Learning the vocabulary of a concert organizer will help you skip much guesswork. This is part 2 of “Your Glossary To Plan And Organize Concerts Yourself.” In part 1, we have given you the basics – EPK, Venue, FOH, and PA. In this post, let’s find out what are the different riders that you must communicate within organizing a mini-concert. Let’s also define artist briefing and the term booker.
Planning A Concert
Tech rider, Hospitality Rider, Venue Rider
Tech Rider. The tech rider comes from the band and contains all the important information about the technology used. So it is a technical stage instruction so that the sound technician can adjust to the requirements of the band. A tech rider contains a list of all instruments as precise as possible, a telephone number under which the band can be reached, the number of musicians and a stage plot.
note: A stage plot is an illustration of the stage structure so that the sound engineer knows who will stand where.
Hospitality Rider. Also from the band, the hospitality rider takes care of the artist’s requirements and wishes regarding food, accommodation, drinks, towels, beer, ice cream, other girls stuff, or boys stuff are noted. The list is long, sometimes too long. The hospitality rider communicates clearly what is possible. This significantly reduces the stress level on the day of the event as the hospitality rider will take care of all the artists’ sometimes spoiled wishes and even gifts.
Venue Rider. As the venue about their venue rider. After all, it is important to know what technology is already on-site so that you can ideally save yourself unnecessary transport costs. For example, most venues have these technologies hidden in some backline. The Backline (back row) includes, among other things, the speaker boxes for guitar and bass or the drums, but without cymbals and pedals. Each drummer usually brings the latter himself.
Booker
Booking means the booking of the different bands that should be on stage. Happy bands have a booker who takes away the organizational things from gigs and, above all, provides new ones. In addition, many venues have their own bookers who take care of the program and usually also provide a certain common thread regarding genres.
Artist Briefing (artist instruction)
As a concert organizer, you are usually the interface between venue, musicians, technicians, photographers, and caterers. That is why it is important to get everyone on the same page before the day starts. Everyone should know where to go and what happens when. Sure, people still stumble around and there are questions even after the most comprehensive briefing. And that’s okay, but a message a few days before the gig that summarizes all the important agreements, schedules and addresses does no harm. On the contrary, the excitement is taken away and security is conveyed. Depending on the size of the event and which tasks the venue takes on, more or fewer briefings are necessary. Discussing with the venue beforehand that a person with a camera in hand is going to the egg through the venue is as important as making it clear to the photographer afterward that he may not pull some objects in front of the lens.