For many of us, music is a pleasant escape from silence on the dull commute to work or a rhythmic backdrop that makes everything from elevators to group gatherings less awkward. However, there are others that fill their entire lives with it; taking a long way home just to finish a great album, tirelessly studying the techniques of favorite and upcoming artists, therapeutically composing their lives with the passion that is music. These people are music lovers, and these are the five best travel sites where they fit right in:
1. NEW ORLEANS
Steeped in African influence, the deep south is a melting pot of jazz, funk, gospel, blues, hip hop, and every strain in between. The Big Easy offers a plethora of music festivals like Satchmo SummerFest, Vieux To Do, Voodoo Music Experience, French Quarter Festival, Swamp Fest, Old Algiers Riverfest, Jazz, and Heritage Festival, Essence Music Festival, Bayou Boogaloo, and Ponderosa Stomp are some of the local favorites. Home to the ever-alluring Mardi Gras, this beaded block party has become synonymous with Louisiana and beckons to culture enthusiasts from every corner of the world!
2. MEMPHIS
Abundant with party bus rentals, group travel tours love the birthplace of rock n’ roll! The first stop on the list is usually Beale Street for the Beale Street Music Festival each spring where 3 days of live performances offer a lineup of not only incredible music, but mouth-watering food and beverages are served on the side for the ultimate dream concert! Along the rest of the street, your tour group will find tattoo artists, fortune tellers, unrivaled BBQ eateries, shopping venues, and nightclubs. Other noteworthy visits in Memphis include: Graceland, Sun Studio, Stax Records, Memphis Rock n’ Soul Museum, and multiple Elvis infused rockabilly sites!
3. NASHVILLE
For all-inclusive vacations of the musical variety, your group won’t even have to leave Tennessee for this one! Country music fans may frequent the city’s biggest attractions but any member with a spirit for historic adventure will opt to partake in a tour of the legendary Grand Ole Opry! Step inside where backstage you will discover the sound studio, the famous perfumed dressing rooms, and upon the stage lies that oak wood circle where the world’s best performers have greeted frenzied masses. American tradition further expands to the likes of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Ryman Auditorium where haunted tours are also offered, Studio B, Music Row, Ernest Tubb Record Shop, Bluebird Caf, Willie Nelson, and Friends General Store and Museum, Robert’s Western World and the Music City Walk of Fame.
Back in the 1960s, the counterculture Bay Area hit the big time with billboard-sized names like Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, and all the rest of the hippie era rock stars that flocked to the Haight-Ashbury scene. Thanks to that decade the streets of The Golden Gate City are littered with historically significant gems in the history of music! Some have remodeled into white-collar residences, others have burned to the ground with their wildest memories. A bittersweet sanctuary, Candlestick Park is where The Beatles publicly performed for the last time in 1966. The Fillmore Auditorium music venue, The Record Plant recording studio, Rod’s Hickory Pit, and many other sentimental garages and dives own the spirit of the beatnik movement lifestyle and tunes.
5. CLEVELAND
Complete your travel tour package with a jaunt through Cleveland, Ohio! Travel services point you first to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; a major hotspot for music connoisseurs and rightfully so! From one-hit wonders to 50-year band careers, this museum is a shimmering beacon in town! When you’re ready to brush up on landmark concert venues and other gigs Cleveland has claimed, snag a tour of Cleveland Music Studio, Lava Room Recording, House of Blues, Hard Rock Cafe Cleveland, Pat’s in the Flats, Euclid Tavern, Pirates Cove, Cleveland Stadium, Grog Shop, Cleveland Agora Theatre and Ballroom, House of Blues, Brothers Lounge and the rest of the lengthy list that completes the chart-toppers for the best five cities chosen by true music lovers!
