How far have you travelled to see a band

[grumpyhack]

One way of rating a band is how far you will travel to see them.

There are some bands you'll only bother to see if they are playing locally. Others you might go 20 or 30 miles to watch. Some you'll go 100 miles or more for.

How far have you travelled to see a band? (Going to a festival like Glasto where you see lots of people doesn't count)

One of mine was Paris to see the Rolling Stones (although only really because we were starting a two week holiday in France anyway and re-jigged our route to kick off at the Stade de France). But I've got a friend who has travelled over 500 miles just to see Stones concerts.

I also saw Ray Charles at the Cognac Blues Festival but, again, only because we discovered when we were on holiday near there anyway that he was playing. So glad we did as it's a concert I'll never forget.

The most I've really done just for a band is about 150 miles to London to see Springsteen and 100 miles to Birmingham to see Neil Diamond. Both were well worth it.

Edited March 14, 2009 by grumpyhack

[Mardy]

Flew from Moscow to see London to see Prince at the O2 the other year. Definitely worth it

Flew to Vienna last year to see Leonard Cohen. Fantastic gig.

[Mardy]

ooh, I've thougth of some more. I travelled from Kent to Newcastle to see Blur on the parklife tour in '94.

I also followed Billy Bragg around on tour a couple of times, up from the south east, through the north and on to scotland. It was fun.

Living in Margate, the closest to see a gig was London, so for any gig at all (and I saw a lot, literally hundreds, when i was younger) it was the best part of 100 miles every time

[spite_and_malice]

I travel to Manchester for most of my gigs, which isnt far really I mean its like a 45 minute train drive but. Furthest I've travelled is either to Milton Keynes for Linkin Park or into Whitechapel to see Pete Doherty. Who I dont really like but a mate wanted to go so I went.

[Funkfarley]

I travelled to London and backj in a day to see Turin Brakes at Somerset House. Fabulous gig...not as far as some peeps have travelled but its made up for the fact that they aren't a big mainstream band.

[sungubala]

Hmm lets see then. These are just the ones off the top of my head.

I was touring Japan a little while back...got a phone call from Tom Jones asking if I wanted to come to one of his gigs. We had 2 nights off, so I hopped on a plane to New York and then back over the next day. Thoroughly worth it, even though I was a little bit tired for the net gig!

So I guess thats UK - Japan - USA then!

I travelled out to Australia to see Jason Mraz, another close friend, travelled to USA to see Will Smith and so on.

I've travelled to see gigs in all 6 continents and the list is endless ...so I guess thats pretty far.

Edited March 14, 2009 by sungubala

[disasterplan44]

Western Australia to London to see Muse at Wembley, both nights, of course.

[The_Spoon]

I've travelled from Brighton, UK to Portland, Oregon, USA with my girlfriend of the time (her idea initially) to see the final two Sleater-Kinney performances back in 2006. Although we did make a 2 week holiday out of it, it's fair to say we wouldn't have done the trip had it not been for them playing.

Yes it was worth it - After shopping around, it wasn't even too expensive.

EDIT - I'll travel to most places in the UK to see bands of pretty much any size, usually because we get a couple of people togeather and make it a weekend long road trip with a concert somewhere in there. It's always great fun.

Hasn't been done for a while now though.

Edited March 14, 2009 by The_Spoon

[ivan]

Back in 99 me and a mate went snowboarding but had a night in Barcelona first.

Met some English lads in a sort of jazz club in the early hours.

Earlier one of their group , reading a newspaper said

"Manic Street Preachers are playing a club gig tonight in Barcelona " ,

They went to the venue and paid on the door.

When they told me some four hours later , I was well sorry for myself .

[18Alex18]

The furthest I've done was 146 miles last summer to see Bruce in Cardiff.

[themuel]

I went to Berlin the year before last to watch The Cat Empire, bloody brilliant!

[Bez16]

Back in 2006 i flew over to Boston for a weekend with my dad to see two Dylan shows when he had the raconteurs supporting- totally worth it. So thats London-Boston for me

[Rachie]

For Pulp, i went to Edinburgh and London and everywhere in the middle. lol.

[JoeyT]

i watched the enemy at ibiza rocks last summer. great gig, bumped into the lads the night after at a bar. if anyone was thinking about watching an ibiza rocks gig i'd highly recommend, can't fault the organization of the event at all.

[Josie's Cat]

I'm sure I've disappeared up my own arse sometimes, does that count?

Pretty exclusive gig, that one!

[Joshuwarr]

Well I can't really answer this because I'm used to my favourite local bands playing anyway. I don't tend to follow bands who alienate their fans and play one off gigs on the other side of the world because its ALL about the live shows to me

[chrisdebag]

i have seen springsteen in milan twice barcalona three times gothenburg twice paris twice

[Funkfarley]

For Pulp, i went to Edinburgh and London and everywhere in the middle. lol.

[somecoolusername]

I followed Blur on tour and will be doing the same again this summer..... they're playing a gig in France and I'm seriously tempted!

Been to Wales a couple of times for decent gigs.

But generally I think I'm pretty lucky to live in London, you don't have to get too far off your ass for gigs.

[DirkDiggler]

Drove to Amsterdam last november with Bromheads Jacket for a gig. Rate good night.

[Winston Legthigh]

Western Australia to London to see Muse at Wembley, both nights, of course.

[suchacharmer]

I've flown from Minneapolis to Seattle (2.5 hour flight) to see Oasis and Ryan Adams, but I'll be beating that this summer when I fly Minneapolis to London for Blur at Glasto and Hyde Park.

But for me nearly every band I see is a bit of a journey as I usually get only 2-3 bands I like in my hometown per year, I usually have to go 3 hours to Chicago, or 6 hours to Minneapolis...and I do these journeys usually 20-30 times per year. It's worth it though.

The most involved trip I've done is 1 hour to Milwaukee for Kings of Leon on Friday, 1 hour back to Madison. 4 hours to Minneapolis the next night only to find out they canceled at the last minute, than 3 hours back to my parents house that night. Then 6 hours to Chicago the next night for KOL again, and finally 3 hours back to Madison that night to finish the trip. Looking back, I'm not sure that trip was worth it, but at the time it was a blast.

[cabstar]

Went to Brisbane in 2000 to see Supergrass play the Arena in the infamous Foritude Valley supported by Eskimo Joe.

Going to See Simple Minds in Edinburgh this year which is approx 300 miles each way Glasto is 303 miles from our house

[MOONCHILD]

Went to Amsterdam from Newcastle to see The Police (was cheaper, easier and definitely more fun than London or Cadiff )

If we have the money I love travelling to see a band - Glasgow is a particularly good place to go - saw Maximo Park there and also Carter USM at the Barrlowlands...

[joelovesleeds!]

Went to Paris to see the Killers a few years back- again it was cheaper considering the prices on ebay!