Info on concert tour drivers

Most Venues have a Stage Hands Union. They handle it, and some Venues are handled in the contract signed by Artist or Agent. There are a few exceptions, but not many. If you're working for the Pro's. they have most covered, but, the Promoters also tell stories. Lots of these Tours are sponsered by very large companies, like Pepsi, Coke, and Bud. and they aren't screwed with. Good Luck.

 

no direct experience myself - all hearsay. I've talked to a couple tour drivers, both said the only thing they do is drive.

Well, drive and hang out "wherever".. back stage, hotel, truck...

Food is good, pay is good, hours are long on the road. One driver said he had to be "creative" with his log book.

Oh. No such thing as home time

 

I've been looking at several mobile marketing gigs. You could check with Shomotion out of Denver,CO, Upstage, I think Stagecall is another. There are several out there, oh Janco is another. I have a friend thats on a motorsports gig and he has been out since Feb., but he has only put 25,000 miles on his truck since he left.
I spoke with Shomotion myself, minimum 3 months out. Most tours are already set for this season, early next year is the best time to get in is what I was told. But thats all hearsay , I have no experience in it. (YET) Good luck.

 

Another thing you have to be prepared for hauling entertainment is the ability to be away from home for long periods of time. Some of these tours last for months you have to stay with the tour the whole time unless they have a venue near your home or there is break in the schedule.

 

Easy as it gets, most bands back line their equipment in...(rent it)
I drove a entertainer coach this past summer on a tour...short one be it & I have done the longer ones too. lot less of a rush to get there not like a line job.

 

My husband would like to get a specialized job like this once he gets a few years in. He wouldn't care about the lack of hometime as long as I could come with him.

 

How would one get in to driving an entertainer coach? any links for a new entertainer coach driver? or am I still not experienced enough? I have 4 years trucking experience.

 

Sorry to dig this up, but I figured this may be helpful to those considering this. I worked at a larger venue just outside of Chicago for quite awhile, having many shows come through. Many performers rented busses from one place in Tennessee, can't remember the name but they had to be pretty large, never saw the same bus twice. The busses were usually parked pretty tight together close to the back entrance of the building that was fenced and had armed rent-a-cop security. The one company I loaded the most was Upstaging from IL, they always had super nice equipment, all the trucks have APU's, all the trailers are air ride, etc. There will be some tough to impossible backs that you'll have to do twice, once to unload, once to reload. Some shows bring roadies everywhere, some have local unions, so be prepared to give directions many many times as to how to load and unload your trailer. I really doubt weight was an issue, but proper weight distribution in the trailer could be. My specific venue put class 8 trucks on a 30-40% incline to the underbuilding dock. I imagine there's much worse. I can see where logbook creativeness would come into play, due to the fact that one show may be too far away to do legally, but it must go on. Hours are weird, used to unload at 6AM and reload after the show no earlier than 11PM, usually wrapping up by 4-5AM. Not sure if you get to pick what show your assigned to either, I've seen some shows with some stressed out looking roadies. I really never saw many drivers watching shows, or hanging out in the venue for that matter, I'm assuming most were resting, or didn't like the performer. Some performers create stupid rules that you may be affected by aswell, on more than one occasion I had to change the way I did something, or postpone it due to a performer so I'd keep that in mind aswell. hth