By Nook Schoenfeld, editor at PLSN
Employment by touring with live acts can prove to be a lucrative way to make a living for many. Before the millennium, there was a time when most technicians on any lengthy tour could likely count on a tip, or if you prefer “tour bonus”, at the end of their concert tour/album cycle. Usually in the form of some cash in an envelope handed out by the production manager or accountant. These cash based “Attaboys” were customarily dispensed at the final loadout of the tour so crew members had little time to compare their allotted bounty. Though some bands just mailed an envelope home after the tour for “accounting reasons”.
The monetary amount disbursed in these bonuses was often scaled with your job title. Of course “Closest to the band” always won the higher dollar allotments. This was followed by seniority based upon position on the tour. Tour and Production Managers communicate with most acts on a daily basis and look after saving the act money, so they generally got a handsome award. Audio Engineers and Lighting Directors were often well compensated, especially if the LD was also the show designer. Backline technicians (the crew who look after the band’s instruments) always got well taken care of because they are close to the band. Further down the line are the technicians from the vendors; the lighting filth, audio slime, rigging monkeys and hammer swingers. They may get a portion of their weekly paycheck as an Attaboy. As for caterers and drivers, I cannot recall if they ever got bonuses as well, but they rightly should have gotten the largest envelope in my book.
Back in the 80’s we’d broach the subject in a nonchalant way at the hotel bar, as if we were planting a seed that needed to be addressed with a buddy, like the tour accountant. “Nobody expects a tour bonus after travelling around the world for six months, but it would be a nice gesture,” was often the spoken motto around these management types. But once on the tour bus, that talk didn’t fly. Any of us could look at Billboard magazine and see what the gross was for our act was last week. We’d talk about past bonuses from the band, length of the tour, and tabulate, or perhaps fabulate, what we might expect in an envelope after this tour.
Even bands that made little cash on their way up gave you a little something for the effort back then. After a grueling summer in 1984 Twisted Sister handed me $300 cash in a white envelope. They were just starting out with their first hit record and I was very appreciative of their offer. The manager actually apologized when handing me the envelop saying, “This is the best we could do.” Looking back I’m still impressed by this act of generosity; I mean the last time I got a tour bonus after the last show on a tour may have been back in the 90’s.
Though I must admit I received end of the year Christmas bonuses from some acts in the last couple decades. Usually taxed amounts in the form of a check that insured the amount would be tacked on to your W2 form later that winter. These were nice tokens, but I can’t recall anyone handing me anything of value like the good old days. I wonder if this has to do with the corporatization of concert touring and sponsorship backing, or if the world just forgot how to tip in general the last 20 years.
There was an apocryphal story about Van Halen and their legendary last show day bonuses back in the 80’s. Someone else will have to verify this as I was never employed by this act. Rumor had it they took the net proceeds from the last show of the tour and divvied it up among everyone on the crew. I always thought this was the ultimate classic move that legendary myths are made of. Does anyone know if this tale is true?
I consider myself extremely fortunate to have toured with one particular artist who was legendary for taking care of his entire crew, including bonuses at the end of each leg. He was a class act who liked his entourage to include the same familiar faces whenever he hit the road. Thus road crews gladly aligned their touring schedules to become available whenever Neil Diamond would announce a string of dates.
Back in the 80’s – 90’s, due to popular demand Neil would play multiple nights in every city. We might have done two load-ins per week on average, with a three week run of dates being the usual length of any tour leg. The working, as well as travel conditions employed by this artist were second to none and hospitality was king. I doubt any other artist ever treated their crew better than Neil. The tour bonus’ however, were absolutely legendary. Even when I was third man on the lighting crew in 1984, my bonus was 3x what Bob See would pay me per week. Cash. No tax, just an envelope Patrick Stansfield might hand you before he left the venue that evening. “Thanx for the effort Nook”. He’d look me in the eye. “ I will see you the next tour, won’t I?”
Neil liked to do a Christmas Tour every winter back then and the crew were thrilled when he did so. This often timed with wrapping up a yearlong string of dates. Custom swag was handed out consisting of items such as embroidered cashmere sweaters with a small wreath and year of tour emblazoned in a corner. One year I received a set of tennis whites. Yes, tennis whites – which I regifted to my dad, who proudly wore them at his club. Christmas tunes as well as cheer abounded on a December Diamond tour and was reflected in an over the top bonus that was breathtaking. Let’s just say that there have been rumors of the LD being able to purchase a new Benz with her bonus. I cannot substantiate this of course, but it makes for one helluva story.
Other larger grossing acts have been good to me as well. The Eagles paid me quadruple my weekly salary as a tour bonus after working for them for 30 months straight. But it’s a different Eagles bonus I’ll always remember. It involved the last two shows of a particular leg we were playing in New Zealand.
