It seems like as time goes by, priorities get reshuffled. While I once went to what seemed like dozens of shows a year, I’m now happy if I see three or four by the time December rolls around. Luckily, like most things in life it seems, there’s an iPhone app for that.
The Local Concerts iPhone app is a free way to look and see what bands in your area have scheduled shows. You can search for concerts a few different ways on the iPhone app. If you simply want to look up some of your favorite venues in your area, you can do so by scrolling through a list that will then show you upcoming shows at that location. The iPhone app does seem to miss a show or two, and only headlining acts are listed in most cases, so the information can be a bit lacking; but it captures an insane amount of venues and does an admirable job filling in most of the shows.
The other way to search is by date or artist. It seems misleading to say that the iPhone app lets you search specifically for either, but instead, the search is sort of a hybrid of the two. The “Shows” tab lists dates that you can scroll through, but if you want to get to something in, say, March, you’ll have to scroll all the way through. There is no way to jump down. You are also given the option of seeing just the “Popular” shows, or just shows featuring bands that are on your iPod.
That last option has the most potential, but is still oddly lacking. If the iPhone app is able to search your iPod for artists, why can’t you add in bands not on your iPod that you’re curious about? Going one step further, some sort of alert when a band you do like is touring would make this iPhone app absolutely essential. It’s one thing to have to check this iPhone app every few days to make sure nothing new has been added, but it’d be another to get notifications when something new went on sale.
Missing features aside, this is a pretty nice package for a free iPhone app. Information is easily accessible, and when you click on a show you’re interested in, you can not only view a map of the area around the venue in case you’re unfamiliar with it, but there are often links to purchase tickets.
It may not be the perfect concert iPhone app, but this is a good effort worth taking a look at.
