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

[orcslayr23]

I live near a few major concert stops: Hartford CT, Worcester MA, and Boston MA. I also live near NYC but I hate driving into the city and the train prices have skyrocketed these past few years, so unless a "bucket list band" comes to NYC, chances are I won't be going to a concert there. The farthest i'll go for a show is 2 hours. I would be willing to travel farther if one of my "bucket list bands" was playing, but as of yet I haven't had the pleasure of "putting my money where my mouth is". Since concerts are expensive, I'd only go only go if I like the bands on the bill and not strictly to "hang out". I usually go by myself to concerts unless a band comes to town that my fiancee likes too. Not too many people I know share my musical tastes.

 

[Justin G]

I'm pretty spoiled living in Northern VA. The big bands - Priest, Sabbath, Maiden - typically play right in my back yard and most tours will make a DC, VA or MD stop. I've travelled to Baltimore, Richmond and Raleigh for shows, but typically only on weekends. Just getting to Baltimore in weekday traffic is insane, but I'll do it on Thursday for Arch Enemy/Kreator and again on Friday for Judas Priest.

And of course I travel for fests like ProgPower USA and Ragnarokkr. I hope to get overseas before too long.

 

[Justin G]

As to the social aspect, I go to almost all of my concerts solo, but depending on the band I usually run into someone I know from Facebook or this forum.

 

[johnfrank1970]

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

Nice to see another Madisonian metalhead! There do not seem to be many of us. No, I do not run Frank Productions. I have only been to five shows in Madison, and I have lived here since 2000. In addition, I went to a few arena shows when I was here from 1989-94 during undergrad, but no club gigs. I also went to several thrash shows at The Rave back in the day. Milwaukee used to be a regular tour stop. Not so much anymore.

 

[TheLongshot]

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!

Yeah, Jaxx used to be the go-to place for all the mid-level and below metal bands, but since the change in ownership, the concerts there have dried up. Unfortunate, since it is 10 minutes from my house.

The bigger acts used to go to the 9:30 club, but I haven't been there in a couple of years. (I think the last show I saw there was Anathema and Blackfield.) The Filmore in Silver Springs seems to be the hot venue, but I haven't been there yet.

But as said above, there are a lot of bands who skip DC and play Baltimore. The thing is, even with us who live in DC, getting to Baltimore on a week night can be a real pain. I did go up to see Amaranth and Within Temptation, but it took me almost 2.5 hours to get up there with all the traffic. To be honest, it has to be someone who I won't likely get in DC any time soon. (The last few bands I saw up there were Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hammers Of Misfortune, and The Mars Volta.)

I've gone as far as Philly for shows, but that was when I was younger and single. (One of Dream Theater "Home For The Hollidays" shows, Transatlantic, Liquid Tension Experiment.)

 

[labrekk]

I attend all concerts from bands I enjoy in Quebec City (pop. 516,000, metropolitan pop. of 765,000), which is only 20-25 minutes driving from my place. Saw Blaze Bayley on Oct. 11. I sadly missed Doro on Oct. 19, could not make it.

I do the 2.5-hour drive (one-way) to Montreal (pop. 1,700,000, metropolitan pop. of 3,800,000) for bands I love that won't play Quebec City. Just did that for Judas Priest (on Oct. 6) and for King Diamond (on Oct. 17). That's about as far as I go usually, save for the last 3 years where I flew to Atlanta for the ProgPower experience.

But, as my wife and I are huge Volbeat fans, we drove 6-hours (one-way) two times to go see them in Clifton Park, NY in 2012 (Iced Earth was opening) and also near Syracuse, NY in 2013. We slept near the venue and it turned out into a little vacation trip both times.

I sometimes made the Quebec City/Montreal back and forth trip alone, but of course, going to concerts with a couple friends is much more fun.
Quebec City being quite small, even if I go to a concert alone, I almost always meet a few people I know.

Voila.

Guillaume

 

[TwizstedJesus]

Erie, PA here. We get shows in Cleveland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh, so everything is within a 2 hour drive which we make maybe 2-3 times a year.
Social networks doesn't really do anything for my attending or not attending shows

 

[DigitalMan]

Cross posting my response from PM-X here:

I live in Colorado Springs. We used to get some pretty decent shows here, but there is almost nothing anymore. So that means I have to drive up to Denver for shows now which is about 1.5 hours away. Denver gets pretty decent shows. I used to go to tons of local and national shows. I met tons of people, primarily through the Colorado Heavy Metal Email List I run, so I used to show up to shows alone and have tons of people to hang out with. Now I almost never go to shows anymore beyond PPUSA and every Rush show.

