New Orleans Voted #1 for Music and Nightlife

The city where jazz was born; where rhythm and blues, rock and roll and gospel developed and where music history is still being made, is now “Number One for Live Music” and “Nightlife” according to the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), a recent poll by Yahoo! Travel and Travel + Leisure’s America’s 2009 Favorite Cities awards.

The Society of American Travel Writers recently polled their members for the “Top Ten Cities in North America to Hear Live Music” and New Orleans ranked Number One above New York and Austin. More recently, Travel + Leisure readers voted New Orleans Number One in all Nightlife categories including Cocktail Hour, Singles/Bar Scene, and Live Music/Concerts and Bands.

With its concentration of music clubs in the French Quarter, the Faubourg Marigny, the Warehouse District, Uptown and elsewhere in the city, New Orleans came out ahead of Austin, Texas which, for many years, has been proclaiming itself to be the “Live Music Capital of the World.” In the poll by SATW members, Austin finished third.

This yea, New Orleans also finished ahead of other notable destinations for live music, including Nashville, Memphis, Chicago and Las Vegas. “New Orleans bleeds music – it’s in the air, in the water, in the people. You can’t go to New Orleans without the music swallowing you whole,” one travel writer wrote.

The complete Top 10 rankings for the SATW poll (Live Music) are:

1. New Orleans
2. New York City
3. Austin, Texas
4. Nashville, Tenn.
5. Chicago
6. Memphis, Tenn.
7. Montreal
8. Las Vegas
9. Branson, Mo.
10. Denver

The complete Top 10 rankings for the Travel + Leisure poll (Nightlife Overall) are:

1. New Orleans
2. Austin
3. New York
4. Las Vegas
5. Chicago
6. Miami
7. Nashville
8. San Francisco
9. Providence
10. Houston