Costs of touring around Europe?

[Colonel_Claypoo]

hey everbody,

i need some financial estimates for touring in europe.
this autumn we might play a total of 20 gigs ranging from portugal to scandinavia in 30 days. it's going to be our first tour ever and i'm seeing us running into serious financial problems if we don't calculate this through. therefore i could use some advice.
we have a promoter who gets his share and we're completeley on our own, only touring with another band and not in the same vehicle. so we'll have to organize transportation, accomodation and all the relevant things to survive by ourselves.
i guess we'll be playing clubs from 50-150 people and most clubs only pay door deal. i can't think of a way how to calculate the required budget. does anybody have some advice please?

thanks!

[MIJ-VI]

Look into getting travel insurance for every band member? Seriously...

Perhaps the folks at Basschat can offer some insight into touring Europe.

[Colonel_Claypoo]

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

Look into getting travel insurance for every band member? Seriously...

Perhaps the folks at Basschat can offer some insight into touring Europe.

thanks for the tip, just registered over there...

your comments don't need to be based on the notion of touring europe per se but anywhere in the world. just looking for a cost estimate and what to take into account.

thanks!

[MattyBass]

I would say try and make friends where you play, I can't tell ya how much we saved by going to new friends houses after the shows... : )

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Earlier today I tried to reply, and my computer crashed. Let's see what happens now...


This is a part of a PM I sent to Your countryman (well an Englishman actually, living in Germany) when his band was coming to Finland.
They were plying on a festival though, not touring.

One of the benefits of Finland is that english is taught from age of 9, so almost everyone speaks, or at least understands english, so communication won't be a problem.

Here's a few quick links I found:

Hotels, with a calculator:
http://de.otel.com/hotels/helsinki.h...FYKB3godhVgGcw

The McDonalds prices are used even with statistic studies when comparing prices:

http://www.mcdonalds.fi/fi/ruoka/tuoteluettelo.html

For some odd reason I couldn't find the english version, but: Ateriat=Meals; Juomat=Drinks; Hampurilaiset=Burgers; Salaatit=Rabbit Food ; Ranskalaiset=Fries; Kahvi ja kahvileivät= Coffee and coffeebread.

Meals in general are around 10 to 20€ in places where there's plates , fast foods are a bit below 10€. Pizzas are about 5€-12€.

It's been a while when I bought beer, but I'd say about 1,50€ will get You a 0.33 can from a store and 3.50€ 1/2 liter in a clean glass.

I think the car is best to be rented from the location of the band (Germany?) as they can then get the best prices, local discounts, best insurances and all the paperwork done in their own language. Herz comes to my mind first, but I believe that most of the major rent companies have garages in Finland too.

Regards
Sam


Diesel is around 1.10€ and gasoline around 1.30€ per liter at the moment.

In Sweden, stuff is generally a bit cheaper, in Norway and Denmark a bit more expensive AFAIK.

Do have the insurances up to date, that's always very important, just like MIJ-VI pointed out.

Regards
Sam