Tours

[Pete Academy]

I've been playing a long time but I've never been in a touring band. My present band has played abroad, but only for a couple of nights.

I'm not talking the Stones or Led Zep with a private jet. Any good stories?

[JTUK]

hmm... what goes on tour..stays etc etc ..

But...

In Hamburg you can spend a LOT of money, depending on which street you meet someone on..it is that controlled..and we were staying right near the Reaperbann.
After the show, we went walk about and we all decided to leave our money back at the hotel.

After walking a few 'streets' drummer ask if I have any money on me..and I only have change for the bars and a few drinks
as I was sticking to the sensible 'idea'. I'm so rockNroll

Drummer disappears with one of the girls and the dissapears again and we meet back at the hotel where the girls often have a drink after their shift ( 4:00 AM ) as the girl behind the bar is one that never "saved and went home"..like they all plan to do and open a hairdressers shop.

He was clean out of money..!! having done more than a few nights wages..!!! He was pretty popular with the girls in the bar though

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='JTUK' post='1299267' date='Jul 10 2011, 09:09 PM']hmm... what goes on tour..stays etc etc ..[/quote]

y' know, I've never heard a female musician say that.

[Lozz196]

It`s very easy to end up with a different opinion of your bandmates than you had previously.

Other than that, try not to drink too much (easier said than done) and make sure you eat decent food. Fuel in = energy out, so if your filling up with rubbish, you are going to be rubbish, therefore your performance will be. If all you`ve/they`ve done is eat burgers/chips/chocolate, and drank lager/JD/Redbull for 2 weeks or more, a certain amount of "rattiness" is likely to occur. Which isn`t helpful for band morale.

I did a tour in the early 90s, found that largely, it was a lot of time spent waiting to do something. Plus as the support band, invariably, you get sh*t on by the main band, who soooooooo want to be the stars, that their only way of doing this, as they are playing places where they are largely unknown, is to make things difficult for the support. It just makes them feel so much more valid and legitimate, in their own minds, and feeds their self-importance.

Of course you can end up with a decent main band, but it`s only when you`re on the tour, you find out which they are, decent, or otherwise.

Edited July 10, 2011 by Lozz196

[ThomBassmonkey]

The food point's a good one. It really can make or break a tour, mores than you think.

Take food with you and you have more control over it, it's cheaper and more relaxing. If you don't, you can end up spending a fortune on takeaways or service station food and it's unlikely you'll be eating at all healthily.

I find all the waiting around very stressful too, so a good book or mobile console can be. Godsend.

[Monckyman]

I was once on a tour a few years back and we had to get a ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm, and then drive around to Prague, it was very glamorous sitting on a bus watching Braveheart and desperate for a crap for 3 days...
Anyway, the drummer in the band was a little erratic sometimes and was constantly tormented by the other members,(not the crew of which I was one).
So we turn up in Stockholm after an overnight journey and a good nights sleep, to discover the Tour manager desperately trying to locate the drummer, who apparently, was no longer on board...
With lots of raised eyebrows and mutterings of wtf we discovered said drummer had woken when the ship docked on an outlying island off the mainland, where they refuel, and for some reason believing we had arrived, he disembarked.
No cash, no luggage, nobody else getting off.
We waited for a bit, and he eventually managed to get to the mainland but a couple of hundred miles north of us. By then we had to continue on the journey in the vague hope he would surface somewhere in time.
He did, eventually arrive,in Prague, a day late after a fraught journey full of anguished desperate calls from the promoter at the gig who had not of course, taken out insurance.
These calls offered drum machines, drummers, threats etc..
The drummer had fallen in with a couple of swedes who provided him with cash enough to get to Prague...
We had of course enjoyed a night of debauchery and cheap booze at the venue, so the crew felt quite well disposed towards him,
He never did say what actually happened, and I still don`t know.
He left soon after.

