I am not a roadie, but I enjoy seeing live music. I will date myself by saying the first concert I ever went to was Foreigner at Madison Square Garden when I was 16. After that I was hooked. Throughout high school and college I continued to watch bands play their music in huge stadiums and small venues alike. I now live in a town where there is an opportunity to see free music on a weekly basis at some pretty sweet outdoor venues.
Take for example the concerts at Battery Park in Burlington, Vermont. Every Thursday night in July, some pretty fantastic bands come and play, for free, against the backdrop of Lake Champlain. Families, couples and college kids file in with their picnic baskets, blankets, chairs and dogs to watch the sunset over the lake while listening to music.
I used live in Austin, Texas. Talk about a city for live music! If you have an opportunity to travel there head down to South Congress where you will find lots of places to see bands play. Be sure to put the Continental Club on your itinerary. They have been playing live music there since 1957. Check out The Gallery upstairs, a smaller bar, that doesn’t have a cover charge.
Another reason to travel to this city is for the Austin City Limits Music Festival (ACL) in October. I attended last year. The line up was pretty unbelievable and I was fortunate to have been given a backstage pass. I have to say at a large festival venue like this, it was a great way to see a concert. Nate Reuss from Fun is one heck of performer!
At ACL I also got to see a band from my college days — Depeche Mode. That is the great thing about going to one of these large music festivals. I am pretty sure I wouldn’t be buying tickets to a solo concert of theirs at this point, but it was cool to see them in the mix with the other old and new artists.
Just this week while traveling to Jersey Shore I got see another band that brought me back to my time on the campus of University of Delaware. The Indigo Girls were playing at the Ocean City Music Pier. This concert hall from the late 1920s has surprisingly incredible acoustics, which were perfect for showcasing the talents of this harmonizing duo.
I was happy to have a chance to see them, as I had missed them earlier this summer when they were in Burlington at the Flynn Theater. We get some pretty good music coming through the Queen City on a regular basis and the Flynn is an absolutely beautiful place to see it.
My favorite band is U2. I have traveled around the world to see them. I have been to Montreal and as far as Dublin, Ireland. Have you ever traveled to see a band?
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