A tour is not a series of shows: it is the logistics between them. The gigs are the easy part, and a run comes apart in the gaps. A drive nobody measured, a venue that expected your rider three weeks ago, a settlement nobody wrote down. This checklist walks through what to lock down before a run of dates, roughly in the order it has to happen.
Lock the routing before anything else
Routing decides the cost, the fatigue and half the problems you will have later. Put the dates on a map before you confirm them and look at three things: the distance between consecutive cities, the real travel time with load-in and load-out attached, and where a day off has to fall so the band arrives able to play.
Track the status of every date honestly. A date on hold is not a confirmed date, and a tentative one that everybody treats as certain is how a run ends up with a hole in the middle or two shows six hours apart. Mark each date confirmed, tentative or cancelled, and keep that status where the whole band can see it.
- Dates on a map before they are confirmed
- Real travel times, including load-in and load-out
- A day off where the routing demands one
- Confirmed, tentative and cancelled marked clearly
Put the money on paper before the run starts
Every date has two numbers: what it pays and what it costs. The fee, the deposit and how you get paid on the night belong in writing, along with the split if you are sharing the bill. The costs are fuel or flights, lodging, food, crew, backline hire and the merch you had to print up front.
Use a contract per date instead of a chain of emails, with the venue, the amount, the currency and the date on it, and track whether it is drafted, sent or signed. Then work out the break-even for the whole run rather than per show: a strong Friday can carry a quiet Tuesday, and you only see that if you budget the tour as one unit.
- Fee, deposit and payment terms per date, in writing
- A signed contract instead of an email thread
- Fuel, lodging, food, crew and backline in the budget
- Break-even calculated across the whole run
Advance every date, one venue at a time
Advancing is the call or email, two to three weeks out, that turns a booking into a plan. Confirm the production contact and their phone number, the schedule from load-in to curfew, what PA and backline the venue provides, where the van parks and who is on the door.
Send your paperwork in the same message: the stage plot, the technical rider and the input list, so the engineer can prepare before you arrive. Agree the guest list number, confirm how tickets are sold and how the settlement works at the end of the night, and write the answers down where the band can read them.
- A named production contact with a phone number
- Load-in, soundcheck, doors, set times and curfew
- Stage plot, rider and input list sent ahead
- Guest list, ticketing and settlement agreed in advance
Plan travel, lodging and the human day
Measure travel in door-to-door hours, not in kilometres, and add loading, fuel stops and traffic. A five-hour drive after a show that ends at one in the morning is a different thing from the same drive on a rested afternoon, and the schedule should say which one it is.
Book lodging close to the venue when the day is long, and decide who drives and when they sleep. Assign people to each date the way you assign gear: who plays, who drives, who sells merch, and confirm it with them instead of assuming.
- Door-to-door travel time, including loading and stops
- Lodging chosen around the length of the day
- A named driver per leg, with rest planned
- Every person assigned and confirmed per date
Pack the gear, the spares and the paperwork
Build one inventory of what leaves the rehearsal room: instruments, audio, cables, cases, lighting and merch, with serial numbers for anything worth insuring. A list you tick at load-out is the only reliable way to stop leaving a pedalboard in a venue at two in the morning.
Pack spares for what actually fails: cables first, then strings, sticks, batteries, fuses and a backup playback device with a stereo bounce of the set. Carry the paperwork too, with ID or passports and their expiry dates checked, insurance, permits where they apply and a copy of every contract.
- One inventory list, checked at every load-out
- Serial numbers for anything insured
- Spare cables, strings, sticks, batteries and a backup playback device
- Passports, insurance and contracts checked before you leave
Run each date from a day sheet, then settle it
On the day, nobody reads a spreadsheet. What works is a single day sheet per date: the address, the times, the contacts, the hotel and who has to be where. Send it the night before and most of the questions disappear.
After the show, close the date while it is fresh. Write down what came in and what went out, note what broke or ran out, and restock before the next load-in. A run settled show by show never turns into a month of receipts nobody can reconcile.
- One day sheet per date, out the night before
- Income and expenses recorded the same night
- A post-show checklist: gear counted, merch counted
- Repairs and restocking done before the next date