I'm guessing your town is strategically located midway between 2 larger venues, and these bands get a welcome breather between larger gigs by stopping over to play for you. You are indeed lucky!
We have an annual festival I dubbed "Artsy Fartsy in the Parksy." But it's turned into such a crowded cat show that with our limited mobility and difficulty getting up and down out of lawn chairs, we skip it these days.
I just came back from Chicago where I visited my college roommate and we went to see Cheap Trick at a local festival. For free. Nowhere near as much fun as the first time we saw them - almost by accident - for a buck fiddy cover at a local college bar. They had not yet done their Budokan album that was their big breakthrough, and were "just a bar band from Rockford" This is their final touring season, so we were lucky to catch them. They are 10 years older than me and they still rock!
Cool story, seeing them then and now. How is it that you got to see them for free?
Strangely, no, we are in Maine which is not strategically located between anywhere. Not as far north as @Charlie Bernstein so it isn't quite as far off the beaten path for some acts, but based on past comments from performers, their stop here isn't always 'on the way' to somewhere else.
The only time I pay that much for a ticket is when I'm taking my son to see a legendary performer "before they die." There are lots of artists playing every night who aren't already millionaires and can therefore be seen a lot cheaper.
Howdy, neighbor! What town? I lived in Portland and SoPo for quite a while, and it was live-music heaven. You're right, great acts do get to a lot of small towns in Maine, even though the state isn't on the way to anything. Just not many to Augusta. (A few to Gardiner, more to Waterville.)
They were for some reason playing a local "village festival" in a Chicago suburb.
We barely qualify as 'Mainers' here in Kittery, there are probably only a dozen houses that are south of mine and also in Maine, so the arts festival I am referring to is at Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH, about 5 minutes walk from our door. You wouldn't think it, but about an hour north of Boston and an hour south of Portland brings a lot of music within a reasonable distance for us.
Portsmouth has always had a lively club scene and has pushed its tourist attractions for years.
@mwelch - I hear you. A the little club I first went to in suburban Detroit as a teen, everyone sat on the floor and stayed sitting and was there to listen and experience the bands. No beverages or "merch" were sold. No distractions of any kind. I enjoyed those shows so much. But these days, I don't think I could sit cross-legged on a concrete floor for a whole concert!
