In the winter of 2010 I was on board for a tour with the band 100 Monkeys. I was an assistant to the photographer on the tour as well as the go getter for anyone that needed anything as well. The tour started the day after Christmas and went through the 1st of the year. Here is one of the days that I encountered...
It was early in the morning, probably around 7am. We had just pulled into New Orleans, as we had been driving through the night from the show the night before in Birmingham, AL. Having only got an hour or two of sleep in a cramped crowded van we get out to see our surroundings. I am double fisting iced coffee as the rest of the people in my group start to get ready for the day. Around noon is the in store performance for the band. I sit this out as I am just enjoying the beautiful winter weather in the south. For most of the rest of the day it is a lot of waiting around. There was an awesome sing a long outside the bus from my party and the band. That passed a little bit of time. I was ready to get into the venue!
While the show was going I hung out by the merch booth. Helping to sell as much merch as I could! As the show was coming to a close I started helping set up the table in the back for the after show signing. I was in charge of observing the line and making sure it kept moving. Around 2am we all start walking back to the hotel... but not to sleep. We hang out in the lobby waiting for a text of where we are all going to hang out. By the time we get the text it is well after 3am, but we head down to Bourbon Street anyway. The downside to touring is by the time you get done at the venue most places are getting ready to close... We meet up with some of the band, try to decide where to go, and in the end decide we should just head back to the car and make an effort to make it to the next city. The next city is Houston and that is a 6 hour drive. I am running on 2 hours of sleep and it is now 5 in the morning. I pull over somewhere in Baton Rouge to rest, because I do not want to wreck anyone in my party.
Two hours later I get up and continue the driving, and do everything all over again!
Being on a tour is completely exhausting and draining and I did not even have half the work that some of the others on the tour did. It definitely takes a lot of stamina and endurance to make it!
This was a good post, very interesting to read! After I graduate I want to work as a tour manager for a couple years, so I always love hearing or reading about peoples experiences while touring. I feel like no matter what position you're in you'll always be super busy and running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, but hey, would you want it any other way? You gain such experience from it, so what if it's a bit stressful. I'm sure you look back at all your memories from tour and smile or laugh. Great story!
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