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After more than 10yrs as a theatre based technician I've been offered a position on a No 1 UK Tour.

 

This will be my first ever tour and I have lots of really random (probably ridiculous) questions. I would really appreciate any advice.

 

1) Equipment - should I plan to take my tool kit or will this just become something I end up lugging around?

2) Harness - I'm not a rigger but as I'm part of the lighting department should I bring my own harness or again will this be something I just end up lugging around? Same question re: hard hat & general safety equipment.

3) Any other essentials I should be planning on taking?

4) Apart from my passport (there's a couple of weeks in Dublin), are there any other important documents I should bring with me?

5) What was your first UK tour like?

 

Thanks :)

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I've seen touring shows come through where the key guys ( head of lx, production electrician etc) have their own production case /drawers case that just travels on the truck. How long are your stops? Is this theatre or musak festivals or...? :)
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1. I bought a set of Rhino production drawers for work, which then went on tour and production jobs with me. They are still going strong (I have almost given up running around the country), having been chucked on and off wagons each week. They were invaluable on tour for storing the essentials like tools, tea bags, snacks and the odd bottle of whisky. Perhaps your choice of tool box/bag/trunk should be dictated by the vehicles that are hauling the tour around. For me, it was 45 footers, so a flight case tool box was no problem. It would have been an issue if we had been putting stuff in cars.

2. Your own PPE will be essential, and if you have to climb, would you want to trust someone else's harness?

3. Home comforts and luxuries will help when the tour honeymoon period fades, only you can tell what will chase away those blues.

4. I would limit the amount of paperwork you take with you, in case it gets lost. Maybe your full driving licence, just in case you have to hire a car?

5. Gruelling. My first and subsequent tours were three shows in rep, two venues a week. The 6 P's were essential.

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Hmmm...If a venue requires harness access to a particular area, would one not generally expect the in-house venue staff to be equipped to deal with this?

 

I hesitate to mention it, as I don't want to derail the discussion, but if you are a touring tech with a harness up a truss, does that not then cue rescue plans/other cans of worms?

 

Ian

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Think toured FoH truss, even toured prosc booms.

 

Most venues I have toured to require a harness to work on their prosc booms, and most LD's will want to put lights on the prosc position. As tour lighting staff, carrying our own kit, with the possible exception of FoH bridge equipment, we would want to focus our lights, as it would be quicker. Therefore a harness was required.

 

I have, on more than one occasion, had to go onto the FoH bridges and focus the lights that the local 'electricians' could not work out how to use. But that is another story...

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Touring kit lists do depend on how you are living, and what storage is available. If there is space on the truck, then the more kit you can take just in case make life easier. If space is at a premium, things get far more tricky and downsizing to essentials.

 

I can't really comment on touring, because I did one, years ago - absolutely hated it, so never did another. My son rather liked touring before he wuzzed out, became respectable and now has lots of money, wears a suit and sells houses!

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What you need to take with you will depend on the job and the nature of the tour. You will definitely need :

 

1 All the tools you need for your job.

 

2 Your own PPE

 

3 More than one way to get money in an emergency.

 

4 The phone number of someone you can call 24/7 if the tour/job goes wrong

 

5 Flexibility. If you have been venue based and think you are flexible this will be a real eye opener.

 

6 A sense of humour.

 

7 An interest other than the job - almost anything will do...

 

8 A smart set of clothes.

 

9 Little comforts. These vary for each of us.

 

There are loads more, most of which you will pick up as you go along.

 

Good luck and have fun.

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  • 5 months later...

Lots of people have summed it up pretty well. Graham mentions a few "non tech" things that I feel are every bit as important as the stuff that related directly to your job.

 

Some bits to expand on more and add :

 

Absolutely anything PPE wise you would ever need. take it. It's yours, you know where it's been. harness, hat, boots, buy a pair of steel toed trainers too, they can double up as stuff you'd wear around town on a day off but should your boots fall to bits you have a backup plan.

 

The money thing is crucial, it's less of a worry when you're based in your home country but certainly if you move onto things outside the UK (Including the Dublin stuff due to the currency) its great to be able to get money when you need it. If you start to do lots outside the UK, consider a quick call to your bank manager to put them in the picture. There's nothing worse than taking out cash in the USA and cash out in Honk Kong less than 24 hours later and getting your card stopped.

