Is going out to see live music becoming a thing of the past?

Gawd, I hope you're wrong! I don't go out to see bands so much as I used to, but that's because I moved and don't know the scene here very well. But, I do like seeing live music when I do get out.

I'm still a concert-going type. 2 - 5 concerts a month year round. More baroque and jazz than anything else these days, but I'll try anything at least a coupla times. Well, except karaoke.

I still go to concerts whenever I can afford them, but therein lies part of the problem. I just can't handle 60-80 bucks a ticket plus miscellaneous nonsense charges, and even if I could, I refuse to do so unless it's somebody really special like Eric Clapton. Plus, it irritates me that the truly good seats go for much more money than that, often to ticket brokers. Sorry guys, but a scalper with an 800 number and a website is still a scalper in my book.

With regard to local bands - like the one I play in on weekends - I see a definite drop off in the number of people who go out to hear live music. I think this is attributable to several things.

1) A crackdown on drinking and driving. Like it or not, most people who come out to hear local bands also come out to drink. Now don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have safer roads than packed clubs, but it does have quite an impact. Venues can't pay bands as much because they don't take in as much at the bar, and bands don't make it up at the door.

2) Karaoke. I personally can't imagine paying money to hear anybody sing to a CD, but a whole lotta people do. The bar pays one guy instead of four or five. The guy has less money tied up in his whole stage set, not counting CDs maybe, than I have tied up in my guitar rig. Then there are drums, the bass rig, and $5-10K for a PA. I play for fun but the bar's gotta make money, so they go with the lowest overhead.

3) Busy lifestyles. We seem to work more than ever before and have less time to enjoy ourselves. Smoky bars seem to be the first things to go.

There are other factors of course, but those are just the first three that hit me. Yes, there are fewer and fewer places for bands to play. Within a twenty mile radius of my house, we have seen, in the last five years or so, six of the eight or nine places to play close down.

Good thread y'all!

We have a very active local music scene where I live.

There are tons of clubs downtown; jazz, folk, blues and the top-40 type.

Nothing replaces the experience of live performance for me.

There's about a bajillion bands born each day.

I'm in my mid twenties and I know a lot of younger people in bands. A lot of DJs, and a lot of people into electronic music.

I live in a town where the crappy bars book the same crappy "Southern Rock" college bands, so the actually talented and creative people tend to play house parties.

So, I take that to mean that the live music will always be out there, but depending on where you live, you might have to look a little harder--like you might have to pay closer attention to all those flyers tacked to phone polls and on cork boards in indie music stores, coffee shops, book stores, etc.

I luv live music!!!

Move to austin
There are at least 20 diffrent live bands playing at any one given time over the weekend, and quite a few on weeknights

It won'r die out but like everything else in American society, the business has been corrupted, expectations lowered, the discipline necessary to hone ones craft diminished, and the club owners have figured out how to make money that way...combine that with the myriad of other entertainment options and the price of a night out...and the whole DWI thing...and it's a problem.

This new generation of kids are pussies too. Can't stay out late on a work night. Boo hoo you little candy asses......

i'd say the live band scene in england, or at least around where i am, is very much alive. theres loads of smaller bands and if you know where to look theres loads of gigs going on. i definately agree there is a lot more emphasis on chart music and buying albums etc rather than going to see your favourite group but this is mainly the style of music thats popular today, most of it isn't appropriate to play live. theres much less emphasis on the instruments nowadays and theyre one of the key things that make live music what it is.

Re: Is going out to see live music becoming a thing of the p


Less places + smaller crowds + older audiences = not a problem with music in general, you're just getting older and the music that is more popular is changing

There are a ton of places in and around Boston with live music but very fewer and fewer each year that my ear drums can take.