[dc2009]

I'd love to book one for my band, ideally european, hopefully germany and scandinavia, though we're not averse to elsewhere, anyone got any good tourbookers that are still going?

[lemmywinks]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1299401' date='Jul 10 2011, 10:57 PM']Take food with you and you have more control over it, it's cheaper and more relaxing. If you don't, you can end up spending a fortune on takeaways or service station food and it's unlikely you'll be eating at all healthily.[/quote]




I remember sitting in some unknown service station at 4am in a grubby LDV van eating a vile cold pasty. I think that was the moment i realised i hadn't made it!

[SteveK]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1299260' date='Jul 10 2011, 08:57 PM']Any good stories?[/quote]Pick a day from the last 35 years and I'll give you a good story

Seriously though, 2 gigs from the last couple of years stick out in my mind, but not for good reasons.

First:
5th Sept 2008, Danube Island Festival, Vienna (30,000+ punters)- Singer has heart-attack 2 songs into the set - Spends 2 weeks in Vienna hospital.

Second:
2nd April 2010, Leffrinckouke near Dunkerque - Drummer collapses on stage with pulmonary embolism as a result of a broken ankle a few weeks earlier - Spends a couple of weeks in a French hospital.

You would not believe some of the chaos and crap that went on backstage immediately after these incidents...needless to say, one or two people showed their true colours on those nights.

[Crikey!]

Our last tour has been dubbed the Disastour...

had to do the whole thing without our frontman when he got contracted 15 weeks work the week before we left.

1st day away the vans wheel bearing exploded, taking the stubb axle with it. 4 cancelled gigs and £350 in repairs.

Picked the van up on the monday and drove to Reading. Van broke down outside the venue, got towed home, arrived at 6am.

up at 8am to start repairing the van, arrived at the gig an hour late to find none of the rest of the band had arrived either.

4 days later, the other wheel comes away when the ball joint fails. got towed to an industrial estate in leeds. Had to unload the entire van while it was still on the back of a truck because it was being backed up to a wall. Stood in the rain for 2 hours, using our clothes to cover our gear waiting for our mates van to come and take us to the gig. arrived at the gig 10 minutes before we were due on stage. Did the gig soaking wet and freezing cold. Got a lift back home with all our gear that night (arriving at 6am again) and cancelled another 3 days of tour.

Carried on 3 days later in Ipswich in 2 cars. Did the gig, one car was borrowed and had to be taken back. 3 of us left in Ipswich with a 2 seat car.

Next day, drove to Halifax, arranged to meet the other band by the football stadium. Waited 2 hours, other guys went to get food just as the other band arrived. Then had to wait for them to come back... 3 hours behind schedule we set off for Halifax, 7 people and all our gear squeezed in to 7 seats in 2 cars.

Got to Halifax, drank too much, fights occurred between band + punters... arguments ensued with the landlord and security, support bands singer/guitarist leaves never to return.

Driver then wakes up still drunk, 2 hours behind schedule after staying up drunking til 8 am.

Get to the next gig (gateshead) support decide to leave the tour that night.

continuing the tour on our own, we go to Hull.

Do the gig in Hull, leaving the next day, car number 2 has lost the key for the petrol cap. Petrol cap has to be broken off, car 2 goes home, taking 4 out of 6 band members with it.

Forgot to mention, car number 2 is a 1982 mini that doesn't start, it needs bump starting EVERY time.

anyway

me and the guitarist are left in Hull, with all the gear, no gig and nowhere to go. no battery on either of our phones.

Walked in to town, bought a phone charger, got my phone working, found a place to stay in manchester (after having to pull out of the liverpool gig that night)

Then we drove to nottingham... met up with the rest of the guys again, went home that night. Had a day off.

Tour finished up on the saturday at Camden underworld. We're on stage at 6pm, frontman arrives at 6.30pm.

Next tour was due to start on Friday. Turns out 3 of the band haven't booked this tour off work. first half of the tour is cancelled completely for us...

