Milwaukee and Madison, WI

We couldn’t choose between these two rust-belt cities, both of which are home to cheeseheads, and yet have totally different flavors.

Both places are subject to long winters which make for fruitful music-making sessions, but Milwaukee with its cheap rent and low cost of living has made it home to hipsters that coastal millennials pattern themselves after. It also has the most beautiful live venues — for acoustics and for visual pleasure, such as the turn of the century buildings Pabst Theater and Turner Hall. It's also home to the largest music festival in the world: Summerfest. And has there ever been a rapper as original as Juiceboxxx, for example?

Madison, the university town, has the Butch Vig connection, plus lots and lots and lots of partying kids going to shows on the regular, whether at the Orpheum or at free shows at the WUD.