Have you found what you’re looking for? Analysing tourist experiences of Wagner’s Bayreuth, ABBA’s Stockholm and U2’s Dublin

Abstract

Music tourism, the act of travelling to places associated with music, has become part of the tourism itinerary of many European cities. Although academic interest in this phenomenon is growing, little empirical research explores the experiences of music tourists – what are music tourists looking for? This study is based on participant observation and 15 in-depth interviews with tourists to Wagner’s Bayreuth, ABBA’s Stockholm and U2’s Dublin. It is argued that music tourism experiences involve a process of identity-work on a personal, cultural and embodied level. For most of the respondents, music plays an important role in their story of self, which is one of the main motives for travel and a source of performing self through music tourism practices. Once there, tourists relate personal music memories to music histories encountered in situ. Thus, music tourism effectively connects personal memories with shared identities and social spaces created by embodied practices.