Have you ever been on a tour bus?
A video and a little guide to life on the road
I notice that often people are surprised to hear that when we tour with Rhiannon Giddens and band, we sleep on a tourbus. The surprise usually manifests itself in either “omg how can you do that? sleep on a moving bus for weeks without a proper toilet” or “wow that’s so fancy!”
Both are true!
It’s a luxurious and very comfortable way to tour on one hand, and it can also be quite hard to adapt to and taxing on the other.
Traveling by bus is sometimes the only way to make a tour work because, especially in the US, the distances are often in the range of 8-10 hours drive. It is incredibly exhausting to sleep in a hotel and then drive 10 hours during the day, and then walk straight onto a stage (we tried that when we were touring as a duo and trio). By sleeping on a bus, you travel by night and you usually wake up in the new location. You then have a morning off and you start load-in around lunchtime and soundcheck in the afternoon.
The other alternative would be flying, but that’s not always an option. I did a lot of that type of touring in Europe in the past, and that’s also incredibly exhausting when you add up all the super early morning lobby calls, the lines and the stress involved with instruments and airport security, the discomfort of flying, the fights to bring your instruments on board etc…
It’s also not always possible to travel that way in the US. The amount of gear that we carry would make it completely unsustainable when you consider we travel with our lights, mixing desks etc… (that’s why each bus has also an additional trailer).
But traveling by bus is also extremely expensive and many acts cannot even afford to rent one bus. Every big popular music act travels by bus in the US. Usually you can tell how big an act is by the amount of buses they have! Very popular commercial acts would have sometimes a bus for each band member and their family (!) and then several buses for crew.
Mega acts like Beyonce, Taylor Swift or Metallica tour with anything between 50 and a 100 buses and trucks (but they also usually carry the whole stage).
So it is a privilege to be able to be on a tour that can afford two of these beasts (one for band and one for crew). With two buses it never feels overcrowded and everyone has a good amount of personal space. It is also true that it is still a fairly small space and that you have to be very close to people in order to be able to live in one of these for something like 3 weeks, therefore the choice of bandmates is very important and I couldn’t be more lucky with the current band! When you don’t feel like being sociable you always have the option of going into your bunk and once you close the curtain you can be in your own world and read, rest, take a nap.
When the bus is not moving there is the option of extending the front lounge area outwards, with a moving mechanism that turns it into almost a kind of bow window (see picture below) and that creates a bit more space at the front.
Bus drivers are magical creatures. The drive us safely at night and when we arrive to destination they get a room in a hotel and sleep for the whole day, only to reappear in the middle of the night after the show to start driving to the next destination.
A good driver that drives smoothly can make a huge difference in how we sleep and on how rested we are after a night drive. I personally am not the best bus sleeper and I am also very tall which makes fitting in the bunks a little difficult. Very often I also come into a bus-tour flying straight from Europe so there is jet-lag on top of that, which means that often I need some melatonin and good ear plugs in order to be able to sleep. Other people love sleeping on the bus and find that the movement and the engine noise actually have a lulling effect.
And finally here the promised video where I walk you through the bus
For those of you concerned about the “number 1” only restroom policy and the no showers, you need to remember that usually during the day we have access to showers and toilets in theatres’ dressing rooms and if not, there often are shower rooms booked in nearby hotels. We also usually have 3-4 concert in a row and then a night off in a hotel.
There is a running joke among musician where we like to say “musicians are paid to travel, the music is for free”. While recognising the luck and the amount of privilege that we have being able to do what we do, I do have to admit that traveling and jet lag are the hardest part of being a touring musician, and something that adds up over the years and into your body. Being able to travel on a bus does make things a bit easier and sure it is not as comfortable as an hotel bed, but it makes so many other things easier and more viable!
So what do you think? Could you live and travel in one of these?
Hit me with some questions
Francesco, thanks so much for this post. I managed an acapella group in the 80’s and 90’s who toured the world. A lot easier without instruments. However, the road takes its toll. For 7 years, they also worked with a dance troupe for a season each year—buses with equipment, roadies. Difficult but everything easier and less expensive in those days. I’ve been out of the game for a long time but music will always be my life. Your post might explain why places like the Freight in Berkeley and SFJAZZ can’t afford the acts that came before the pandemic and are struggling. Was so grateful to see Silk Road at Zellerbach. It still resonates. But, maybe your post explains why you were at The Fillmore instead of SFJazz and why many other groups are seeking larger venues? In any case, thanks for braving the road to share your gifts. Some of us find as much sustenance in music as we do in food! Thank you!!
What are your thoughts on American roads? Loved our tour, thanks so much. Could you do a vid on soundcheck? Thanks!