The new year is going to bring a lot of new concerts and tours along with it. For music fans, this is always exciting. Seeing which groups are going to be touring come summer—or sooner—is never dull. This is true regardless of what type of music you are into. Whether you’re going to see a group play with a bunch of friends or with your children, staying ahead of the pack when it comes to new concert announcements and then getting great tickets early is one of the most exciting events of the year.
For example, two big bands from the 1990s, Hootie & the Blowfish and Barenaked Ladies, have recently announced that they will be touring together in 2019. They are both great performers and have been known for their great family atmosphere. Barenaked Ladies have even released an album specifically for smaller children. They probably won’t be playing a lot of those songs, but they are great on stage regardless of which songs they’re playing.
During the first half of the year, they will be out West, slowly headed toward the East Coast starting in July. This is one of the bigger recent concert announcements, and you can be assured that tickets are going to sellout at most, if not all, of the upcoming shows. Act fast if this is something you’d like to bring your kids along to, or if you’d like to reunite with some old friends at the show.
There are a lot of groups that are not nearly as well known as these bands that are headed out on tour but are great for bringing a family to go see. Some of these will be smaller shows at less known venues, but oftentimes these are ideal for family gatherings. It’s a lot easy to keep track of your family when the venue is smaller and quicker to navigate.
Now that the holiday season is nearly over, there’s no reason to give up on catching an awesome show. The holiday season is definitely one of the highlights of the year when it comes to family-friendly concert events, but it’s certainly not the only time of the year that there will be great shows for you and your loved ones to go see. Pay attention to the newest tour date announcements in your area and stay ahead of the trend if catching a show in 2019 is a goal of yours.
Checking out third party ticket sites like SeatGeek, StubHub, or a variety of other web sites have great resources for seeing what’s available near you. When using their search tools, go to the portion of the screen where you can customize your search and be sure to enter your location. If you have travel restrictions, like you don’t want to travel more than 50 miles to see a show, then make sure that you enter this information in the search tool. Not all sites have this customizable tool, but if the site you’re buying from does, use it to your advantage. This will ensure that you aren’t driving for hours on end to get your family to a show.
Use the other search criteria on the site. If there’s a specific group that you want to see, or if there’s a certain type of music that you want to enjoy, you can search for these things, too. This way, you can begin to narrow down your choices and ensure that you take your family to exactly the show that you want to take them to.
One of the under-utilized sources of family concert fun are colleges. The college music scene is well known for experimental or alternative sounds, but that doesn’t mean that good, family-friendly bands don’t come through colleges once in a while. If there’s a major university near you, be sure to check out who’s playing there in the coming months.