Locations famous as destinations for transformative musical tourism/travel/pilgrimage

a transformative experience can be had at any time in any place. for real. you never know where.

I once went to Te Awamutu in New Zealand and found the "road hedged with roses", as described by Tim Finn in "Walking Down A Road". It was a transformative experience for me.

xpost-ish

Well, then shouldn't Glastonbury and Woodstock be listed as well?

I don't think that the east/west divide is necessarily the crux of what made time spent in Berlin a so called "transformative experience" for musicians/artists. Or perhaps more accurately, the 'removal' of this divide, ie. the fall of the wall, hasn't had such a drastic effect on the atmosphere of Berlin as an extremely liberal city, a place where difference seems to be embraced rather than shunned. The history of a place can't be erased by physical changes in the landscape. I've only been there twice myself, and maybe I've been lucky, but I've had some amazing, eye-opening times in the short periods I spent there. I recommend time spent in Berlin to any artist who feels stifled by their home environment or who simply longs for fresh experience. As for music in particular, the east-side especially has a pretty astonishing diversity of clubs and live music venues. There are a LOT of interesting people to be met and places to be seen.