“Fly-in” shows are characterized by groups that tour primarily by air, allowing them to travel long distances between shows and sleep in the comfort of hotel rooms by carrying very little equipment. The Sprinter’s rear compartment is often walled off to create a space that’s five feet tall and wide by three to five feet deep, enough room for a modest backline and a console. While a tour bus can carry up to 12 people and pull a trailer, a Sprinter van is less than half the cost, at the expense of carrying half as many people and less equipment, depending on how it’s fitted out with seats, bunks or cargo space. Sprinter vans are a common sight around Nashville at the height of festival season. The amount of equipment carried by a festival band and its crew ranges from headphones and a few guitars all the way up to headliners carrying several semi trailers with contributions from every department – backline, sound, lights, video, rigging, pyro, risers and a thrust – to add to the production du jour.īetween these extremes are buses hauling trailers of various sizes that include little more than backline, consoles and t-shirts, though “floor packages” of lights or video walls are increasingly common in larger double-axle condo trailers. Some bands choose to spend an entire season in “festival mode,” filling in their schedules between festivals and state fair appearances with dates in full-production clubs and theaters. And each group saves the expense of mounting the entire production themselves, making these events a great way to get lots of exposure without spending a lot. Multi-act festivals provide more entertainment than the usual concert headliner with one or two support acts, using two or more festival stages to ensure continuous live music.Ī festival’s added draw allows headliners to perform before larger crowds and openers to play for audiences that otherwise might never hear them. Various performing artists or groups take turns with a venue’s audience and stage, as well as its sound, lights and video production. Sharing is the very definition of a multi-act music festival, though some shares are bigger than others.
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