Touring glossary
39 terms tour managers, bands and crew use every day, from advance to walkout. Updated October 7, 2026.
A
Advance
Confirming every detail of a show with the venue or promoter before the day.
ATA Carnet
An international customs document for temporarily taking professional equipment into other countries.
B
Backline
The band’s on-stage instruments and amps: drums, bass and guitar rigs, keyboards.
Box office
Where tickets are sold and collected, and the ticket-sales report used at settlement.
Bus call
The time everyone must be on the bus, usually after load-out. See Lobby call, Load-out; guide: How to make a tour day sheet.
Buyout
Cash or a fixed amount in place of something, most often a meal (a "meal buyout").
C
Changeover
The time between acts when one band’s gear comes off and the next goes on.
Comps
Complimentary tickets: free admission for guests, press or industry.
Curfew
The time the show must end, often enforced with fines.
D
Day sheet
One page with everything about a single tour day: times, addresses, contacts and notes.
Door deal
The artist is paid a share of ticket money taken at the door instead of a fixed fee.
DOS (day of show)
Shorthand for "day of show," as in the DOS contact or DOS settlement payment. See Day sheet, Settlement; guide: How to advance a show.
F
Front of house (FOH)
The audience side of the venue, and the mixing position where the house sound is run.
G
Guarantee
A fixed fee the artist is paid for a show no matter how many tickets sell.
Guest list
The names the artist has put on for free entry or passes at a show.
H
Hall fee
UK term for the percentage of merch sales a venue charges.
Hold
A tentative reservation of a date at a venue, ranked first hold, second hold and so on.
Hospitality rider
The hospitality part of the rider: dressing rooms, food, drinks and meals. See Rider, Buyout; guide: How to write a hospitality rider.
I
Input list
A numbered list of every channel the band needs: instrument, mic or DI, stand and mix.
L
Line check
A quick check that every input is working, shorter than a full soundcheck.
Load-in
The scheduled time the band and crew bring gear into the venue.
Load-out
Packing up and moving gear out of the venue after the show.
Lobby call
The time everyone must be in the hotel lobby, ready to leave.
M
Merch split
The percentage of merch sales the venue keeps.
Monitor world
The side-stage position where the monitor engineer mixes what musicians hear on stage.
P
Per diem
A fixed daily allowance paid to each person on tour for food and incidentals.
Production rider
A larger tour’s detailed production requirements: rigging, power, staging, trucking and crew calls. See Rider, Advance; guide: How to write a tech rider.
R
Radius clause
A contract term that stops the artist playing nearby for a period around a show.
Rider
The attachment to a performance contract listing what the artist needs from the venue.
Routing
The order of cities and dates on a tour, planned to keep drives sensible.
Run of show
A minute-by-minute schedule of the show itself, cue by cue.
S
Set list
The ordered list of songs for a show, often with keys, tunings or segues.
Settlement
The end-of-night accounting where the artist gets paid what the deal says.
Show advance
Another name for the advance for one specific show. See Advance; guide: How to advance a show.
Soft goods and hard goods
Merch categories: clothing (soft) versus records, CDs and posters (hard), often split differently. See Merch split, Hall fee; guide: Merch settlement and nightly merch counts.
Stage plot
A top-down diagram of where every musician, amp, mic and monitor goes on stage.
T
Tech rider
The technical requirements part of the rider: stage, power, audio, lighting and crew. See Rider, Input list, Stage plot; guide: How to write a tech rider.
V
Versus deal
The artist gets a guarantee or a percentage of the net, whichever is higher.
W
Walkout
What the artist actually leaves the venue with after settlement.
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