Stadium shows: what should I expect?

I got nutn. But congrats! Report from the road!

 

Sounds like a fun summer! Bring the house down.

 

Stadium shows: what should I expect?
- disconnects between you and the audience..."they're so far away!"
- food: be careful of any white sauces , warm food when should be cold, cold food when should be warm....
- sleep = energy/attitude
- traveling: be careful to pick your 'hang'.
- drugs = usually better.

good luck with the tour!

 

If your tour manager is truly a pro this will all be second nature to him/her. Lean on them heavily.
Good luck, sounds like the experience of a lifetime.
The tour will certainly have a super-pro monitor engineer. Discuss with them how to do your monitoring.
Borrow some money and get better AND custom fit earbuds.
By the time you hit this level of touring, all the petty 'Make the support act sound like crap' should be gone, and everyone n the tour should be willing to help make the tour a success.

 

-Don't be afraid to ask nicely for anything you need, but use your point person when you can. It's much easier for organizations to deal with a single communication point, and it keeps miscommunications from happening.

-even in the big places, where more presentational stage work may feel required at a constant rate--it would do well for bands to remember: play with one another for the audience, don't play next to one another at the audience.
Eye contact, listening to one another, hitting your usual marks are all key! But if you get a moment to throw a bone to the audience (when you are trucking along 16 bars of A major quarter notes)--then do it!

-on the gig where you'll have a rented instrument--it'll probably be just fine (when I went on a colosseum tour the provided guitar was better than mine). But maybe google the local guitar shops in case there's a problem--you'll have an address to send a gopher to rent something. Bring extra strings with you.

 

Hi,

First of all, congratulations on landing such a fun tour!

I have a pair of the Shure SE215 ear buds and they are fine. I like my KZ ear buds (triple driver) a lot beetter, and they don't break the bank.

https://www.amazon.com/Headphones-E...ocphy=9031206&hvtargid=pla-597760990044&psc=1

KZ makes several models from dual drivers to five drivers. They are great bang for your buck. Spend a little extra and get the upgraded cable.

Because the stage, venue, and audience will be so big, try your best to get a good monitor mix. This will keep you connected to the band.

Be patient always. As others have mentioned, sleep good, eat right, don't party too much, save your energy for the show, and enjoy!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

I have no advice for but a whole lotta congratulations. This sounds like a ton of fun. If you remember and have a chance it would be awesome if you can document your tour here on TB. For those of us that are weekend warrior types that play pubs and lodges, it would be great insight and very interesting. Once again, congratulations,knock it out of the park.

 

First off. Congratulations. It will be quite the experience for you. Sounds like you have most of the basics covered. I have spent the last 18 years touring as a sound guy/ production manager with major acts so the advice I can give you is from that perspective.

Fist off, don’t poop on the bus. Always sleep with your feet towards the front of the bus and my preference is to sleep on the drivers side... in the event of an accident their natural instinct is to protect themselves and steer the passenger side into danger.... also while it is the bus drivers job to clean the bus every day, don’t make it harder on them. Clean up after yourselves. Don’t leave trash all over the place. It is your home after all.

Remember that this is a job, both for you and everyone else involved with the tour. Don’t party till your job is done for the day. Be responsible. Be where you need to be before you need to be there.

More than likely the engineers mixing you will be the techs that set things up and not the actual engineers mixing the headliner. The techs are generally younger folk that work for the sound company supplying the gear and are responsible for making sure it all works everyday. They will mix your band for experience and cause the band engineers don’t want to. They generally aren’t getting paid to mix you so it is good to tip them out daily or weekly for helping you out. Ask your Tour manager about what is proper on your tour. You will get a soundcheck at the beginning of the tour probably for the first week or so. Then it will depend on time. If things get behind schedule, which they often do for various reasons your soundcheck will probably be the first thing cut. But with digital consoles that shouldn’t be a big deal. Be nice and take care of them and they’ll take care of you. Stay out of their way till they are ready for you. Nothing is worse than someone trying to chat you up while flying a 4000 pound stack of speakers or solving a problem.

Make sure you have plenty of strings, a backup head and spares of most things. Murphy loves roadies and shows up often in the weirdest places. Always find the simplest solution.