Disastour.

[paul_5]

That's not good is it?

[ZMech]

sounds like crikey!'s tour can be summarised with the sentence 'get a decent van'.

[ficelles]

Ok here's a little tale from the 80s for y'all. Names changed to protect the innocent etc.

So I was on tour in the position of tour manager for the support act, a NWOBHM outfit who had bought on with one of the old school rock industry acts.

We are up somewhere in the north on the tour bus after the gig, all the band and crew minus the bass player, who we will call Mario as he was a bit of a looker in an Italian sort of way.

Anyway there we are chatting and Mario appears in the rear bus entrance with female companion, for lo, he has pulled. Installs said special new friend in his bunk then being a bloke comes down to the front of the bus to brag about how he is the only one who can attract the ladies.

After a few minutes of said bragging from Mario, the drummer - who we shall call Jock as he was of Caledonian origin - quietly slips from his seat out of sight of Mario and installs himself in Mario's bunk where he begins to entertain the young lady. The tour bus starts to sway gently.

Mario meanwhile continues to extol his prowess with les femmes, then suddenly notices Jock's empty seat, the swaying tour bus, and the heavy breathing of more than one person emanating from his bunk...

Think I'll stop there

ficelles

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Crikey!' post='1299460' date='Jul 10 2011, 11:52 PM']Our last tour has been dubbed the Disastour...[/quote]

We (well, the band I'd quit the month before but was still covering gigs for) opened for you at the Well in Leeds. We were there ready to soundcheck from 6pm waiting for you and your sh*t van to turn up.

You were covered adequately by the other support band though, they were really nice actually.

We're used to gigging with Random Hand who must have the most unreliable transport in the history of pop music.

Edited July 10, 2011 by thisnameistaken

[Bassman Sam]

I did a tour of the Republic of Ireland in '98 with my last band. We were to play 8 gigs over 9 nights across the country. We arrived in Dublin for the 1st gig to find that one of the promoter's had gone bust and 5 of the gigs had been cancelled.
That left us with the situation that we would make a profit of £30 each for all of the remaining gigs if we did not eat or drink for 9 days.

My ex-wife was not impressed when our joint bank statement came through and found out how much the tour had cost her.

[chris_b]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1299260' date='Jul 10 2011, 08:57 PM']....I've been playing a long time but I've never been in a touring band.... Any good stories?...[/quote]
You had to be there!

[Crikey!]

[quote name='ZMech' post='1299490' date='Jul 11 2011, 12:36 AM']sounds like crikey!'s tour can be summarised with the sentence 'get a decent van'.[/quote]


Won't be making that mistake again. 30,000 miles in a 1993 ford transit costing £500.

[lojo]

Never been a a big tour, but I got to play with someone in the industry that I grew up listening to, had to travel to sheffield to play, hanging out in the park prior to the evening gig, and I broke my finger playing volleyball, it swelled up very quickly and the Doctor had to cut my ring off

The highest point of my bass player life came and went within a week, I did play that night, but half of the well rehearsed parts I had to drop for simpler lines

Not very rock n roll I know

[Ross]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='1299342' date='Jul 10 2011, 10:07 PM']y' know, I've never heard a female musician say that.[/quote]
Girls are sensitive, I think their vagina hurts when they lie. Which is why you should give them a firm slap on the backside and say "you're doing a good job darling" and sit down expecting a sandwich.

Some excellent stories in here.

[xilddx]

Not been on tour myself, but some of the people I play with do so regularly. One of my band mates recently told me he saw another bandmember (who liked his alcohol and other stuff) chatting up a girl after a gig somewhere in Eastern Europe. While he was chatting up this girl, he turned his head to one side and puked on the floor, then carried on chatting her up and tried to kiss her, unsuccessfully. A couple of days later, he was chatting up another girl (pissed and whatever) and mid-sentence fell about 30 metres off the edge of a cliff. He got rescued and had cuts and bruises and a knackered ankle.

