Blog
Notes from the road.
Tour management, show-day logistics, and the craft of keeping live entertainment on schedule.
Roles & Careers
Booking Touring Crew: Holds, Availability and Confirmations
How tours check crew availability: first and second holds, challenges, confirmations, day rates and what happens when dates change after someone is booked.
Production
Stage Plot and Input List: What They Are and How to Make Them
The two pages every venue's audio crew wants before you arrive: what goes on a stage plot and input list, how to lay ...
Life on the Road
Staying Healthy on Tour: A Practical Guide for Bands and Crew
Sleep, food, hearing, voices, backs and headspace: the everyday habits that keep artists and crew well through a long...
Planning & Logistics
Touring Internationally: Work Permits, Visas, ATA Carnets and Tax
The paperwork behind an international tour: work permits and visas, ATA carnets for gear, withholding tax on fees, an...
Money & Business
Merch on Tour: Counts, Venue Fees and Merch Settlement Explained
How tour merch actually works night to night: counting in and out, venue merch fees, who sells it, and how merch sett...
Planning & Logistics
Tour Hotels and Rooming Lists: How to Book and Manage Them
What a rooming list is, what goes on it, and how tour managers book hotels, handle room blocks and keep check-in smoo...
Planning & Logistics
Tour Bus vs. Van vs. Fly Dates: Choosing Tour Transportation
Van, sleeper bus or flying in: how to choose tour transportation based on routing, crew size, gear, budget and how mu...
Money & Business
How Show Settlement Works: Guarantees, Versus Deals and Door Deals
What happens in the settlement room after the show: how guarantees, versus deals, plus deals and door deals are calcu...
Roles & Careers
Touring Crew Roles Explained: Who Does What on a Music Tour
FOH, monitors, backline, LD, PM: a plain-English guide to who does what on a touring crew, who reports to whom, and h...
Show Days
Show Call Times Explained: Load-In, Doors, Set Times and Curfew
What call time, load-in, soundcheck, doors, set times and curfew actually mean, how they fit together on a show day, ...
Production
Technical Rider vs. Hospitality Rider: What Goes in Each
The technical rider covers what the show needs to happen; the hospitality rider covers what the people need. Here is ...
Money & Business
How to Build a Tour Budget: Line Items, Income and Break-Even
A practical walkthrough of building a tour budget: every expense line to include, how to estimate income honestly, an...
Show Days
What Is a Day Sheet? How Tours Run on One Page a Day
A day sheet is the one-page schedule that tells everyone on a tour where to be and when. Here's what goes on one, who...
Planning & Logistics
How to Plan a Concert Tour: A Step-by-Step Guide
From setting goals and routing dates to budgets, crew, travel and advancing, here's how a concert tour actually comes...
Roles & Careers
What Does a Tour Manager Do? Roles, Skills and a Day in the Life
The tour manager keeps the people, the schedule and the money on track from the first rehearsal to the last load-out....
Show Days
The Anatomy of a Show Day: From Load-In to Strike
A show day is a long relay of handoffs between departments. Here's how a typical day runs, from load-in to strike, an...
Production
Advancing a Show: The Checklist That Saves Your Tour
Advancing is everything you confirm with a venue before you arrive. Here's what to ask, when to ask it, and a checkli...
Planning & Logistics
Routing a Tour: Why Travel Days Are Where Money Goes to Die
Every day on the road costs money, whether you play or not. Here's how tour routing works, why travel days and days o...