Gifts to Go With Concert Tickets: A Map of the Band to Read Before the Gig
The best gifts to go with concert tickets are the ones that make the night itself better. A discography map does that by charting a band's studio albums as stations and every credited musician as a line, so the person you are taking can see who is on stage, who used to be, and which records each of them made.
I research and design these maps myself, from the liner notes and label credits of each studio album on the map. The result answers the question every gig-goer asks at some point in the evening, "is he still in the band?", at a glance.
Why Tickets on Their Own Feel Thin
Concert tickets are a brilliant present with one problem: on the day itself, they are a QR code in an email. There is nothing to unwrap, and the gig might be months away.
Pairing the tickets with something physical gives the present a moment on the day and a reason to look forward. A map of the band does that better than a T-shirt, because it is something to read in the weeks before the gig and something to frame afterwards.
What a Discography Map Tells You Before the Show
Long-running bands rarely put the same people on stage that made the records. The map shows that in a way a setlist cannot: the long unbroken lines are the people who have been there throughout, and the lines that stop are the people who left.
On The Cure map, for example, Robert Smith and Simon Gallup run as the long backbone lines, Smith from Three Imaginary Boys in 1979 and Gallup from Seventeen Seconds in 1980, to Songs of a Lost World in 2024. The bass line breaks once, and Wild Mood Swings carries 20 names on its own.
That is the sort of thing a fan points at on the train home after the gig.
Bands Where the Map Changes How You Watch the Gig
These are the maps where I think the credits add the most to a night out. Each figure comes from my research for that map.
| Band | On the map | Worth knowing before the gig |
|---|---|---|
| The Who | 22 stations over 54 years | More than three drummers across the map |
| The Cure | 14 studio albums, 1979 to 2024 | A bass line that breaks once |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers | The studio albums in order | Frusciante leaves twice; Navarro lasts one album |
| Muse | 10 studio albums | From three credits on one album to seventy-two on another |
| Squeeze | 17 records | One 28-year gap |
| Echo and the Bunnymen | Crocodiles (1980) to Apples for Isaac (2026) | The newest album is their first in 12 years |
| Levellers | 17 stations and 40 credited lines | Joe Strummer on piano |
When the Band Has a New Album Out
A tour often follows a new record, and that is exactly when someone wants to see where it sits in the story. Because every print is made to order, an updated map arrives with the newest album on it, not an old version from stock.
The Echo and the Bunnymen map now runs from Crocodiles in 1980 to Apples for Isaac in 2026. I wrote up who plays on that new record in who plays on Apples for Isaac.
The maps I have brought up to date are gathered in the updated maps collection.
How to Give Tickets and a Map Together
Print the tickets, or write the date and venue on a card, and tuck it behind the rolled map. Unrolling it reveals both: the band's whole recorded history, and the night they are going to see the next chapter of it.
If the gig is close, an unframed print rolls neatly and is easy to hand over. If it is a bigger occasion, a framed A2 or A1 makes the tickets the second surprise rather than the only one.
Pick the size first in my A2 or A1 size guide. The prints are Giclée on 230gsm archival fine art paper, unframed or ready to hang in a black wood frame.
Related Reading
For the bands whose line-ups have changed most, band members who left and came back and which bands have had the most drummers are good reading before a gig. For more Christmas ideas, see my Christmas gifts for music fans.
Concert Gift Questions
What can I give with concert tickets?
Something physical that relates to the band, so there is something to unwrap on the day. A discography map of the band's studio albums works well because it is something to read before the gig and frame afterwards.
Will the map show the band's newest album?
It will if I have updated the map since that album came out. Every print is made to order from the current artwork, and updated maps are listed in the updated maps collection.
Are live albums on the map?
Very rarely. The maps chart studio albums, and live albums, compilations and soundtracks are left off by editorial rule, with a few named exceptions such as Cody Johnson's Live and Rocking (2007). The gig itself will never appear on one.
What if the band they are seeing is not mapped?
Choose a map of a band they love just as much, or give an art print gift card with the tickets and let them pick.
Make the Tickets Something to Unwrap
Find the band in the music map collection, or pair the tickets with a gift card so they can choose their own map.
