The problem with loving music and living where I do is that you have to be prepared to travel — and consequently often part with a substantial amount of money — in order to slake your live music thirst.

My choices on this day were, surprisingly, several. I could’ve stayed in town and seen a local band pound out some predictable classic rock or vanilla modern country. That would’ve cost me a few bucks in beer but a small fortune in my sanity. So, that wasn’t really a viable option.

Option two was to drive about 60 miles each way to see Metallica at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse. That would’ve cost me anywhere between $75-$500 (plus fees, of course), a couple of hours in driving time, parking fees, and again, a few bucks in beer. Not a bad option if you want to bang your head with 45,000 of your closest friends and experience the joy of sound booming and echoing around a large concrete box for a few hours. Yeah, so about that sanity. ….

Option three was a 500-mile round trip, a $75 ticket, an overnight stay, and a couple of meals to see Big Big Train, a band unknown to most, playing music in a genre that was popular for a hot minute in the early 1970s.

It was the most expensive option. It was the most difficult option logistically. It was the most obscure option. So, of course, it was the option I chose.

(To be pedantic, there was a fourth option to see Martin Barre, ex-Jethro Tull guitarist. At 55 bucks for ticket and a 90-mile round trip, that actually would have been the sanest and most economical way to spend my night. But as I didn’t learn about this show until returning from the other show, the decision not to go was an easy one).

To the uninitiated — which up until about a year ago included me — Big Big Train is a progressive rock band (God, how I hate that meaningless term) who have actually been in existence for almost 35 years, though the band history suggests that their real beginning occurred somewhere around 2009 when American drummer Nick D’Virgilio and English vocalist David Longdon joined bassist Gregory Spawton, the band’s one constant from their original incarnation.

Following Longdon’s tragic death in 2021, the band underwent another metamorphosis, adding several more members, including Italian Alberto Bravin to replace Longdon. Two years later, they released the Ingenious Devices album, a compilation/re-recording/re-imagining of five previously released songs. It’s at that point that I got on board (see what I did there?), and following the release of their last album, 2004’s sublime The Likes of Us, I was hooked.

Enough, that is, to forgo all the easier, less-expensive musical options outlined earlier and make the trip down to New Jersey to witness one of their all-too-rare North American shows.

From the first notes of their opener, “Light Left in the Day,” I knew I’d made the right choice. Musically, this song and the others that followed saw the band exhibiting all the technical prowess demonstrated by their recorded versions slathered with the special sauce a band makes when they perform them live at the peak of their powers.

The evening was a feast for the ears, as the set moved through a myriad of emotions and musical feels, from the layered harmonies and straightforward rock of “Oblivion” to “Apollo,” the show’s 5/4 time instrumental finale with its echoes of Jethro Tull’s “Living in the Past.” In a set that leaned heavily on The Likes of Us, the night’s big highlight was the epic “Beneath the Masts,” a song that moves from a melancholic 12-string opening through chaotic syncopated rhythms before finally cycling back to a gorgeous restatement of the original theme, courtesy of Swedish guitarist’s Rikard Sjöblom’s anthemic concluding solo.

Each song was a showcase for the band’s versatility: Bravin switched seamlessly from guitars to keyboard, as did Sjöblom. Scottish-born violinist Clare Lindley doubled on acoustic guitar and keyboards. Even D’Virgilio joined in on the fun, playing guitar and taking lead vocal duties for the pretty bucolic “Telling the Bees.” (Brevin, not to be outdone, took over D’Virgilio’s drum duties during the song, acquitting himself admirably.) With such an embarrassment of musical riches, it’s hard to imagine this band ever running out of ideas and resorting to generic musical cliches.

In this infinite universe of ours. I’m pretty sure that there must be a parallel planet to the Earth where justice prevails, talent is rewarded, a song like “Beneath the Masts” is a hit, and Big Big Train routinely sell out 40,000 seat stadiums night after night while Metallica struggle to fill small regional arts centers. Maybe Musk or Bezos will build rockets big enough to find it one day. Until then, I’m glad I live in a world where Big Big Train exists and, consequently, I am poor and sleep deprived.