For a band to play 150 shows in a year, they’ve got to have stamina. Also, touring musicians have to be lucky. In order make at least 150 shows in a year, a band needs to play one concert (roughly) every two-and-a-half days. That means dodging illnesses, tour bus breakdowns, personality conflicts, etc., everything that can get in the way of keeping a schedule tight. Not to mention, they may still be taking a couple holidays and just getting a few days rest with the fam.
According to info scoured from Setlist.fm, these 26 bands that made that cut had at least one year of playing over 150 shows. The band that had the most was six years of over 150 shows. What makes that even crazier is that they did it consecutively. In. A. Row. (They must have been running on vapors.)
There is a good selection of genres in this list. Rock, heavy metal, punk, grunge, hair metal, progressive and nu-metal are all well represented. What may be even more interesting, are the major road warriors that didn’t make the cut. Quite a few Bands That Have Played Over 2000 Shows in their career, like Alice Cooper and KISS, haven’t been able to pull off 150 in a year. Some run marathons, some run sprints, we suppose.
Another interesting note: It makes sense that as bands get bigger and older, and their stage productions get more insane, that it would get harder to do more shows in a year. Even if demand to see a band is very high, it’s difficult to transport all that stuff, schedule, create the energy for 150 massive stadium tours in a year (see The Who and The Rolling Stones.) But some artists have bucked that trend (AC/DC and Bruce Springsteen.)
Check it out below, from least to most, the bands that have played over 150 shows in a year.
Rock + Metal Bands That Played 150 Shows in a Year
These bands had intense touring schedules. So many shows, so little rest!
Rock + Metal Bands That Have Played Over 2,000 Shows
How many of these bands have you seen? How many more than once?
