# How many hours of live music have you seen in your life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892 "2019-07-30T19:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/21 "2019-07-31T18:35:59Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Can I count the time spent at shows where I was doing lights or running a spotlight or similarly working? I’d say no. That’s not being an audience member. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/22 "2019-07-31T18:49:13Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I’d say no. That’s not being an audience member. Then I’d say 1K-2K, altho it could be quite a bit lower. I figured out early on in my life that it made more sense to be paid to listen to music than to pay to listen to music. What about someone working as a concert reviewer? What, to you, does it mean to be “an audience member”? What if I didn’t pay to get in? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/23 "2019-07-31T19:55:00Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Bela Fleck & the Flecktones I never had the pleasure of seeing them play live, but Howard Levy was a regular at the cafe I worked at in the mid-90s, so I was sometimes treated to a little solo harmonica at the cafe after hours. 🙂 I had no idea who he was when I first met him – just asked him for some harmonica advice as the cafe closed down, as I always saw him there fiddling away on his custom-made-by-Joe Filisko diatonic Hohner, while writing some music, and, next thing I know, it turns out this guy is one of the world’s greatest diatonic players. Very nice guy. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/24 "2019-07-31T21:52:42Z")
What about live music in bars and clubs? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/25 "2019-07-31T22:16:17Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > What about live music in bars and clubs? If you went there to listen to the music, I’d say yes. If it was incidental to something else you were there for, probably not. I said 600-1000; I’ve got a BA in Music and went to a lot of noon recitals, symphony and brass quintet concerts. I was also active in bardic performance in the SCA for about ten years and went to a ton of multi-hour bardic circles. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/26 "2019-07-31T23:58:32Z")
Church every Sunday for many years. I’m thinking that wasn’t what you wanted. But it’s true. I grew up singing because I was exposed, over the years, to a lot of live music. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/27 "2019-08-01T00:03:09Z")
600-1000 for me, although it’s possible that it’s merely 301-600. I’ve been to over 100 concerts and that’s just the acts that I remember, in my adulthood, that I wanted to see, so I’ve probably forgotten some stuff from my childhood and/or some stuff that I was dragged to (which I still count as deliberate attendance since I wasn’t kidnapped or anything.) ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/28 "2019-08-01T00:34:03Z")
I said 11-30. It might be a little low but the number is easily in single digits depending on how we count. I don’t go to see live music in general. I’ve never bought a concert ticket. There was a Woodstock style punk/alternative festival with camping on site in the farmer’s field that I attended. I never got close enough to see a band actually on stage during it. It was effectively a camping trip with a radio station playing live cuts in the background. There was another music festival I got in free because I worked the gate. My seeing music while I was there and off the gate was limited to minutes. Even when I’ve gone to intentionally see bands in small clubs I only really pay close attention for bits of the time. I get bored just watching people make music after a bit and wander off elsewhere in the bar. I like music. I approach it more like a movie soundtrack to life. It goes in the background. I don’t particularly care to watch musicians make it. I certainly don’t want to pay to watch them do it. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/29 "2019-08-01T00:55:06Z")
Do DJ’s count as “live”? I’ve gone to many many a club/fest to see certain DJ’s who play music that they produced (as well as others’ music) most of which would be completely impractical to “play” with “instruments” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/30 "2019-08-01T01:07:03Z")
I voted 601-1000, but on second thought I think I qualify for the 1001-2000 bracket. Besides “big name” acts, I had friends in bands that played local clubs and I went to see them often. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892/31 "2019-08-01T01:09:37Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Grateful Dead shows (1987-1995): 90 shows at 2.5 hours per show > String Cheese Incident: 40 shows at 2.5 hours per show > Other jam bands: 60 shows at 2.5 hours per show > Festivals: 40 days at 8 hours per day > Other music: 30 shows at 2 hours per show > > Total: 855 hours. I think my total is actually quite a bit higher than this, but I’m going to be conservative. We’ve almost certainly crossed paths. I go to around 80 shows a year and have been seeing live music for decades. Mostly jam bands, blues, blue grass and funk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-hours-of-live-music-have-you-seen-in-your-life/837892.md?page=1)