Like in Almost Famous...

I recently had a discussion with my Dutch friend Laura about bands and their fans. How far fans are willing to go just to see their favourite band, how much they are willing to pay and so on. Mostly talking from our own experience.
For instance, I met Laura last year in the Netherlands. In Utrecht, in Breda and in Amsterdam. At Tivoli de Helling, at Mezz and at Melkweg. Some of you know - those are the venues Blood Red Shoes played at last year in one week. I travelled with my (now ex) boyfriend to the Netherlands to see our favourite band play three times. We paid a respectful amount of money to get there. And why? Because we love the band.
And this was not the first time I've done that. The very first band I travelled for was Mew - we saw them at Tivoli in Copenhagen in 2006. I've also travelled for Muse, Arcade Fire... and most recently for Trail of Dead. Trail of Dead played in Prague this year, but it wasn't enough - I just wanted to see their show one more time. And then one more time. And I still want to see them play again. Sometimes I travel simply because that certain band doesn't play in Prague or anywhere else in my country. Like Blood Red Shoes - never played in the Czech Republic and yet I've seen them seven times.
Does my dedication make me groupie? I don't care. I don't care if I won't have money for food after my trip. I'm young and I know I'll survive. Sometimes a guestlist spot helps - to be honest, this world would be a much sadder place without guestlist spots. There's pride, of course, but mostly it saves money. You can say "You call yourself a dedicated fan and you don't want to pay for the show?". You are absolutely right. But - I always pay a lot for the means of travelling. Trains are fricking expensive these days - 60 Euros from Prague to Salzburg? That's a lot. Without a guestlist spod I'd have paid almost ninety Euros just for the trainticket and the show. Plus food and drinks and merchandise. Well, you can bring your own food and drink pure water and not buy any merchandise, but where's the fun in that?

And by the way #1: When I say stuff about musicians hotness and/or getting with them, I'm 99% of the time joking. I know get too excited sometimes and then seem to be the biggest groupie in the world, but I never mean it THAT seriously.
What does it mean to be groupie/fangirl/fanboy anyway? People say "oh you're such a groupie, you've seen the band so many times!" but that's bullshit. Seems like nobody understands what "groupie" means anymore. If a person wants to get with a bandmember just because they are one - that's groupieness. If you love them because they make amazing music, that's being a fan. Dedicated, yes, but only a fan. Do you happend to fancy a band member? Hm, and what? They are musicians, but still they are people. And people happen to fancy other people. It's called nature. But "oh I love him, he's from band XYZ" is stupid. Just so you know.
And by the way #2: I fancy musicians. I can say "he's hot!" and mean it. On the other hand, if they are good musician and stupid people at once, there's no chance I'd fancy them. Musician does not equal a god. It equals a person with a talent and stuff - yes, a person. And that matters.