What equipment can I expect the house to have on a tour?

J

JamesSullivan

Member
Hey,

I am new to touring and have a few questions about what kind of lighting gear to expect from the venues. I have not received venue contacts yet and I am choosing my rental gear now. The tour starts next week.

The venue are house of blues sized venues, some bigger/smaller.

What is the standard stuff they will have for me to work with?
-A dimmer?
-A board?
-Stage wash lights?
-Hazer?


Thanks,
James
 
Here is a thread which approaches this from the other side:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/stage-management-facility-operations/31351-reasonable-lead-time-riders.html
At this late date, If you have at least the names of the venues, Google may be your friend. See if they have a webpage or even facebook page. Some places do have a "technical specifications page". If nothing else there may be photos available of other acts which might give you a clue. Be prepared for this to be a major learning experience, it is very satisfying to go into a place with less than optimum equipment and still be able to do a great show. Remember to be nice, be flexible and be creative, the locals can be your new best friends.
 
You can expect as much as you can use to as little as can be provided to constitute a lighting system. You can expect the most current technology, and the most current technology from 1937, sometimes in the same house. The locals can range from the most experienced hands you will ever run into to people sourced from a temp agency. All of this is not defined by size of city or area of the country. Some of the best hands can be found in what would otherwise be considered a wasteland (in entertainment terms). Your best defense is to "be flexible". You will not run into anything easily defined as "standard". Expect power. The rest is gravy.
 
Dimmers - see Pete's reply that includes the 1930's. This is no joke. You may or may not be allowed access to dimmer configuration, so again, be flexible.
Console - my advice is to get comfortable patching a variety of consoles, and if you can call the venue in advance (weeks in advance hopefully) you can get the name and model of the console, then download the pdf or use the manual on the LX Handbook app and be prepared in that respect.
Stage Wash - fixtures may be new or quite old, and having a handful of replacement lamps in your workbox may be a good move.
Hazers - could be a hazy issue, and it all depends on the local fire marshal rules (also something to research ahead of time). My assumption is a hazer would be a specific rental, and the only events we have haze in also has a fire official present for the duration of the gig.
 
Thank you for all of your responses. I have a much better idea about what to expect and the type of attitude I should have.

The lights for this tour are very simple in nature. We do not have the greatest budget but I will do what I can with what we have.

The Thread "Reasonable lead time for riders" was extremely helpful and thank you for that.
 
gafftapegreenia said:
And even that might not be as much as you need.
Click to expand...

I remember a show I did where we spec'ed a modest "two legs / 100 amps per." When we got to the venue, the house "____" (fill in the blank) pointed at a single duplex outlet.

I said, "No, we need two legs of 100 amps."

He pointed again and responded, "That's 120 amps, and there's two of them." :wall:

In other words, don't expect anything unless you are very VERY specific, then still don't expect much.
 
If you were coming to our venue (a large church), I'd be wanting to have an advance several weeks out. We're as anxious to have a great show as you are, and anything we can do on our side to prepare for you and your expectations is good for both of us. And it makes my life easier on loadin day!
 
WOW!! The tour starts NEXT WEEK and you don't even have a rental list together!? How about giving us some more to go on? Where are you playing? What kind of gig is it? Are you doing a theatrical run or touring with a band? These two types of venues often vary greatly. Good luck, man. At this point you're going to get what you get, so be prepared to do some turd polishing.
 
bishopthomas said:
WOW!! The tour starts NEXT WEEK and you don't even have a rental list together!? How about giving us some more to go on? Where are you playing? What kind of gig is it? Are you doing a theatrical run or touring with a band? These two types of venues often vary greatly. Good luck, man. At this point you're going to get what you get, so be prepared to do some turd polishing.
Click to expand...

My feeling as well. If the contracts have been signed... If its not on the buy sheet you ain't gettin it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
 
bishopthomas said:
WOW!! The tour starts NEXT WEEK and you don't even have a rental list together!? How about giving us some more to go on? Where are you playing? What kind of gig is it? Are you doing a theatrical run or touring with a band? These two types of venues often vary greatly. Good luck, man. At this point you're going to get what you get, so be prepared to do some turd polishing.
Click to expand...

Haha. I just got signed on a few days ago. They are a supporting band until May when they start their headline tour. I have a little bit of time but not much too much because we have a decently busy support tour for april.

I am going to send out some advance e-mails to the venue LDs/PDs and get some of my questions answered.

I feel like I have to many questions and I will probably just have to roll with the punches.
All of the venues I have looked at so far have plenty of wash and fill lights.

This band is very black and white and they do not like color.

