colleen

Touring subjects the body and mind to a lower standard of the essentials of life and to information overload: that is an undeniable fact and is nobody’s “fault”. For so long I felt like saying this could be seen as whining or a way of dismissing how much tougher other jobs can be; now I can finally see that one truth doesn’t negate another, and that the first step towards touring in a way that is sustainable in the long run is to recognize how truly demanding it is in the first place.
It is the piling up of bodily and brain stressors in a short window of time away from the normalcy of home that is problematic in touring, and that is why, in my opinion, for most “regular” people, touring is safe only in short bursts. There are many reasons why one may have to go through the classical grind of the “one show per day for a month/whatever length” classical touring schedule (economics of course, but also preferring to be away just once and then be done with it). As far as I am concerned, I would end up on the floor if I did this.
A non-exhaustive list of stressors: standing in line repeatedly to check in your suitcase, go through boarding pass and/or passport control, then security, board the plane, go through immigration control, get your suitcase back (on some days, this can pile up to 3/4 hours). Long travelling hours in a plane + usually one or two car transfers. Irregular eating and hydrating. Poor quality insufficient sleep, possible jetlag. Extreme air conditioning or heating.
For the show of the day and upcoming days, whilst more emails keep pouring in, often about future shows, keeping track of: travel schedule, times of load in, soundcheck, dinner, start of show, curfew, mixing desk model, merch situation, guestlist… Rinse and repeat.
If you are touring at the time of your album release, you have already worked through tons of details regarding the release itself and promotion work. In my case I also had to get a new US visa, which – as usual – proved to be both demanding and stressful.
Photos of my show closing the Ekko festival in Bergen, Norway, in the stunning setting of Slettebakken Kirke, on 5th November 2023, are all by Oddbjørn Steffesen.

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