 

Scanned copies of documents. Actually, having a hard copy of things is great, but actually if you have a dropbox account (other cloud based storage options are available) then scan your passport, your driving license, your PLI, your car insurance. Anything that might be important. A colleague of mine got back into the UK on a scan of his passport last year. He had to go into a room, log in on a computer, and show them his passport. That with a quick phone call got him back into the country. he lost his passport in a venue fire in the USA.

 

Medication. you have a day off in the middle of the tour where you get to go home, and you can rush a prescription through for your meds that you really need to live. No you don't!. Something WILL go wrong and you won't get home. Talk to your GP, tell them you're away for a while you need additional medication for an extended period, this should NOT be a problem. If it becomes a problem, talk to another doctor. If you're ON a tour, look ahead to places. Get your GP to send a prescription by post to a theatre. If you're lucky, one of the crew might even go pick up your tablets for you.

 

Some POI information. it's great to know the nearest <insert pub chain>, <insert supermarket>, <insert local electrical wholesaler> or <insert fast food outlet> to a venue. What time they open and close and whether you can park the vehicle you are in near it. <Search engine> will help you do this, maybe spend half an hour doing this before you go, or if you're not driving, its a task you can do when travelling.

Useful other local amenities include, the Chemist, for when you run out of your medication (see above), Shoe repairs / Key cutters / general hardware stores are really useful, try and find an independent one and they'll cut that special security key for you when nobody else is in the shop. launderette, if you're away long enough, generally much over a week you are going to reach that point where you run out of clothes. This will usually be advanced on the tour, Thursday week 2 is washing day for example. it's even possible one member of the tour will have the job of taking an collecting it. Just try not to let it be YOU. Many venues have washing facilities that you can use but it's probably not suitable for a fortnights washing for 22 people. 24hour places. When you leave, it might be midnight, it might be 3am. If you spot a 24hour supermarket, or garage on the way into a city. Remember it. people might be hungry on the way to the next venue.

 

Think about the time of year and potential weather conditions. If you're used to what its like in Portsmouth, it might be quite different in Wick.

 

Stuff that's handy even when you think it isn't. There's nothing better than being the one person on the tour that can say YES. Who has a selection of charging adaptors for every phone since 1991? Who has a spare generic variable voltage PSU with lots of different ends on it? Who has that book of stamps to post off some important docs for a venue in a weeks time? Who has that multipack of chocolate bars for when you're sat broken down on the tour bus at 5am?

 

Finally, the right attitude. Touring life is hard work. Touring life isn't for everyone. Touring life has its up and downs, I can assure you of this. A new city in a new country (ok I know you're local for now) every night, a new PA system or lighting rig, a new mind numbingly stupid method of pointing the array, a new weird fault that "it's never done before" on the console that isn't the one you spec'd anyway. A weird front fill box that oddly isn't working right. A house crew that think 144 is close to 143 because its only 1 away, A new skip in the way of the loading dock, a new **** up on the accommodation forcing you to share less rooms, a new case of food poisoning, another new monitor engineer picked up from the train station because the band hated the old one, another new guitarist as the old one just didn't "get" what the band wanted, but, a new bunch of friends, a new family, a new life sometimes. You'll probably get stressed, you'll probably get emotional, you'll probably be expected to be even more stressed and emotional. this is a gender thing, you're already well aware of this I'm sure. You will meet and have to work with people you don't get on with but with the right attitude you can remind yourself that the good times will far outweigh the bad times and the little heated debates you have with the sound guy about who's having points 37 and 41 will be laughed about in years to come by you, and by him or her.

 

Not all positive stuff I guess but I hope what I and others have said will give you some ideas as to what you may expect. Do have fun though. remember if you don't like it you don't have to do another one. it's not forever, nothing is forever.

 

 

Rob

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  • 3 months later...

Hi

 

Im assuming this is a UK theatre tour and Dublin?

 

I've been lx on fair few theatre tours :)

 

Are you going to prep the tour? if so get an extra 3/4 gp case for personals

 

u will most probably have production draws with the tour. I have my own as well.

 

Things to think about.. Digs try and get decent digs if you have to sort out ur own. hotels get very dull after a while.

