US Touring problems

[Hawkwind]

>Last time Hawkwind played in Chicago, it was at the Park West, which
>is not a bad venue at all.  I would guess that it is the same size or
>maybe even a little bigger than the Metro.  I have a couple of friends
>here in Chicago that used to work in some of the clubs here doing
>bookings.  I can talk to them to see what I can find out.
>
>Star_rats, how soon is this information needed?


There is no great rush for this information although the sooner we can get
something going the better, as tours take a while to sort out.

Thanks for the respsones so far.

For those that would like to help but don't know where to start, here's a
few things to think about when setting up gigs:

The most important part of putting on a gig is promotion. If no-one knows
about the gig it will be poorly attended. There should be some kind of
promotion stratergy which could include local media (papers, TV, radio etc)
and flyers to capture possible fans at other places (record shops, clubs,
other gigs). This should be handled by the promoter, but isn't done all that
well many times.

Then we need to consider the band's accomodation. Can they be put up  near
to the venue and what sort of hotel is it? They don't need a 5 star hotel,
but it should be comforatble.

Equipment is another source of concern as things like drum kits, bass rigs
and guitar amps are generally hired out from a local supplier. This cuts
down the cost of shipping the gear out by plane. The list of equipment would
be supplied by the band in advance should a gig come off.

The more gigs, the better. The most expensive part of coming over to the US
is the initial plane tickets. If this amount can be divided by 20 gigs
instead of  5, the travel cost per gig looks much better. Once the band are
out there, we might as well put them in as many places as possible.

Venues: It would be a good idea to aim for venues that hold at least 1500
people. It is better financially to do fewer gigs to a larger number of
people, than lots of gigs to 150 at a time. This is where local knowledge
comes in, as we can only take the promoters word for the type of venue they
have booked.

If there is a suitable venue near you, go to the booking office and ask for
the names of the agents that handle booking. We may be able to deal with
them direct.

As you can see, there is a lot of things to consider here and it would be
useful if we found  people that knew people etc... Any festivals or other
large events can also be good gigs to do when abroad as they put bands in
contact with each other for future events.

Hope that helps.

Yours with thanks,
                        Star-rats