The absurd logistics of concert tours

Fascinating!  Thanks for sharing....

If there is one thing that I have learned about the touring business, it's that the Tour Manager is probably the most essential team member on any tour and that includes the performers. The amount of detail and logistical juggling that they perform on a daily/hourly basis is mind boggling. I was once told that Bruce Springsteen's long time tour manager, since 1978, is the ONLY person that Bruce will call back immediately when he gets a message with no exceptions and that includes his overall management/agents. 

All hail to the crew. 

I used to be local crew for mid sized venues when I was young. My day was typically 8am-2am. I couldn't imagine getting on a bus to SLC or KC to do it again. I looked at the tour guys who were in their 50s - bad backs, bad knees, bad habits, no family. I got out. 

"Left Chatham county in a second hand van with a color tv..."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=95i5yFFRn_Q

I remember an artist who talked about her booking agent, saying "I think my agent thinks these states are close because they start with the same letter in the alphabet." 

The big Taylor Swift tour bucks conventions. It's all 2 days in one place, then 5 days off. In relative terms, it seems like a pretty cushy gig. She's playing 52 shows in 5 months, maybe 22 venues. DeadCo are playing over 30 shows in 2 months, 19 venues.

At the video technology company I worked for we sold our video capture technology to the tour operators because it could capture the pro shot video and transcode it fast enough to use in things like social media. Fast was important because the venues shut off electricity to the light and sound boards right after the concert is over. So it had to be done when the concert was over. They then sold that transcoded video back to the bands. The layers of contracts and businesses within businesses are just crazy. 

Would love to see a build out once. 

The bands' need for novelty (lighting, staging, etc.) makes this model seem very unsustainable. Too bad we don't have a national network of plug-and-play theaters, where a band comes in, sets up their instruments, plugs into the house's sound system, and plays. Not only would that greatly simplify the processes of touring, it would cut down greatly on a band's carbon footprint. If it's truly all about the music, this would seem to be the way to go.

^

The Taylor Swift tour has 2 full set ups and takes almost 3 full days to set the stage, sound and lighting. While one concert is going on another crew is on to the next stop. 

Sounds like the GD's Wall of Sound era, which they ultimately found to be unsustainable by the mid-70s. Ahead of their time again.

Once you get to the top performers on the road these days, much of the information in the video (very well done, btw) isn't the same. For instance, the Springsteen E Street Band has only the equipment travel by trucks with tandem drivers. The band and all of the crew travel by jets. When Bruce and his wife are both on tour they travel on separate jets so if there is a crash their children will still have one parent.