why does every tour skip florida

[jemsklile]

Yeah, I grew up in Iowa which meant NO big bands ever played there. We did have a lot of good smaller/medium sized bands play however.

It was really nice because we were close to like...6 big cities that bands would most likely stop at.

3 hrs to Minneapolis

4 hrs to Omaha

5 hrs to Kansas City

5 hrs to Chicago

6 hrs to St. Louis

3 hrs to Madison

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

I have talked to bands about a suggested Florida string that goes Atlanta, Jax, Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Gainesville, Tallahassee, and then Birmingham, which gives an easy in and out to Florida, but nobody likes it.

Bands don't got for this because it is essentially making them spend an entire week in one very small part of the country. Yeah, it'd be cool if someone did it, but at the same time when a touring band has limited time, money and resources I don't think they want to tack an extra week onto their tour just to make sure Florida is taken care of.

THIS. bands tour the country in 3 - 5 weeks, depending on how much ground you want to cover every night. who wants to spend 1/3 to 1/5 of their tour in ONE state?

[dangerdave]

I live in North Dakota. occasionally a decent tour hits Fargo, but for most of my life, I lived 3 hours away. I go to college about an hour away now, so it's a bit better, but I usually have to drive to Minneapolis to see tours, which is about a 5 hour drive. Yeahhh...

Uuuuhhh, think about living in Hawaii or Alaska, now those people have something to complain about. No professional sports teams, hardly any tour stops.

I guess thats the price you pay for living in an overcrowded paradise, or a beautiful icicle.

also a very good point. i'm definitely thankful that I get more tours than them

[kittenmittons]

You mean "God's Waiting Room"? My friend worked for disney world a few years ago and she said it was fucking miserable because everything worth doing was so spread out across the state. Also, hurricanes. If I was in a band touring in the late summer, like many do, I wouldn't fuck around with florida either...in addition to the litany of other reasons posted here.

[eddieruckus]

florida is not that bad guys, A lot of awesome bands are from Florida... Torche, Cannibal Corpse, Against Me!, Capsule, Hot Water Music, 2 Live Crew, etc etc

[drabley]

Lived there.

Would rather be elsewhere.

[scotterson]

Sorry, Pensacola, Tallahassee and Jax, but I'd skip you in a heartbeat if I was touring.

Good thing you weren't a member of any bands I saw during the first 23 years of my life.

I don't see why a band wouldn't at least hit a north florida city. Think about it, if someone from orlando wants to see a show, and the closest the band is playing is say atlanta, that's like a 7+ hr drive. Whereas a band could schedule a jax or gainesville date and get a whole bunch of florida people within a few hours driving distance. You don't need to drive all the way down to miami and up through the panhandle, just make a pit stop.

[saxamaphone]

No one comes here. :'(

[edgedestroys]

Sorry, Pensacola, Tallahassee and Jax, but I'd skip you in a heartbeat if I was touring.

That leaves Tampa and Orlando -- only an hour or so apart, but in Central state. This leaves the better part of a day on the there and back trip.

Miami -- forget about it. You're 4 hours from anywhere.

Florida is shaped like a giant dong with an elephantitis scrotum. It is geographically uneconomical to travel when you're counting dollars and cents and praying more than 12 kids show up to a Tuesday night show.

Florida is not a drive-through state -- it is a terminal destination; and not a very good one at that.

All of this. Jax sucks. It's got like 3 malls, a good towncenter and the beach. Otherwise it's a trashy city. Don't miss living there at all. Orlando and Tampa which are respectively an hour and a halfish and 30 minutes from me would be the best locations for people in florida because they're central, but Florida is a way out of the way state to try to efficiently tie into a tour.