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

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.

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!

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?

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.

I've traveled from USA to finland, just to watch a nightwish live concert...crazy right?