The number of people touring with a band can vary greatly depending on several factors. The larger the production, the more people required to pull it off each night. Of course, the budget plays a primary role in the size of the touring crew, and it scales based on the size of the production. Even relatively simple productions require a lot of manpower, and it doesn’t take long before a band will need to bring someone on board to help with things outside of the show.
The first position a band will typically fill is an audio engineer to mix front of house. They want to make sure that what they’re doing on stage is translated to the audience in the best way possible. Rather than leaving the integrity of their show to chance with a house engineer who may or may not have any interest in making them sound good, they bring someone who knows the music and is there to ensure it sounds great every show.
Given that younger bands typically don’t have large budgets, the audio engineer is often covering other duties beyond just mixing audio. The typical combo is an audio engineer who can also act as tour manager.
The tour manager is responsible for many things that are not directly part of the performance, but still very important to the tour overall. They make sure hospitality is available so everyone eats during the day. They handle the guest list and help facilitate any meet and greet that may happen. They’ll often act as the merch seller during the show, or make sure the local seller has all they need for the night. Perhaps most importantly, the tour manager is responsible for settlement to ensure the band gets paid at the end of the night.
When a band is able to bring on a second crewmember they will choose according to what they consider the most important. In the past, this was typically an audio engineer assigned specifically to covering monitor duties. However, in the current era of in-ear monitors and compact consoles that can easily travel anywhere your schedule may take you, bands tend to hold off on filling this position.
Instead of a monitor engineer, some bands will opt to bring out a dedicated tour manager so their front of house audio engineer can focus on mixing the live show. Others may choose to bring out a lighting person (typically referred to as a lighting director or LD) to ensure that the visual elements are on point as well. The LD is responsible for setting up any lighting (and often video) gear that the band is traveling with and integrating that gear with the house fixtures to complete the look of the show.
Other bands will choose to travel with a backline technician. This person is responsible for some or all of the instruments on stage (referred to as backline). They'll set up the backline after load-in, make repairs as necessary, change guitar strings or drum heads, and make guitar changes throughout the performance.
Given the importance of a social media presence these days, many bands are choosing to hold off on the lighting person and backline technician, and instead bring along someone to capture content throughout the tour. This person’s primary role is to gather stills and video content that can be used as promotional tools on the band's social media outlets and beyond. Again with relation to tour budgets, this person is often expected to extend beyond their primary duties and lend a helping hand in other areas as well. Content people will also often help load in and out, set up the backline, sell merch, or assist the tour manager.
As the tour grows so does the demand for more crew members to ensure everything gets done each day. At some point, they'll bring in a production manager to oversee all the extra crewmembers and the production itself. This person will work closely with the tour manager to ensure all details are properly advanced and then carried out on show day. Production managers tend to focus on everything related to the actual performance, making sure things happen on schedule and budget. They ensure there are enough local crewmembers to help with the load in and set up. They oversee the set up each day, and perhaps most importantly they help resolve problems and deal with unexpected issues that inevitably arise. For fly dates, the production manager will advance any backline and production rentals that may be necessary, and ensure logistics for the fly pack are ironed out before show day. For international tours, they're also responsible for creating a carnet to ensure all the gear gets in and out of each country without issue.
Most artists these days will use a playback system of some sort. Often referred to as “tracks”, this system is used to supplement what the band is playing, and will often control the lighting and video elements as well. Early in a band's career, the drummer is often responsible for controlling playback during a show. When the budget allows, most bands will bring out a dedicated playback technician on tour. This person is responsible for updating all the software as necessary before rehearsals and keeping the playback system in outstanding working condition throughout the tour.  Each day they set up the playback system and operate it during the show.
And of course, everyone mentioned above will also share in the responsibilities of driving the van until that wonderful moment when they’re able to upgrade to a bus.
As bands grow they’ll continue to add more touring personnel. These roles will become more refined with a more narrow focus as the crew gets larger. There are many other potential roles on a tour and I’ll pick up from here in a later post and continue this discussion on touring roles in future blogs