I myself have tried to support the local scene but have given up. A lot of the original nights are free, some are a fiver to get in (none of which goes to the band - I know from playing the same venue). The problem I find is I don't think many bands are that good in my area; a lot of them have been doing the same sort of music for close to 20 years, maybe 10 for the younger ones. There might be a line up change here, an image change there but all their music sounds the same - no one is really doing anything different.