My rental list so far is a hazer and 12 color blast LED's with a little dmx board.

I know the headling act has their own LD, board, and lights. I just wonder if they will use and of the house lights. If they do that then I might not be able to use them cause they will probably go through their board. I wonder if they will not use any house lights and just use their own. In that case I could use the venues lights.

The PD for the headline act told me to contact the venues LD for questions so I perceived that as kinda of your on your own.
 
You're the direct support? In my opinion, it's kind of a waste to have an LD if you're the opening act. I don't mean any disrespect toward you, but there are a lot of reasons why it just doesn't make sense. For one you are going to have to live with the headliner's focus and gels. Almost certainly they'll be using the house lights, so you're stuck with what they do. Additionally, you're not going to have time to set up more than a couple of lights, and probably no time at all to program. Yeah, it sounds like the headliner's LD is not going to be very helpful, and this kind of sets the tone (to me) for the entire tour. However, I can't say that I blame him. I'm going out in June as an LD for the headlining act and I certainly won't be letting the openers use my gear or refocus anything that I'll be using, whether it's house gear or mine. Also, traditionally the opener is mixed quieter than the headliner and there is no major lighting "show" for them. The headliner's TM will have final say; if he's not happy about what you guys are doing his word is what goes.
 
bishopthomas said:
You're the direct support? In my opinion, it's kind of a waste to have an LD if you're the opening act. I don't mean any disrespect toward you, but there are a lot of reasons why it just doesn't make sense. For one you are going to have to live with the headliner's focus and gels. Almost certainly they'll be using the house lights, so you're stuck with what they do. Additionally, you're not going to have time to set up more than a couple of lights, and probably no time at all to program. Yeah, it sounds like the headliner's LD is not going to be very helpful, and this kind of sets the tone (to me) for the entire tour. However, I can't say that I blame him. I'm going out in June as an LD for the headlining act and I certainly won't be letting the openers use my gear or refocus anything that I'll be using, whether it's house gear or mine. Also, traditionally the opener is mixed quieter than the headliner and there is no major lighting "show" for them. The headliner's TM will have final say; if he's not happy about what you guys are doing his word is what goes.
Click to expand...

Kind of my opinion as well. As a house PM, I get annoyed when the support act is carrying an engineer, let alone an LD. I don't think I have ever had a road LD on a support act. If your going out with one band you might stand a chance. There are a few bands out there who are very good to their support acts, especially in the indie hipster scene. At best you will get a good punt page and told to go nuts. At worst you will be given on playback with frontlight and blue backs and told to get lost. As a house PM, I would probably not let you set up lights on deck because that would push our changeover time longer. So, be prepared to hear that. Either way, just roll with the day. Leave the hazer and lights as home until you get out on your own.

The only thing I don't understand is if they guys don't like color... why are you renting colorblasts? Good luck to ya, sounds like you are going to need it.
 
Bishop is correct, although you may get some access to the headliner's rig. Of course, they may not allow you to use the whole rig, just a small part of it.

The more I learn about what you're up against, the more I feel sorry for you. I hope your next touring experience is better than this one.
 
Let me be more clear. We have 5 support shows, 5 headline shows, and 2 festival dates where we are touring this month. In may, we begin our headline show and continue that for the next few months.

They are calling me their "Lighting Director" but, I wear many hats. One of my hats is to make them look as good as I can with in our budget and with what ever the house lets us use.

The reason for the colorblasts is purely space and budget. We do not have the room to carry a dimmer rack and the lights I would prefer to use. We are a band of 5, the TM, FOH eng., and I in a sprinter van.

The reason behind this thread was to get a few opinions from others and I appreciate all of them.
 
I know what you're saying, it's tough to do the show you want when you're an opener. But there's really not going to be enough time to be setting up and striking your own lights. If I was the tour's TM I would tell you this in no uncertain terms. As someone mentioned, maybe the headliner will let you use some of their lighting (if they're bringing it), but I certainly wouldn't count on it. Also don't count on being able to change the focus, you're going to be stuck with what the headliner wants. I would suggest working with the house LD in getting some scenes together based on what's there and pre-focused. Program some scenes (or have him/her if you're not familiar with the console) and you be the operator for the show. Since you'll know the songs you'll be able to get the timing down better than the house LD, and that's the reason the band has hired you.

And yeah, 8 people in a Sprinter is terrible. I did it in the UK, there were 9 of us. Worst tour I've been on, although for more reasons than the van ride.
 
Tour is going very well, two shows down The headliner's LD is really cool and he sets me up with a few scenes I need every night. 8 in a sprinter is fine with me. Thanks for the words of wisdom guys.
 
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