far JUST to see the show - it needs to also be social to be worth my while. An exception to that rule is when I saw Strato/Sym X/Thunderstone in 2003 - they just happened to be touring in Germany the week I was in Munich, and I made the trip to and from Nürnberg (~2 hours by train) even though I didn't know anyone there.

 

[The Fiddler]

John,

I'm in the same boat as you are in. Live in Madison, Wisconsin. Have to go to Chicago or Minneapolis for concerts to see the progpower bands I like. Did see Iced Earth and Sabaton at The Rave in Milwaukee earlier this spring however. Very few good shows there (or at least progpower acts).

Did that a lot of road tripping my 30s in the 2000s, but I rarely do anymore – precisely for the reasons you stated. Too bad Madison doesn't have more of a metal community given that it's the second largest city in Wisconsin and a big college town.

I'm guessing you run Frank Productions here in Madison?

 

[kellsco]

And Dallas next month for the King!

When New Mexico and Florida meet in Texas!

 

[jem777az]

Living in the Phoenix AZ area we get most shows, but it's only a 2hr drive to Tucson which gets some good shows that Phoenix does not. If all else fails LA is only 6-7 hours and they get every show known to man. So I guess I'm pretty lucky with regards to the concerts that I'm able to go see.

 

[Keir]

I live in the Boston area, though most of the shows I go to are in Worcester, MA (either The Palladium or Ralph's Diner) which is about an hour away by car.

From my first show in 1988 until 2011 I only went to shows with other people. If I didn't have anyone to go with I didn't go. It can be more fun to go to a show with someone you know, but this meant that from about '97 to '11 I was averaging 1 show per year. Then, on 7/6/11, I went to a Lizzy Borden show in RI. It was the first time I had ever gone to a show by myself and I decided that day I wasn't missing any more shows just because I didn't have anyone to go with. Unfortunately, work and family have still kept me from going to very many (only 4 so far this year).

In the early years (1988 to the early 90s), going to shows was a very social thing for me. In addition to the people I went with I would always find other people I knew at the show. Nowadays, even though I rarely see anyone I know at a show, I usually will end up talking to at least one other person. If not, it's not a big deal.

 

[Rezz]

From my first show in 1988 until 2011 I only went to shows with other people. If I didn't have anyone to go with I didn't go.

That used to be me too. I live in Spokane, Wa which is on the extreme eastern side of the state. Most bands stop in Spokane for gas and then continue over to the coast to play Vancouver -> Seattle -> Portland and then continue on south. I used to make 5-6 trips to Seattle per year (~5 hour drive), the annual pilgrimage to Atlanta (been to most of them since IV) and rare flights elsewhere (Chicago, Denver, NYC, Paris) over the years. 2 years ago my regular cadre of concert buddies all bailed on me in the months leading up to ProgPower for various reasons. I *almost* didn't attend that year because I didn't want to do it alone, but my desire to see the fest (and the fact that I had already paid for everything except the hotel and food) finally won out, so I found a roommate on these forums and had a great time. I still try to go to shows with friends if I can, but my wife isn't into metal and I don't really have any friends who are either, but I don't let that stop me from going to shows anymore.

I did, however, buy 3 tickets to see Nightwish here in Spokane in April. My wife and daughter will be accompanying me. My daughter is excited. My wife just rolled her eyes and went to find her ear plugs.

 

[seh750]

For the majority of you, which major metro area do you live in? If you also go to shows outside of that area, where do you go?

Are concerts social events for you?

I live in a suburb of Portland, OR. A lot of concerts I go to are in town, although on the other side, so about 30-45 minutes away. I also occasionally see shows in Tacoma (2 1/2 hours), Seattle (3+ hours), Vancouver BC (6-8 hours), Atlanta GA (5 hour flight), Los Angeles CA (2 hour flight), or Las Vegas NV (2 hour flight). Go to probably 15-20 shows/year.

I go to a lot of shows by myself as most of my friends don't enjoy the same music I do. So really it's about the music for me. My wife comes with me sometimes, but she only likes some of the lighter end of the metal spectrum. I've seen quite a few Top 40 pop artists with her as well. I have one friend who's really into techno and industrial, but he's a total flake and stands me up a lot, so I'm picky about the shows I agree to see with him. Recently made new friends at work with a couple who like progressive and power metal and we've seen a few metal shows together and they've invited me to some shows of bands I've never heard of, more alternative hard rock than metal but I go to be social and often learn of some new good music in the process.

I really enjoy talking with people sitting near me at ProgPower, but I definitely go for the show more than to socialize. I tend to go to sleep when the music's over each night, don't hang out at the after parties.