Why music fans are booking flights with their concerts tickets: 'I cried. I loved it.'

USA Today

27-05-2025

Why music fans are booking flights with their concerts tickets: 'I cried. I loved it.'
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Fans on night one of Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' tour
USA TODAY's Beyoncé reporter Caché McClay spoke to fans on night one of the 'Cowboy Carter' tour.
Many music fans travel out of state or internationally to attend concerts and music festivals.
Traveling for concerts can enhance the experience, allowing fans to explore new cities and experience different crowd cultures.
Finding community with other fans is a key benefit of concert travel.
Planning and budgeting are essential for successful concert trips, including booking flights and accommodations in advance and setting price alerts.
When Billie Eilish went on tour last year, Patrick Diaz jumped at the chance to see her live. Her latest record, 'Hit Me Hard and Soft', helped the 24-year-old through a breakup.
'It was such a healing album for me, and I knew I needed to hear everything in person,' he told USA TODAY. There was just one problem: Eilish wasn't stopping in Texas. The Austin-based content creator traveled to Chicago for her November concert, where he and a friend could stay with his friend's brother.
During the show, he got emotional hearing the pop star perform songs like 'The Greatest'.
'I cried just the way I cry when I'm listening in my earbuds," he said. 'I cried. I loved it. I yelled. It was such a fun, fun experience.' He enjoyed it so much he did it all over again the following month in Arizona.
Live music has long drawn travelers who hit the road or skies for the most convenient nearby shows, the cheapest concert tickets, or simply for the chance to see their favorite artists before a tour ends – in some cases for weeks at a time.
The Bank of America 2025 Summer Travel and Entertainment Survey, conducted among roughly 2,000 U.S. adults between late March and early April, found that half of Americans traveled for a concert, festival or sporting event – out of state, internationally or both – within the last two years. The survey also found that one-third (33%) of respondents 'plan to attend more concerts, sporting events and/or festivals this year compared to 2024.'
Concert travel offers more than just the show
Traveling can add new elements to the concert-going experience. Diaz likes to turn music-related trips into a 'mini-vacation,' visiting tourist sites like The Bean in Chicago, for instance. For his December trip, he said, 'I did know it was during the wintertime, so I didn't want anywhere that was gonna be too cold. And I was super down to explore Phoenix.'
The location can also impact the atmosphere of shows. Emily Sachs, a 29-year-old software engineer, noticed a different crowd culture in the U.K. while she was following the pop rock band The 1975 on tour in early 2023 – part of at least 60 shows she saw from them over roughly two years.
'In the U.S, people will sing and scream along to the words, but in the U.K., people will sing (along) guitar riffs, and it just adds another dimension of fun to the show that way,' said Sachs, who is based in New York City.
She noted hometown shows, like the British group's gig in Manchester she attended, have a special quality, as well. 'There is that extra dimension of, you know, they're putting on a show not just for their fans, but for all their friends and family, too. And it's always cool to see them come back to the place where they're from.'
Venues can also be as much of a destination as the city where they're located. Jasmin Grimpe attended one of Olivia Rodrigo's four headlining shows at Madison Square Garden during her Guts World Tour in April 2024, a musician's milestone.
Grimpe, 21, traveled in from New Jersey, and recalled Rodrigo's palpable excitement at playing there, where she brought out special guest Noah Kahan. 'So obviously that was super hype,' Grimpe said.
Even if the show is the priority, music can lead fans to unexpected – and some pleasantly surprising – places. Grimpe, who works as a waitress, went to Columbus, Ohio, to see alternative pop-rock band The Wrecks in 2022. She had never been, and left feeling it was the 'coolest, nicest city in America.'
'And I never would have gone to Columbus, Ohio, independently,' she said. 'And now if I see an artist going to Columbus, Ohio, I'm like, I know that's a good city to be in.'
'A great sense of community'
Grimpe is currently traveling the country with three friends to see The Wrecks on tour. While the band puts on the best live performance she's ever seen, she said there's also 'such a great sense of community at their shows.'
She met two of her three current travel companions at Wrecks shows.
Sachs, by contrast, went alone to the U.K. to see The 1975.
'I didn't know anyone, and just made friends along the way,' Sachs said. 'And, you know, I've got friends now in the U.K. and Scotland, that I'll go to visit. I think we bonded over our shared interests and the slightly intense passion we have.' In addition to seeing the changing narrative of the "At Their Very Best" tour – with its elaborate production – seeing her friends also became a draw.
Mya Spencer has similarly found her favorite artists to be a conversation starter. Before recently moving to Atlanta, the 24-year-old often had to travel from her home in Huntsville, Alabama, to see concerts, meeting other fans through social media or while waiting in line to get into venues.
The K-pop fan said a stranger's compliment on a BTS charm on her purse in April turned into a 30-minute conversation. 'I've had a lot of interactions like that, and we'll just connect,' she said.
Tips for traveling to see live music
Traveling for a concert is more complex than driving across town – and typically more expensive. Grimpe's strategy varies depending on the artist.
If tickets are cheap and easy to get, she considers what city is most convenient. She lives near Asbury Park, and is about halfway between New York and Philadelphia. 'So, normally, someone's always going to one of those three cities,' she said.
But if the prices are steeper – like they were when she went to see Chappell Roan last year – she looks for affordable shows.
As soon as she knows when she'll be traveling, she tells her boss at the restaurant where she works. He knows Grimpe eventually wants to work in the music industry, she said, and is 'very understanding' sparing the waitress.
Grimpe books hotels and other travel on Expedia, so she can take advantage of rewards and keep her details in one place, and makes a detailed budget down to the day. Rather than being restrictive, she finds sticking to a set price range 'forces you to get more creative and kind of forces you to have more fun.'
Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going, noted that airfares have decreased even as concert and festival ticket prices surge.
'We (at Going) often see nowadays the experience, whether that's a VIP festival pass or front-row concert seats, become the biggest cost,' she said in an email.
That was true for Diaz, who paid roughly $250 each for his Billie Eilish tickets and a little over $100 for each of his round-trip flights.
If you have a particular out-of-town concert or music festival in mind, Nastro recommended setting price alerts for that destination – which users can do in the Going app – to be notified when fares drop (Going is also testing alerts in its app for deals on airfare to cultural events such as Coachella).
Depending on how much notice you have, booking flights within the 'Goldilocks Window' – one to three months ahead of domestic travel and two to eight months before international trips – is another bargain-hunting tactic, and buying two one-way flights on different airlines can sometimes be cheaper than a single round-trip ticket.
As soon as tour dates drop, Spencer said she goes ahead and books hotels and flights. 'Depending on what kind of community you're in, see if (there's) anybody in your city you could get in touch with and maybe go to the show together in order to split the cost,' she said.
Eilish later announced Austin tour dates for 2025, which Diaz plans to attend, but he has no regrets about traveling to Chicago and Phoenix to see her. Diaz and a close friend traveled to Phoenix together, allowing for more quality time than if they had gone to a show locally.
'If Billie had a show in Austin, we would just get ready and go to the concert,' he said. 'Meanwhile, in Arizona, we had to take a flight to Arizona, we had to do all the stuff together in Arizona … and it feels like just one big hug when I think of the trip.'
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [e-mail].