The Tour Begins Now
It actually started months ago when I began mapping routes and kicked off the Herculean task of booking twenty one shows across the country. But now, it's starting to get very real.
We are now less than a month away from the first show of my massive summer tour. As you’re likely aware, I’ve been working on this endeavor for months already. Things began before the 2023 holidays when I began mapping possible routes and started reaching out to venues and house show hosts across the eastern half of the United States.
Many of the shows on this tour will occur in the same cities and towns as my tour last summer, some of those even in the same venue. It’s thrilling to be headed back to see old friends again in these spots and share another night of music together. I’m also venturing to a number of new parts of the country on this trip. I’ll be spending time in the Deep South, traveling through the Ozarks, and playing for the first time in the plain states as well.
Mounting a tour like this comes with a great number of different moving parts. In addition to the actual performance, I’ll be responsible for driving more than 6,000 miles, and for loading my gear both in and out of each venue. I’ll play salesman at the merch table, and act as booker and manager via email, text, phone and in-person. I am my own hype man and PR firm. I’m the stage designer, lighting guy, and sound-man as well.
This is not the sound of me complaining, not at all. It’s more of a personal reminder of all the shit that there is to do - and do well - for this tour to have any chance at success. Through a combination of word of mouth advertising, online marketing, a poster campaign, and local media coverage, my goal is to play to an average of 20 paying customers a night.
Using a hybrid of tips, donations, and ticket sales, I am hoping get $20 per attendee on average. Beyond the ticket sales, I hope to move at least $100 in merch as well. If I can average $500 per night between tickets/donations and merch, I can generate enough cash to sustain the tour and make a very modest living.
For me to be able to guarantee these kinds of numbers at shows, it requires a great deal of work from a team of people. First and foremost, the best way to get people to shows is to have a host who will bring out attendees from their sphere. At a house show, the homeowner or host, is encouraged to try and get as many friends and family at the show as possible. These sorts of built in groups of audience members can be the difference between a great show and a disappointing night.
While that is a huge help, and often requires a fair amount of effort from the host, there is a ton of work for me to handle as well. First, I make sure that the venue or the house concert host have posters to put up in their venue and around the neighborhood. Getting these up in places like record stores, bookshops, coffee shops and the like can help to raise some visibility and even lend some credibility to the show. Like all advertising, the idea is that this is just one place they’ll see info on the show.
Next, I have to set up a digital campaign for each gig. Every stop on the tour will get its own Facebook event. Additionally, each show has a budget built-in for a very small ad buy on Facebook and Instagram. This is a good way to draw a few extra eyeballs to our event at a small expense, but it does create a fair amount of additional work.
Each show will also get its own poster. Actually, it will get three posters. Because we’ll be sharing this show information on multiple formats, it will need to be formatted to landscape, portrait and square versions. This means that we essentially need to create three separate posters for each show. That means for this tour, I will create no less than 63 show posters.
In each city that I’ll be playing, the host and I will work together to identify any local media like college or community radio stations as well as any independent or cultural newspapers in the region. Once we identify the right spots, I do my best to get an interview, finagle some airplay, or manage to secure another form of coverage to promote the show.
Here in the next few days, I’ll begin playing an hour of songs at full volume everyday with my small PA system that I am taking on the road. I’ll focus on the core songs that I planning to play night in and night out, while also working on other material to test out for the solo setting. The process will be one of rehearsal, reworking of songs, and should provide an opportunity to develop some additional vocal strength and stamina before I hit the road.
In addition to all of this stuff, there are t-shirts to be ordered and paid for, more communication to be handled with hosts and venues. Of course, I also need to have my car inspected and fully fitted before I hit the road, lest we have a repeat of last year’s tour start. Suffice it to say, the days will be quite full between now and when I take the stage on June 5 to start the tour.
If you are in any of the cities and towns along the way and would like to help spread the word about the shows, we’d love to have your help. Feel free to email me at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com and we will make it happen and get you some goodies for the effort.
If you know folks in any of these places, please be sure to let them know all about me and the show in their town. It makes a massive difference.
As the days creep ever closer to the beginning of the tour, I also need to reach out and ask each of you to snag your tickets today. The pre-sale tickets are a huge help with tour expenses that can mount up quickly. They also help to boost my confidence in the tour itself before I ever step on a stage. Please grab some tickets today and mark your calendars. We are sure to have a helluva night together.
I’ll have loads more to report soon. Thanks for being a part of this crazy dream.
Cheers,
Matty C
I think it’s awesome that you do this. Quite an undertaking and adventure. Have a great time!