 

Take a harness you will probably need it a couple of times for pross booms or trusses

 

Be careful ware you leave ur passport. don't pack it in the truck before you go abroad it dosent go down well hahaha

 

You will defiantly need a tool kit! as part of the lx department you will have to do maintenance on the lights probably once a week. And the lights will brake during the run for sure. if you look after them properly it is a lot easier in the long run.

 

You will need a hard hat for some venues not for others each has its own rules (petzl ones are nice and comfortable)

 

if you have an ipaf bring the card that comes in handy in a few venues

 

don't get to trashed the night before load out its always regretted

 

:)

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I always put some money in 3 different places within my stuff. Not so much for security on the bus - because thats generally safe. Just for my own piece of mind. In case for whatever reason your bank card stops working or you might be going somewhere that has no cashpoint handy / time restricted. Also useful to find £20 tucked away in a crevice somewhere!
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  • 8 months later...

A post I made to Controlbooth.com years ago:

 

 

Background: Did my first tour in 1994. I've been doing it ever since... average 200 days a year.

Some ground rules for packing...

1. You want everything to be as pedestrian friendly as possible. There are times when the bus isn't close to the hotel or venue, or you have to hoof it through an airport terminal. Luggage carts are not always available. It sucks to have to make several trips, or to exert lots of effort just to move everything from point A to point B.

My setup: 1 main suitcase; This has the bulk of my cloths, toiletries, etc.... retractable handle and wheels. 1 backpack; I use this as my shower bag/ overnight bag. It sucks dragging a large suitcase into a venue to shower each night, or for a short overnight stay in a hotel. 1 briefcase; laptop, travel info, gig paperwork, etc... my laptop bag has a bit that attaches to the handle of the big suitcase, so I don't need to wheel it separately. 1 Small duffel bag; When I start a tour, this is usually empty and stored in the suitcase. as the tour progresses, this is where I stuff swag, souvenirs, toiletry restocks, extra cloths for out of season weather, etc. This bag attaches to the a strap on the front of my big suitcase. When I move my luggage, I have my backpack on my back, and breifcase and duffel hanging on/from my big suitcase. The suitcase stays balanced, so I can support it with one hand, and I have one hand free to open doors, hold a soda, hand over plane tickets, or open the hotel room door.

 

2. What to pack: I try to do laundry every friday. (by having production send it out to the local fluff and fold.) some times that is not possible... i.e. no show that day, or a holiday... so I usually pack about 10 changes of cloths, with 3 or so in my backpack, and the rest in the main suitcase. I keep one pair of 'day off" shoes, and one pair of "work" shoes. sometimes sandals or shower shoes as well. always have a light jacket, even in the summer... some places over-air-condition. Take at least one nice set of cloths for a dinner out, etc.

Sundries: Sunglasses, snivel kit (Pepto Bismal, Immodium, Advil, Benadryl, Claritan Sinus, Nyquil, Gold Bond extra strength medicated, chapstick, sunscreen, bug repellant, splinter tweezers, etc.... some of the Adventure Travel first Aid kits have most of this, and make great starters... just keep up on expirations, and supplement as needed.)

Two laundry bags: one large one for the suitcase, and a small one for the backpack/ shower bag.

Business accessories: Laptop, power cables, ethernet and USB cables... any computer adaptors. A folder or notebook to keep hotel reciepts, gig paperwork and travel info in, and organized. Tools for your gig. Cell phone and charger. etc...

Comfort items/ toys: Books, Ipod, Ipod travel speakers, camera, Chargers for all gadgets. Power adaptors for international travel. download/computer cables for gadgets. Deck of cards. Games (Xbox, PS3, Wii.)

 

My Suitcase balances with one finger... If I remove the duffel bag, the suitcase gets heavy at the handle.

Also since this tour is ongoing, and I'm in Europe... I left my laptop briefcase at home, and opted for a netbook and small backpack... Cuts down on weight and bulk, since I do not need the extra computing power or screen real estate at this point in the tour. I also use the small backpack sans laptop as a "explorer" pack when roaming around cities on days off. I can carry water, a raincoat, snacks and sundries, as well as carry any souvenirs I purchase, without a big bulky backpack.

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