[bluesparky]

What goes on tour, stays on facebook.

[Mr H]

[quote name='Ross' post='1299653' date='Jul 11 2011, 10:02 AM']Girls are sensitive, I think their vagina hurts when they lie. Which is why you should give them a firm slap on the backside and say "you're doing a good job darling" and sit down expecting a sandwich. [/quote]

I'm appalled at your attitude, young man. To make an example of you I'm going to put this in the Famous Quotes thread.

[cycrowave]

Last tour we were on, we were parked in winchester town centre on a busy saturday afternoon. sitting in the back of the van with the drummer and guitarist, the guitarist suddenly decided to change his pants. for some reason he got completly naked, the drummer and I were sat there with our eyes shut waiting for it all to be over. All of a sudden, the van doors opened and sunlight poored in. Ensue horrified shoppers and screaming children, and a speechless driver who dropped all our sandwiches. The funniest thing was the guitarist swiftly grabbing an empty jaffa cake box to restore some modesty

[bluesparky]

I do have a fair few tour stories which make me chuckle but they're mostly from the crew side of things or would end up with me getting sued by a celebrity if i started telling them on a public forum.

Of the ones i can tell, the one which makes me chuckle each time was from a rather large European stadium tour i was working on a few years ago.
When we were doing a football stadium in Gothenburg we had to start at 2am on the day of the gig instead of loading the day before the gig , the rain was torrential and everyone was exhausted and didn't really want to be there.

I had 2 locals working for me on each gig on that tour and they were usually sent to me after about 20 mins into the load in.

Someone had made a cock-up and the local crew (110 of them) all turned up really late, so everyone was in an even worse mood than before.

My particular job was to work up on a platform about 20' up which was reached by climbing up the structure and then hopping up onto the raised area.

As the crew arrived my boss radioed me to say he was sending up my crew, and the called again simply saying "you're welcome".
As i looked over the edge i was greeted by an incredibly attractive and stunning young lady climbing up and smiling at me. At that moment the rain stopped, the moon seemed to cast a gorgeous beam across the world and it was just like when Wayne saw Cassandra for the first time in Wayne's world.
I helped up onto the platform, being the gentleman that I am and it seemed that there was some chap climbing up behind her but i didn't really notice him nor can i remember his name or what he looked like.

As i introduced myself my mate / colleague was standing behind her and as she uttered the words "Hi, i'm Fanny and i'm here for you" he pretty much fell on the floor laughing.
This news was quickly broadcasted to the rest of the touring personnel (which much to my embarrassment came out of my radio too) and i could hear the guffaws of laughter as everyone heard the name of the angel that had been sent up to help me.

She wasn't very strong, nor very good but it was the help i needed just at that moment and for the rest of the day I had people shouting across the stadium "how's ya fanny?", "can i see your fanny" and other comments regarding people of a certain name being wet in the rain etc..

Fortunately she took it all in her stride and had a good laugh too and came back for the load-out after the show much to everyone's delight.

[bluesparky]

I worked for a headline band on a festival in Newquay a good few years ago and we stayed overnight the night before the first day in order to do the lighting programming in the dark.
The lighting designer finished in reasonable time and said he'd simply keep going until the tour bus from the band turned up. He'd come down to Newquay with the truck and i was already there finishing off a holiday.
At about 3.30am a bus pulled up, we turned everything off and i headed back to my hotel whilst he jumped on the bus in order to find a bunk and get some sleep.
When i arrived back at the gig in the morning I asked how he was and he said it was a bit strange that he didn't recognise any of the crew when he woke in the morning.
It turned out he'd gotten on the wrong bus (it was the first one to turn up) which belonged to another band and had taken the last bunk meaning that someone else who turned up after him had to sleep in a lounge on the bus.
This of course gave him a bit of a frosty reception when he came down the stairs in the morning to a group of equally bemused people looking back at him.