Often living just off the beaten path (New Brunswick, Greensboro, even Milwaukee to a degree) made 1+ hour drives to shows a reality. Which isn't that far, but also not far enough to justify an overnight stay so that meant tired late night drives back, no drinking.. blech. Gets old.

Dunno what counts as trouble, so either significant travel or personal circumstances to see the band.

Sumac - 8 hour drive, designed family spring break around going to New Mexico just to see them - saw this show alone. I can't believe that band was playing to only like 50 people in Albuquerque.
Sleep - have traveled to Denver, Phoenix and Colorado Springs to see them - travelled solo and met friends in the city. CO Springs and Denver were with a version of Superwolf, and the CO Springs show was in a pretty small place relative to what I was used to seeing them in, and that one made me think that chasing a band to a small venue might be worth it. It's the smallest venue I can imagine them playing and that intimacy was fucking fantastic.
Unwound - The 2001 leaves tour was bringing them to Denton, and the world was fucking weird after 9/11. Spent like 12 hours in the August sun with family at six flags and never thought I'd make it through the night. Was one of the best shows I've ever seen, and it was with like 100 other people. Had no idea when driving up what I was in for since I'd seen them as a trio at least twice before that. Also flew to SF and LA for the recent tour and fanboy'ed to the tune of 5 (FIVE!) t-shirts, some patches, a tour poster, etc.
Wire - drove to and stayed in Austin to see them with friends.
Mission of Burma - drove to and stayed in Austin to see them with friends.
Fugazi - drove from Boulder to Co. Springs to see them in either 2000 or '01 and stayed the night. They played a converted roller skating rink, and it was a very unusual set up. I'd seen them at regular places before, so this was an interesting wrinkle.

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I am jealous of FM Pennington. If I were able to, I'd head to NYC to see my friend Mark, make my other friend Erik meet up and go see Bailter Space in NYC, but I can't make it work. Robot World and Wammo informed my guitar sound a lot, I think I've mentioned that his super reverb/AC30 set up the only time I saw them was a big inspiration for how to get a great saturated sound that could turn pretty "ugly" quick.

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:44 am Travelled throughout Europe to see every date of a couple of Neurosis tours in the 90s. Completely worthwhile.

So you were following them around to every new place they stopped at? Sounds really dope.

Frankie99 wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:01 am I am jealous of FM Pennington. If I were able to, I'd head to NYC to see my friend Mark, make my other friend Erik meet up and go see Bailter Space in NYC, but I can't make it work.

That's twelvepoint! I would have definitely been up for Bailter Space live at one point, but less so now with hearing issues..

At this point, I don't really count traveling for PRF related events, because those are just as much (and hey sometimes really more) about seeing friends and having a great time outside of normal reality, than they are about seeing bands (which I do enjoy too!).

Besides that, I've never really gone that too far out of my way to travel to see bands; when I was in college in Bellingham, we'd go up to Vancouver, BC fairly often since if the border wasn't backed up it was ~60 minutes of driving vs. 90+ down to Seattle, and with the drinking age being 19 we could see bar shows there that we couldn't hit up in Seattle. Drove down to PDX for one of the last Sleater-Kinney shows in their original run.

My college roommates and I were planning on going down to LA for the Sonic Youth curated ATP in the fall of 2001, which got delayed because of 9/11. We didn't try and swing the rescheduled event, and honestly we were all 19/20 and had no idea how to like, book a hotel or figure out where to stay.

1. Slint reunion show, 2005 - aged 17(ish), had to hand in a big A level assignment on the day before I could sneak outta school and get into London that night.

Afternoon before I came down w/ a serious flu - hot sweats, puking, the works. Of course, being a moron, I had left a good chunk of the coursework until the last minute, so spent the entire night slapping the essay together, passed out around 4, woke up around 11, printed the essay, walked to school, handed the essay in w/ 20mins spare, immediately walked back home, dragged myself into London and spent the evening shivering, sweating, near delirious, watching these 4 guys stand still and play the songs on Spiderland note for note.

At the time I was incapable of actually registering the anticlimax, but even at a more impressionable age I knew that maybe my priorities needed realligning.

2. Mayhem, 2010 - heavy snow fall, public transport cancelled, venue assures us that the show will go on, minus support acts. Work cancelled so I decided to brave the 2hr walk across London to attend. Feels oddly appropriate to brave the grim, frostbitten winter to see this show.

Realised after an hour that I'd massively underestimated how long the journey will take as there's so much ice underfoot. Another hour passes and then the sole on my right boot splits open. Freezing mush starts working its way into the boot. Realise there's no point in turning back and press on.

Finally make it - maybe 50 people in the 800 cap venue. Limp around in pain, stuff my shoe w/ toilet paper to try and dry them out. Venue hadn't turned the heating on so no relief from the radiators. Endure some small talk w/ some of the B.M. shut-ins:

M.H: What kind of music do you like?
B.M.S-I: Oh, I only listen to Norwegian Black Metal. That's all the music I need. (Rambles about the Emperor debut for 10 mins)
M.H: If you like Emperor, you should check out Morbid Angel, they're really good.
B.M.S-I: (Eyes glaze, gears click)... but I only listen to Norwegian Black Metal.

I make my excuses and limp across to the bar.

2 hours later than expected, Mayhem pile in, set up, and plough through their set sans sound check. Of course it sounds like an absolute car crash - Hellhammer's blast beats punctuating a fog of noise while Attila swoops around in a purple robe moaning while I stand around like a goth flamingo on one leg, once again profoundly regretting my life choices, dreading limping home in the snow.

Harvey Milk's only MPLS appearance on their last tour. The heat index was miserable that night. Biked over to the Triple Rock (RIP) and got my first set of saddle sores.

Worth it.

I rode in the back of a small truck with several other people to see the last couple of Dog Faced Hermans shows in San Francisco before they broke up. It was an 800 mile trip from Flagstaff to SF, and there was a camper shell that was too big for the truck over the bed, secured with coat hanger wire. It rattled like crazy the entire way. There were three people up front and five people in the back. Very uncomfortable, cold, and noisy. Totally worth it. DFH played an amazing set at the American Music Hall, and played their final show in a loft apartment the next night.

M.H wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 11:32 am 1. Slint reunion show, 2005 - aged 17(ish),

What the fuck, you're my age bro. Got the impression from your posts that you've been living double my lifetime.

Loved the stories too, even more that they're both such massive failures. Hope you've had some better experiences to make up for it lol

Dave N. wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 12:12 pm I rode in the back of a small truck with several other people to see the last couple of Dog Faced Hermans shows in San Francisco before they broke up. It was an 800 mile trip from Flagstaff to SF, and there was a camper shell that was too big for the truck over the bed, secured with coat hanger wire. It rattled like crazy the entire way. There were three people up front and five people in the back. Very uncomfortable, cold, and noisy. Totally worth it. DFH played an amazing set at the American Music Hall, and played their final show in a loft apartment the next night.

Mine also involves Dog Faced Hermans — I and my significant other (who is now my spouse of 25 years) drove from Cleveland to Washington, DC, to see them open for Sebadoh at the Black Cat. Drove back home after their set, got to meet Marion and Andy and tell them what they meant to us. It was an absolutely life-affirming gig and worth every mile we traveled to get there.