The Working Musician's Handbook for Professional Success by Kris Hawkins

Author:Kris Hawkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2022-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

Fly Dates

Fly dates are either one-off gigs or a short run of shows that are too far to drive to. Typically, acts with more financial backing do these types of gigs. You may find yourself flying to five or six different cities within the span of a week.

Traveling for a fly date is much easier than going by bus or van. Backline is normally provided, so all you are required to bring is yourself and your instrument.

Fly dates tend to always offer accommodations in the city to which you are traveling.

Be sure to ask your music director or tour manager if you are required to pay for your checked luggage. At $35 per bag (instruments too) and five or six flights per week, that is a minimum of $175 dollars you’re spending out of your own pocket. Normally these fees are taken care of by the management, but in the rare occurrence that you are required to pay for your own checked bags, keep the receipt for tax purposes later.

Another thing to consider is keeping your immune system up and running while traveling by plane. Take some vitamin C or a product like Airborne before you board. Plus, what we’ve learned from the pandemic—bring a mask as well. There is no worse feeling in the world than having to put on a show while you have a 101 degree fever.

Having done so many fly dates in my career, I ended up building what’s known as a fly rig. It’s everything I need gear-wise, just made smaller so I can carry my guitar and pedals in the same bag. If you find yourself traveling often by plane, you may want to look into ways to pare down your equipment while still getting the sounds you need for the gig.

One final tip for fly dates (I learned this one from a tour mate) is to sign up for the rewards programs of whatever airline you are flying on. Even though you didn’t pay for the tickets yourself, you can still collect the airline miles for your travels. Eventually, if you travel enough, you’ll accrue enough miles for things like free tickets or even first-class upgrades! So don’t sleep on this.

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