Using generic ear buds shouldn’t be an issue. But it would be helpful if your whole band had the same ones. That way one guy isn’t complaining that something is too bright while someone else thinks it isn’t. And clean your earbuds everyday. Wipe them down, clean the wax out. Keep them in good working order. Maybe see if one of the monitor engineers would be willing to vacuum them out once in a while for you. Also it is helpful if you all start with your volume on your earpacks at about 12 o’clock. That way the engineer isn’t having to push a lot of signal to one person and barely any to another person.

You will be dependent on your IEMs. On big stages there generally aren’t a lot of walls or reflective boundaries to reflect sound back at you. Depending on the headliners preference on how the PA is deployed you may not hear much of the house onstage. Or all you may hear is the subs. It will feel totally different than a club or even a large theater but you will get used to it. Just cause it’s a stadium doesn’t mean you need to crank your amps all the way up. Let the PA do the heavy lifting and be open minded and willing to work with the engineers on things. They aren’t trying to change your tone, just convey it clearly to the audience.

Keep the backstage guests to a minimum. I was the crew chief for a large multi day festival in a stadium a couple weeks ago. Had a local band for an opener one of the days. They showed up with a bigger entourage of friends and family than the headliner and direct support act had crew. And they were all hanging out side stage making it very difficult for the crew to do our jobs efficiently. Kept having to move them so we could get through. It was annoying to say the least.

Eat healthy and try to exercise everyday. Even if that is just going for a walk. Try to find a routine and stick to it. Get up at the same time , eat around the same time, etc.

Most of all, have fun. Play your butts off. Make some friends and some great memories. Enjoy the hell out of it. And I can’t wait to see these gig reports.

 

One thing that came to my mind and don't see addressed is concern about transporting exotic woods over international lines. IF you have a maple board and no exotic wood on your body, you should have no issues, but dark wood boards may be problematic. Be sure to have any specific documentation regarding the construction of your bass, be sure to have it with you as you cross boarders. I don't know all the regs, but I know there is a crack down on certain rosewoods and other exotic woods crossing borders. Phi Mann talked about this in a recent SBL seminar and has begum leaving his main player (rosewood board) at home when he crosses borders and just takes his maple fretboard basses to minimize and customs fiascos.

Sounds like a fun gig - report back as you can to share your experience.

 

Hi,

Excellent post! I had forgotten these courtesy and safety concerns about touring on a bus. Sleep with your feet toward the front so that you'll stand a better chance of breaking your leg instead of breaking your neck, if there is any kind of head-on accident.

To @darkwasthenight: Yes, please take a few pictures at each performance to share with the class. We'd love to come along on your adventure. Share the fun!



Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

Good luck, man! You're living the dream!

 

I took my wife to see Pink a number of years ago and the opening band sounded fine. I don't remember them but I remember the bad sounding openers from other shows. I hope that gives you some comfort.

 

For this, it's worth finding the dough for custom IEM inserts.

 

Woah, that sounds like a blast! Have fun! While I've never been on a small tour or anything, I have to travel a lot for work and I find having a routine helps day to day when every day is in a new place with new challenges and situations.

 

No need to undercut your set times. Take up your full time but don’t go one second over. Stage managers are very punctual people. Nothing winds them up more than someone not sticking to the schedule.

Make sure you have access to multiple streaming services on the bus. You will watch lots of movies. Lots of movies you thought you’d never watch... if someone has a video game system make sure you have multiple controllers. Have played a lot of drunken Mario cart tournaments. Posting gig reports is a good way to pass time and record your experience for your own sake.

Pink’s crew is top notch. I’m sure they will take good care of you. Watch out for the last few shows. Roadies get bored and if they really like you pranks will happen. Have had pizzas delivered to a band mid set, re-recorded playback tracks and click tracks..... All in good fun. And one of the nice parts of this level of touring is that they carry their own chefs. You’ll eat very well. Make friends with them....

Oh and one last important bus note. Make sure you always have a couple cases of water on the bus. Tap water on busses is fine for washing hands and flushing the toilet but always use bottled water for drinking and brushing your teeth.

The opening and direct support slots are my favorite on these tours. You have a shorter work day and are all packed up and showered early enough to watch the headliner. And you have plenty of time throughout the day to explore the cities you are in.

I love watching bands in your position on these tours. Going from nervousness the first couple of shows to growing and absolutely owning it by the end.

 

Relax. Have fun. Stay sober. Fire the drummer immediately.

 

Make sure your gear is compatible with the different voltages AND quality of power.

 

I got nuthin, but....

CONGRATULATIONS

Enjoy! What a rush!