THE TOUR MANAGER - IS IT HARDEST JOB ON THE ROAD?

In my current role as a publicist and in days gone by as a PR manager for record labels, I have crossed paths and worked with many tour managers, quite often referred to as a TM.  My experiences with them have been good and bad....I have called them friend and I have called them foe.  In the 60's and 70's a tour manager was then known as a road manager....think the days of Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.  He would be big, burly, bejewelled, brash and in Elvis's case....he would take care of business.  This essentially is what a tour manager does, and there is plenty of business to take care of on the road.

The tour manager picks up the hire car, he drives the hire car - everywhere, he books the wake up calls and he berates the member of the touring entourage who is late and holds everybody up, he books the luggage calls, he packs the luggage into the hire car and he tracks and finds the lost luggage.  There is plenty of it.  Google and Where Is are his closest allies.  He knows the distance from every town to the next and how long it will take to get there.  He knows exactly how far he can drive without running out of petrol to the teeny tiniest last drop of it.  He uses a GPS but quite often gets lost and is never afraid of double parking or covering an entrance/exit that needs to be used if he needs to park there.  He knows the loading bays, entrances, and dressing rooms of every venue any band has ever played in.  He knows how to get a free meal for the band if there isn't one in the contract. He has all the airline lounges sorted and knows all the girls at the front desks by first name. He has more Frequent Flyer points, hotel soaps/towels/roomkeys than we could ever imagine. He knows how to tune and play all of the instruments that everyone else in the band plays, even though he's never actually been on stage and played himself. He is the first one to rise in the morning and usually is the last one to bed at night - because he's working organising everybody else - not because he's out partying, he has too much responsibility to partake in too much of that unless it's a night off and then the TM is the life and soul of the party. He handles the obsessive and over zealous fans, smiles and feigns interest in the backstage meet and greeters/VIP's/family members.  He procures whatever is needed whenever it is needed.  A spare shirt out of his suitcase, a burger late at night, more booze when the backstage rider has run out, a bag of whatever from the guy down on the corner, a warm body, a massage therapist, a hangover cure and occasionally a doctor.  He packs up the merchandise, has probably been selling it too and carries the cash. He takes responsibility for damages, rudeness, tardiness and all types of bad behaviour, mainly because no-one else will.  He quite frequently is a chain smoker, puffing away during any break in the day and often saying "I'll wait out by the car" which really means that he is going to have a smoke, that usually goes hand in hand with a cup of coffee and a slightly nervous pace.  He is loyal, efficient, dedicated, tireless, probably underpaid and yes I think he might have the hardest job on the road.

In my younger years, I wanted to be a tour manager.  God only knows why! Midnight Oil had a female tour manager by the name of Constance, and I thought she was the coolest chick alive.  She was American, four foot something, always wore very high heeled boots and had a birds nest of bleached blonde hair.  She was tough, in control and I was terrified of her, but I wanted to be like her.  I loved watching her in action and I always considered her to be very good at her job to be working with the likes of Midnight Oil in their heyday.  A strong confident woman in a man's world.

Over the years I have met so many tour managers and most of my dealings with them have been great.  They need to work hand in hand with us and most do so very happily and easily.  They are considerate of what is needed at our end if we are considerate of what is needed at theirs.  Arrival in my town usually starts off with a phone call to go over the plan for the day...who is driving, what time and where should we meet and how can we get through the day (efficiently) keeping the artist refreshed and happy?I've only had two very bad experiences with tour managers in the past.  One was with a man who had worked on major concert tours here in Australia for many years and who had been a mainstay in the Australian music industry for a very long time.  At a pre-show meet and greet for an international artist when I was working for Sony Music, he became angry that I had brought in a group of people to meet and greet the artist.  I had been given the go ahead to do so by the head tour manager for the promoter a few minutes prior but this hadn't been passed on.  He pushed me up against a wall in front of everyone and yelled in my face.  I don't recall anyone coming to my rescue but I do recall never forgetting that incident and how it had made me feel very small and him probably very important.  The second occasion was more an issue with the band however the tour manager for this act stood by and watched and kind of shrugged his shoulders as if it was just another day, and it probably was.  This UK band arrived early on a Sunday morning from Perth and I went out to meet them, which was always something that you were required to do as a record company rep. It was always my least favourite part of the job.  They hadn't been to sleep and they had been drinking, a lot.  Despite the fact that I had worked with them before and had gotten along very well with them, on this occasion and under the circumstances I had become a fresh piece of flesh to....um, attack. They followed me through the airport terminal as we headed out towards the bus, and I was verbally abused in a sexual manner from the first step until the last. The tour manager whose name happened to be Animal, loaded them all on to the bus and looked at me sheepishly.  'So do you want to come down to the hotel tonight and grab some dinner and a bit to eat with us?', he said.  'No', I replied. 'You won't be seeing me tonight and you won't be seeing me at your show tomorrow night'.  'Righto', he said.  Would Animal have had the decency to tell his boys to back off when they first started the heckling?  Would he have had the decency to apologise to me on their behalf before the bus departed?  No, of course not.  Another day, another town, another chick, even if I was from the record company....who cares when you are still on a bender from last night.  His loyalties lay with them not me.  I said goodbye and that night called the MD of the label in Sydney told him what happened and told him that I wasn't prepared to have anything more to do with that act whilst they were in town, and he fully supported me on all levels.

And the good guys??  Well there are plenty of them.  These days with the need to reduce the costs of touring, members of the entourage often take on extra roles and it is not unusual to find that a band member is also the tour manager, or the artist manager accompanies the artist to act in that capacity as well.  One of my faves enjoys a laugh with me about all the funny things that happen on the road...our favourite line is "go and get the car will you?" and he spoils me rotten making sure that there is always a rider for me ... "I've got a glass of wine, a great seat and a cheese plate waiting for you"!  He very sweetly tells me that "I am Adelaide" and we both stay up way too late working hard and long hours, and therefore have a terrific mutual admiration society.  One of my current clients have their multi-skilled drummer doubling as the man in charge of everything.  He is amazingly adept at juggling many things at once...marketing, my 100 phonecalls and emails a day, the artists and band, the venues, the booking agency and his family. Today he sent me a text that firstly apologised for "bugging me on a Saturday".  Everyday is a working day in our business, but I appreciated his thoughtfulness.  A huge hats off to him, because let's not forget that he is a musician in his own right, and therefore to have to take on so many responsibilities day after day....well in my view it sort of puts his musicianship a long way down the list of things to consider each day.  He is a terrific player and so I hope that each night when he eventually gets up behind the kit, that he still gets as much joy from it as from the day that he first picked up his sticks.  I think he is simply wonderful.

Some of these guys just do their jobs so well, and you can pick them out easily from the calibre of artists whom they work with.  It's no coincidence that they are employed by artists who run a tight ship and who are professional beyond belief.  From here on in I think I will refer to them as "the rocks of the road" because that is what they truly are.  The pic that I have chosen for today's blog is of my friend Michael, play acting at being a TM.  He has the perfect serious "face" on, mobile phone technique and obligatory laminate around his neck.....he did a superb job when required and could step up to the job anyday!

Thanks for reading,
Deb