The support and connection of your bandmates, combined with your talent, allow you to shine on stage. Having a band creates lifelong friendships and memories!
It is an experience that no musicians forget. Playing and singing, hanging out with friends, writing songs with band members, and performing them in front of their friends, family, and fans can hardly be described with words. It’s a feeling like no other.
Here are a few frequently asked questions with thoroughly explained answers about what it’s like to be in a touring band!
The price depends on the band and the place they perform. Live performances can earn a band as much as $25,000 per show, depending on if they have a track record or not. In 2021 the median pay for bandmembers was around $30.49 per hour, while the median annual wage for all workers was around $45,760.
As of 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average annual salary for a touring musician in the United States was $48,370, which is around $23.25 per hour. As for wedding occasions, wedding bands can earn around $5,000 per performance. Overall, revenue from live music is expected to reach $30.55 billion by the end of 2022.
Touring musicians travel to different venues in different countries and cities to perform live music. Touring musicians can be a part of a band, ensemble, or orchestra. When on tour, they travel to different places according to their seasonal concert schedule.
Such a concept refers to band members playing live shows almost every night in a different city. Sometimes, they can perform in one city a few nights in a row due to high popularity, demand, and fan base.
They usually have their touring bus equipped with essential things while that far destination, they travel with an airplane. The tour can last a few months up to a year.
Bands usually play faster than slower when performing live. This is because of the high levels of energy and adrenaline they experience when performing, and live performances generally are generally fast-paced. Also, bands are usually limited in time, so they try to sing as many songs as possible in those 2 hours they have on stage.
However, sometimes bands can perform slower when doing live shoes. Slower or quieter songs make this decision particularly impactful, as they lend themselves to meditative or dramatic performances. Slowing down a deep song and letting people truly absorb the lyrics can be extremely powerful, especially when the song is meaningful and deep.
Aside from that, bands play slower when performing live shows so the audience can sing along. If the audience knows the lyrics, slowing the music can work, but it’s usually a fast-paced song that takes more work to follow.
Being a traveling musician means being on the road all the time, living with your bandmates, and working together. In addition to being one of the most rewarding and beautiful things out there, it is also one of the most stressful.
Whether a musician is a newbie and this is their first tour, semi-pro or professional musicians’, stress is an inevitable thing they must endure. This refers to all kinds of bands and solo artists as well.
One of the most stressful things a touring band can experience are problems with the sound system, the droopy mike stand, problems with the wardrobe, putting instruments in the hold, cancellation of the shows, no-full gigs, practices, keeping up with the rhythm of the tour while getting enough rest and sleep and healthy diet, to name a few.
There are so many things that are hard to name, but once the musician goes out on that stage and performs from the bottom of their heart in front of their fans, all that are struggling to go down the drain.
Yes, band members usually sleep on buses when touring. Sometimes when they stay at one place for a couple of days, they can stay in a hotel. Also, when there are overseas tours, bands, and individual artists can go by plane or even own a private plane for tour purposes.
The shows usually start around 8.00 PM and are not done before 10:00 PM, and the equipment must be loaded after it’s ended. In the evening, the artists sleep on the bus so they will be ready for their next venue. As for the bus drivers, they sleep in hotel rooms during the day so they can drive during the night.
The highest-paid touring musician is Ed Sheeren, with an actual gross of $776,200,000; after Ed comes the rock band U2, with an actual gross of $736,421,584.
The band that toured the most during their career is Rolling Stones. Since 1962, they have sold more than 200 million tickets worldwide.
Touring is never an easy job, but it is one of the most wonderful experiences that is difficult to describe with words. Performing every night in front of your loved ones and fans worldwide can be a pure joy.
All that stress, postponed concerts, problems with the sound system, droopy mikes, not-fit wardrobes, and unslept nights are once forgotten when the band steps on the stage.
The post How It’s Like to Be in a Touring Band appeared first on DRUM! Magazine.
