Tours can be almost anything, and my extensive experience in this world can certainly help impart some important knowledge to you. I have definitely run the full gamut in terms of the various levels of touring goes…from sleeping on the floor of the van and playing “holes in the wall,” to 14 custom tour buses and playing in front of 70,000 people a night in a ballpark! The important thing is to pace yourself. Too many young players, and some increasingly older ones, tend to go a little too crazy when on the road, and the actual time spent onstage, as brief as it already is, becomes a distant second to the extracurricular activities that one can get involved with when you’re “out there”. I know from personal experience how important it is to try to take care of yourself as much as possible when touring, and to be sure to not get overbooked. I can recall one tour I did of Australia, where they promised “my feet would never touch the ground,” and boy, were they right! Each day consisted first of flying to a new city, just making it to several morning TV shows, doing radio all day, newspaper and magazine interviews, an hour for rest in a hotel, dinner, and then the gig! This went on for literally 6 weeks straight, and it was like a blur to me!
When I did that tour, which was mostly to promote my Hot Licks tapes over there, I can remember saying, “man, this is like having a number 1 record!” Those words turned out to be quite true, as I had enormous sales of my cd, “Toolin’ Around” there in Australia, which was released 4 years after my tour there. The audiences never forgot, and they remained my fans, and were primed for the release of the album. I had basically toured to promote not only what I had released then, but also for what I was to release in the future! Great to know that touring can have such a powerful and lasting effect. I mean, I had up to 2000 people at some of my guitar “clinics,” and the reactions were wonderful.
When you’re touring with a band, and possibly more folks, such as roadies, managers, etc., it’s so important that you forge good friendships and relationships along the way, as it’s a lousy feeling to feel “alone” on the road, or isolated from the rest when you’re feeling homesick at the same time!
So, stay tuned, as I’ll be having more about the ups and downs of touring in future installments of my blog. Till then, happy gigging and happy touring!