So why don't I go to shows anymore? Probably lots of reasons combined:
- The drive: 3 hour round trip
- The time: many shows don't get out until 1:30 or 2, and I still have a 1.5 hour drive afterwards by myself
- The job: Have to get up at 6:30 and always seem to have early meetings
- No one to go with: I used to be able to find people to go to shows with, but every single one of them keeps moving away. Much of the fun was taking a road trip with your like minded metal brothers.
- Getting old: I just don't enjoy standing all night anymore
- Anti-social introvert: As I age this seems to be getting even worse
- Lazy: Why go through all this when I can just crash on the couch? Maybe I'll just order their BluRay and watch it from the leather recliners in the home theater.

Guy

 

[LunaTEKKE]

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.

I go alone to plenty of shows - not just rock shows, but also to the Phoenix Symphony and to a lot of local theater productions. Friends or family will occasionally go along, but I don’t know anyone else who is as obsessed as I am! I made my first trip to ProgPower solo, but I've met so many awesome people that the social side is now an important part of the experience for me.

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!

I’ve always seen West for the TSO winter tour and was sooooo tempted to fly East when Russell Allen was performing with them last year. Was thwarted by cost, the time difference making it hard to fly in & out quickly, lack of vacation time, and the possibility of running into snow.

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.

Even though I’m in Phoenix, I miss a lot of shows because I am old and tired, and hate getting up early after being out on a “school night”. I’m not a fan of making the trip between Tucson and Phx (or any trip for that matter) after a show. When I was in college, I drove from Phx to Tucson after a Metallica/Queensryche show. My friends helpfully all fell asleep after the first 5 minutes, and I had to fight to stay awake the whole trip. That scared the crap out of me - now I’ll find a hotel nearby if there is a show out of town that I really want to see.

 

[Diamond45]

I made my first trip to ProgPower solo, but I've met so many awesome people that the social side is now an important part of the experience for me.

I've always gone to ProgPower with SkiBumMSP (Steve). I agree with LunaTEKKE that the social side is an important part of the experience. The first couple of years we didn't know anybody and didn't make an effort to meet people. Now it's the total opposite. For me it's as important (if not more important) than the music. Of course the music is what brought us there (and still does) but I like seeing all my friends there, most of which I don't get to see because we live so far away.

 

[zinescene]

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?

My scenario is almost identical to yours. I live 2 hours from Detroit, 3 hours from Chicago (though the only show I've been to in Chicago was the Chicago Power fest in Lansing, IL). If I go to a show locally it's genuinely because I or my wife like them so we'll go to Joe Louis, DTE Music Theater, Royal Oak Music Theater for shows. More times than not I've gone to ProgPower for the social aspect but I usually end up linking at least half the line up. More recently I haven't gone purely for financial reasons.

It was interesting though because the last show we went to at Royal Oak was Within Temptation and the guys behind us wore their ProgPower USA shirts so we chatted about the festival and the girl who stood in front of us was alone so we started chatting with her. I find that the ProgPower crowds are more social and seem more passionate about the music where as fans of other genres seem just go because there's a concert and they can go get drunk (not that it hasn't happened at progPower lol).

I find as I get older I'm more discriminating about shows I go to and part of that might be for reasons you listed, driving or to far away. As I say that though I bought tickets in April to see Nightwish & Delain in Cleveland OH and that's for the benefit of my wife & daughter who enjoy them now. So I guess we'll see how that goes.

 

[PromisedLand]

I've always gone to ProgPower with SkiBumMSP (Steve). I agree with LunaTEKKE that the social side is an important part of the experience. The first couple of years we didn't know anybody and didn't make an effort to meet people. Now it's the total opposite. For me it's as important (if not more important) than the music. Of course the music is what brought us there (and still does) but I like seeing all my friends there, most of which I don't get to see because we live so far away.

Indeed.. ProgPower was 10x better once we made the effort to meet people.

 

[Clark Griswold]

Living in Lake Charles, LA, I am about 2 hours to Houston, 4 or 5 from Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. I also attend shows in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and even Biloxi,MS (Hard Rock as Kurt mentioned).

I generally go with a friend or two, and I always make it an overnighter.

 

[Hornado]

I live just north of Durham, NC. Sometimes bands come thru Raleigh in the summer, but that's normally the huge draws like Maiden. No prog or power headliners. Nightwish is coming thru Charlotte this spring, but it's in the middle of the week and it's three hours away. 15 years ago that woudn't have been an issue, but with kids and the resulting family life it's a big challenge. Which is why I dig PPUSA so much, for I get away with my son for a weekend, see great bands, and hang with old friends from afar.

 

[gilpdawg]

Let's see here....

I'm 40 minutes from Dayton, OH (shows are rare there nowadays)
90 minutes from Cincinnati and Columbus. (Columbus is getting better, Cincy is declining)
4 hours from both Chicago and Cleveland (so I'll make those drives more than I would like) Also get the occasional Indianapolis or Louisville. Indy is pretty close, about an hour and change, and Louisville is probably 2 1/2 hrs. I basically have to travel to see anybody. And I do. I go to about 8-10 shows per year.