I considered flying to Hawaii for a weekend to see Pink Martini after missing them in Cali.

Though I've traveled pretty far to play live music, I've never traveled very far to see live music. My friends and I, however, have been talking about flying to Las Vegas to see Prince perform at his 3121 club.

Travel "on purpose?"

NFS Audio and I once went from San Francisco to Boulder, CO to see Bruce Cockburn. Caught the last bus out of town...

We also went to Chicago to catch The Drovers and their perfect rendition of "Sympathy For The Devil." Think The Pogues plus Flogging Molly plus The Chieftans all getting together for a 20 minute over the top never to be repeated extravaganza of Sympathy.

I also recall a Chicago trip to see that great reggae star Smokey do his version of "I Want To Be Like Mike" (The Gatorade song.) He was opening for The Wailing Souls. We also got thrown out of Trader Vic's for reasons I won't divulge, and caught a Gloria Gaynor show. Let me tell ya, you ain't lived until you've seen Gloria sing "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "I Will Survive" live and in person.

We also went to New Orleans with the wives and saw somebody else, but for some reason, I'm repressing who it was.

Geez, that's alot of NFS Audio!

I went from Las Vegas to Seattle to see another Bruce Cockburn show.

Hmmm, I went from Las Vegas to NYC to see Joan Osborne with JA. I bet he doesn't remember me.

Katy and once went to Miami to catch a Stones show with a buddy, then he came to Anaheim for a bicoastal Stones shindig.

Back in the day, when I was 15, I hitchhiked from Reno, Nevada to the Cow Palace in San Francisco for my first Stones shows. Saw the first one, then slept in the hills behind the Cow Palace with some "counter culture" types who were very cool. Caught the second show the next day and then I got a ride to Fairfax, Ca with this girl and her friends and eventually got a ride home when she went to Lake Tahoe and I met up with some friends from town while we were at Hidden Beach. I still have that T-Shirt somewhere, but it don't fit me no more.

Yikes, it adds up. I will cease and desist now.

wow hitchhiking across 2 states, a great story. I once braved Los Angeles' public transit system in order to see Salif Keita in concert - in retrospect I could have gotten there quicker had I hitchhiked!

Last night, I drove about an hour to see The Shins in Lawrence, KS. On the drive there, it was raining the whole time. When we left the concert (which was fantastic), it was snowing, and the drive home took 2.5 hours!

Later this year I'll be travelling 24,000 miles (there and back) to go to the London Albert Hall Prom Concerts and the Edinburgh Festival. Then I'll take in some summer festival classical concerts in Austria and the Czech Republic.

Along with some tourist stuff too.

Quote:
I went from Las Vegas to NYC to see Joan Osborne with JA. I bet he doesn't remember me.

Not only do I not remember the journey, I don't even remember seeing Joan Osborne!

Longest journey I took to see and play was in May 2005, from NY to London to see the final Cream reunion concert.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

You guys have me whipped; I travel 3 hours and stay overnight in LA regularly to see LA Philharmonic concerts, but that's my limit. I did see Nana Mudkadzhe give a piano recital on a cruise ship, but the Panama Canal was the primary attraction, lol.