Tour routing basics for agents and DIY artists

Tour routing is the job of putting a run of shows in an order that makes geographical and commercial sense: start from your strongest anchor dates, fill the gaps with cities that sit sensibly between them, and avoid long drives, backtracking and clashing radius clauses. A good route puts your best markets on your best nights, keeps travel costs down and leaves the band fit to play. A bad one burns money on fuel and hotels before the first ticket is sold.

This guide covers the method most agents use, adapted for UK touring, and works whether you're an agent routing a roster act or an artist booking your own tour.

Key takeaways

• Start with anchor dates (your strongest markets, festivals or support slots) and route the rest around them.
• Put your biggest markets on Friday and Saturday where you can, and smaller markets midweek.
• Keep daily drives realistic and avoid backtracking, which costs fuel, time and sleep.
• Check radius clauses before confirming anything, because one clause can block a whole region.
• Build in days off and travel days on purpose, rather than leaving them to chance.

What tour routing means

Routing is the order and geography of a tour. Every show has a cost to get to and a value once you're there. The routing decides how much of the tour's income disappears into vans, fuel, trains and hotels, and how tired everyone is by the last night.

Good routing balances four things:

1. Markets. Where people will buy tickets.
2. Days of the week. Which nights those markets are strongest.
3. Distance. How far you travel between each show.
4. Commitments. Radius clauses, festivals, support slots and other fixed dates.

Step 1: identify your anchor dates

Anchor dates are the shows the tour is built around. They might be:

• Your strongest city, where you can play the biggest room.
• A festival slot or a support date that's already fixed.
• A hometown show.
• A London date, which for many UK artists is the most important show of the run.

Lock these first. Everything else gets routed to and from them.

Step 2: know your markets

Before you place a single hold, be honest about where you sell tickets. Use whatever data you have:

• Past ticket sales by city.
• Where your email and SMS subscribers live. If you collect a city or postcode area at sign-up, this becomes a powerful routing tool. See how to segment your fan list.
• Streaming and social audience by city, as a secondary signal.
• Promoter and venue feedback on how similar acts have done.

Group cities into tiers: strong markets you can headline, growing markets where you need a good night and a good promoter, and new markets where you might be better as a support act.

Step 3: match markets to days of the week

As a rough guide in the UK:

• Friday and Saturday are the strongest nights in most cities. Put your best markets here.
• Thursday is often strong in student towns and larger cities.
• Sunday to Wednesday can work well in cities with a strong gig culture, but are harder in smaller towns.

Student towns are a special case: term-time shows can be busy, while the same city in the summer or over the Christmas break may be much quieter. Check university term dates when routing anywhere with a large student population.

Step 4: draw the loop

UK tours usually work as a loop or a line rather than a zigzag. A typical shape runs from the south up one side of the country and back down the other, or out from London and back. For example, a simple loop might go:

London, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham, back to London.

That's an illustration, not a template. The principle is that each show should be a sensible drive from the last, and the tour should move in one general direction rather than criss-crossing the country.

Avoid backtracking

Backtracking is going back over ground you've already covered: Manchester, then Bristol, then Leeds, for example. It adds hours of driving and often a hotel night. If an offer only works with a backtrack, weigh up whether the fee covers the extra cost and fatigue.

Keep drives realistic

Drive time on the map isn't drive time in a loaded van with stops, traffic and load-in at the other end. As a rough planning rule:

• Aim to arrive in time for load-in with a margin for traffic.
• Avoid scheduling long drives after late finishes, then early load-ins the next day.
• Treat long cross-country legs, like London to Glasgow, as a travel day or a day off rather than squeezing a show in at each end.

If you're hiring a driver or a larger vehicle, check the legal driving-hours rules that apply to that vehicle and licence. They can affect the route more than people expect.

Step 5: check radius clauses

Radius clauses stop an artist playing within a set distance and time of a show. One festival or a large headline show can block a whole region for weeks either side. Before confirming any date:

• List every radius clause you've agreed or are negotiating.
• Map them against the proposed route.
• Check whether announcement restrictions affect when you can put the tour on sale.

For more on how radius clauses are written, see live performance contracts: the clauses that matter.

Step 6: place holds and work the gaps

With anchors, markets and the loop sketched out, place holds in the cities that fit. Expect some to fall through: the venue isn't free, the promoter can't make the numbers work, or a better offer comes in elsewhere. Routing is iterative, and the final route is rarely the first draft.

Keep track of holds properly, with positions and expiry dates, so you're not juggling them from memory. See holds, offers and confirmations.

Step 7: plan days off and travel days

Days off are not wasted days. They give you:

• Recovery time for voices and bodies.
• Slack for breakdowns, traffic and illness.
• Somewhere to put a long travel leg.

As a rough guide, many bands don't go more than five or six shows without a day off, though it depends heavily on the act, the travel and the budget. Place days off where the drive is longest or after the most demanding shows.

Step 8: cost the route

Before you confirm the full tour, put numbers against it:

Then set it against the guaranteed income and a realistic estimate of ticket share and merch. If the tour loses money on paper, it will lose more in practice.

Routing for DIY artists

If you're booking yourself without an agent:

• Start smaller. A tight run of four or five dates in nearby cities is easier to sell and cheaper to run than a twelve-date national tour.
• Trade support slots. Swap support slots with bands in other cities to build markets you can't headline yet.
• Use your data. Route towards where your fans actually are. If you don't have that data yet, start collecting it: a tour marketing plan for independent artists explains how.
• Ask promoters early. Many promoters book well in advance. Contacting them a few weeks out usually means the good dates have gone.

A quick routing checklist

• Anchor dates confirmed.
• Markets tiered by strength.
• Best markets on Friday and Saturday.
• No backtracking without a good reason.
• Drives realistic, with long legs on days off.
• Radius clauses mapped against the route.
• Days off placed on purpose.
• Costs estimated against expected income.
• Holds tracked with expiry dates.

Frequently asked questions

What is tour routing?

Tour routing is the process of deciding the order and geography of a tour's dates. It balances where an artist sells tickets, which nights are strongest in each city, travel distance and fixed commitments like festivals and radius clauses. Good routing keeps costs down and puts the strongest markets on the best nights.

How far in advance should you route a UK tour?

It varies with the size of the act and the venues, but many promoters and venues book several months ahead, and larger tours further out. For a small DIY tour, starting a few months ahead gives you a realistic chance at good dates and time to market the shows.

How many shows in a row before a day off?

There's no fixed rule. As a rough guide, many bands avoid going more than five or six shows without a day off, but it depends on the music, the vocal demands, the travel and the budget. Place days off after long drives or demanding shows.

What is backtracking on a tour?

Backtracking is travelling back over ground you've already covered, such as going north, then south, then north again. It adds driving time, fuel and often extra hotel nights, so it's best avoided unless an offer more than covers the extra cost.

How do radius clauses affect tour routing?

A radius clause stops the artist playing within a set distance and time of a contracted show. A large festival or headline show can block a whole region, so map every radius clause against the route before confirming other dates.