01
Identify anchor dates
Start with the dates that are strategically or financially hard to move: festivals, major markets, fly dates, support slots, or high-value headline shows.
Live Guide
Routing Before Revenue
Understand why mileage, lodging, dark days, geography, and anchor dates can matter more than the biggest single offer.
Choose Your Lens
Why this matters
Current View
Fan
Artists do not choose tour stops only by where fans exist. Geography, drive times, venue availability, guarantees, radius restrictions, crew schedules, and the surrounding dates all affect whether a city can realistically fit.
01
Understand
Start with what the concept means and why it shows up.
02
Work It Through
Move through the practical decisions, tradeoffs, and moving parts.
03
Ask Better Questions
Use the prompts to catch assumptions before they become expensive.
04
Take It With You
Finish with a checklist you can use outside the page.
02
Price the miles between them
Estimate mileage, driver limits, fuel, parking, tolls, lodging, , vehicle wear, and the probability that a long move forces an extra day without revenue.
03
Evaluate route contribution
A $750 show between two anchors can be stronger than a $1,500 offer that requires an isolated 600-mile detour. Compare the incremental economics of the full route, not just the face value of each offer.
04
Protect the humans
An itinerary that is mathematically possible can still be operationally unsafe or creatively destructive. Sleep, driver safety, vocal recovery, load-in timing, and crew workload belong in the routing decision.