
Dorian Neidhardt
TOUR MANAGER
- BIO
- Day in the life
- TIPS
I guess my journey started when I studied Drums at BIMM Brighton (British and Irish Music institute) from 2011 until 2014. This was when I got into what I’m doing today. I started getting fascinated by the touring lifestyle and what it meant being on the road working for different artists. I managed to get onto my first tour working for the US band Goldfinger in 2015.
AM
As tour manager:
- Coffee, always, first thing in the morning / trying to get up before everyone else.
- Work on some accounting, reply to emails from management team/agent/press and promoters.
- Call local promoter, double-checking times/parking/curfew, and many more things.
- Make sure the band and crew are well.
- Depending on the tour, sometimes venues open their doors in the afternoon, if not, get in the venue in the AM, say hello to venue staff and check green rooms and DR rider. Check Dressing room -> Stage / set up my office/ work station in the production office or dressing room depending on the venue.
- Get the band in the venue make sure they are happy with everything
- Help the crew load the gear (if help is needed, on bigger tours, let your prod manager or backline tech load).
PM
- Check with the local rep on food. Either they’ll give you money for buyouts or they’ll have catered in house. Again depending on the tour. On big tours, you’ll have catering on the road with you.
- Make sure the times run smoothly, check on your crew if the tech side of the show is running.
- Check on your merchandise manager if he needs anything
- Get the band on stage on time for soundcheck
- More emails and accounting
- Get the band on stage, again, on time, and obviously off stage on time.
- Make sure you respect the dressing room and stage curfew.
- Settle with promoter/settle with your merchandise manager.
- Get everyone onboard your tour bus on time, if you’re staying in hotels, organise a shuttle. Or maybe you’re in a van.
- Sleep, repeat the next day in a different venue/city or country.
- Learn from others. Before going on your first tour as a TM, call your friends/ colleagues who’ve been doing it for years and get advice from them. Don’t go in blind, been there done that, can be disastrous.
- Advance your tour well ‘in advance’. Get the routing right, check with the bus company for bus calls/ferry’s.
- Be a good person. Don’t be an asshole, don’t be too nice, don’t let the band or crew take advantage of you, be polite to everyone. Don’t get too drunk too often (been there done that, not good).
MY WORK



