5 Best Places In The World To Enjoy Live Music

Whether you're after one night's entertainment from a local act or you're taking a holiday planned entirely around seeing your favorite bands, these are the cities music lovers should be heading to.

1. New York City

The USA really is the perfect destination for lovers of live music, and New York makes a pretty decent starting point. The NYC scene takes in everything from big shows at iconic venues like Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall, to musicals on Broadway, hip-hop and punk shows in the very places that spawned the whole movement, to tiny loft spaces in Williams burg that feature bands so cutting edge they haven't even been formed yet.

2. Austin

The Texan city's music scene is manic, with scores of venues ranging from theatres to sweaty dive bars playing host to rock, alternative, folk, blues, country and alt-country acts. Combine your evening with a little Texan barbecue and you couldn't be anywhere else.

3. Melbourne

While Perth can boast a decent live music scene, surely our best city for seeing a band is Melbourne. You can plan to go to a ticketed event at the Corner, or the Espy, or Festival Hall, of the Hi-Fi, or the Palace, or... OK, you get the picture. Or you could wander around Fitzroy and drop in on whatever sounds good. It's a luxury citizens of the other state capitals don't enjoy.

4. New Orleans

If ever a city oozed live music from its pores, it's New Orleans. Even Hurricane Katrina and the GFC couldn't dampen the town's spirit for musical entertainment, with hundreds and hundreds of venues still offering nightly shows. You won't struggle to find a bar with a live act – you'll struggle to find a bar without one. It's most likely to be jazz, but it could also be soul, or blues, or funk or rock. Get there in April for the Jazz and Heritage Festival to see the city at its best.

5. Tokyo

As with pretty much everything in Tokyo, the live music scene is taken very seriously, and it's seriously good – with a twist of crazy. Bands play in "live houses" across the city every night. For indie and alternative acts, head to Shimokitazawa. For DJs and dance, make for "Love Hotel Hill" in Shibuya. For the hardcore and occasionally bizarre, go direct to Kabukicho and prepare yourself.