The agent had booked an overnighter from Auckland to Christ Church, NZ. This was an impossible drive to make in the allotted time, so Chris Lamb had booked us a cargo plane. The crew would load out of the stadium in Auckland, load the plane, travel on said plane to the next town, then go to the hotel and shower while the gear went to the gig. Lamb had arranged for a local company to pre rig some truss so it was just a matter of us hanging the lights and flying it up. Without any sleep.
It was a long day, but we were a team of well paid professionals and the bitching was at a minimum despite the hellacious rainstorms that did not let up until load out. By the end of the gig we were all wet and had been road hard. As headed off stage to a runner van, Lamb was standing there with a stack of envelopes, handing everyone on stage $1000 cash as they exited for the runner van. “I had told the band that if they wanted to do this, I would need an extra 50k to compensate the crew.” Twenty Five years later I’m still thankful for that tip, we’ve all done way worse gigs for less.
The most amazing bonus I ever got was for a tour I actually had to quit. Seriously, hated to do that as Phil Collins is an amazing organization to work for, from the boss on down. He’s the type of fella who used to know everyone on their crew, going around asking them what their role was. Working with Phil Collins you’re not just a technician; you become a family member once accepted.
It was 1994 and Meteorlites had given me a call to see if I wanted to crew chief a tour Patrick Woodroffe was designing. Vince Foster was to direct the tour and a Whole Hog 1 was chosen as the board of choice for him. I had mastered that desk so it was my gig to sit behind these lovely gents while they programmed and help out Vince when called upon. It was a fun gig with good friends. But when I’m not running a console, I tend to get bored. Idle time is the devil’s worship in my case. This tour was scheduled to run for 15 months with only one mere summer spent in America, the rest outside of the country. There were no breaks to speak of. I was ok with that, til my phone rang that summer.
Come July of 1994 I get a call from a lighting company GM in the states. They were looking for someone to run a Hog on the Eagle’s Hell Freezes Over Tour. This band was playing three weeks on, two weeks off for the next two years with a half pay retainer during time off. Most of that time would be spent gigging in the states. So I took the gig after they accepted my rate, but only after I promised Howard Hopkins – Collin’s Production Manager, I would hire his good friend and spend the next three gigs in Europe training him to take my place on my old tour.
So we’re in Paris and it’s my last show with Phil and load out has commenced. I have gotten a call to go to the accountant’s office where they graciously hand me two weeks’ pay in an envelope and thank me for my service. I’m blown away that they are giving me a bonus as I’m quitting halfway thru the tour. But then Pud, the Tour Manager grabs me by the elbow, “Er Nook, the boss would like to have a word.”
Oh boy…, I walk into the dressing room and Phil says, “So Nook, I hear you’re leaving….., Generally speaking, nobody ever leaves one of my tours and I just would like to know why?”
I explain that Vince has full control of the console now and I’m not needed at front of house, which is where I usually reside. The Eagles had just started a reunion tour and sacked their Director a month in. I had been offered the gig and had just done a few shows with them. “Phil, that band is playing predominantly US shows. I can see my girlfriend all the time and be home once every month. I honestly love it out here, but it’s really too good of a job for me to turn down.”
I waited, then Phil nodded as he got up and gave me a short goodbye hug. “All I ask is that you tell Don he fucking owes me one.” referencing Henley, my next drummer. Then he did the unexpected. “Did Deborah in the office take care of you?” Oh yes, thank you sir. “Well that’s not enough, here take this.” He pulls a bankroll of French francs out of his pocket and starts palming bill after bill into my hand then just says, “Ah, just take the lot.” I tuck the bills in my pockets and thank him wholeheartedly with no idea how much he has gifted.
I fly into Washington DC a couple days later and am asked by customs agents if I’m carrying over $10,000 in monetary value. I of course do not look like that type of guy and deny it, skating through customs. I have a couple days off before my next gig so I walk over to a local Barclay’s bank by my hotel to change the money over to American currency. In the 90’s you could do this anywhere without a bank account or a three week wait time to clear foreign currency. They just gave you the cash and took their cut. The 65,000 francs alone that Phil had handed me out of his pocket came out to 10K, US.
Circa 2020, monetary bonuses may be less abundant in the touring biz, but not all rewards come in the form of cash. I think the biggest bonus I got in the last year was the heartfelt thanx I have recognized from so many others chipping in and helping out in this time of need. To all the artists (I can name quite a few, but they would rather remain anonymous) who personally kept their road crews afloat with pay during 2020, while taking in no income all year themselves, I salute you. To all the vendors, manufacturers and design firms who pivoted or somehow managed to keep road crews and programmers working in any form, whether at a reduced rate or not, I salute you. To the folks like Michael Strickland fighting in the trenches to gather us some recognition, those same folks who will not be getting any bonuses this year themselves, I salute you for having our back. And to all of you who take a few short minutes to read what an old man muses about, I thank you for giving me your time as well as something to do with my own. That’s my bonus this year, and I’ll take it.
