Zack McGuinness

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Zack McGuinness

Tours
Travis Scott • Jay-Z/Beyoncé • Frank Ocean

Zack McGuinness’s name first entered Pollstar’s radar when he was shouted out by multiple members of Travis Scott’s team for his work on the smash-hit “Astroworld – Wish You Were Here Tour.” He also recently did Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s “OTR II” tour and Frank Ocean’s summer 2017 festival run. 

He got into tour managing after studying finance at Virginia Tech and a summer working at SST, a recording studio/production facility in New Jersey. He started building up connections and working on different tours in various capacities, with his first gig as a tour manager coming on Kanye West’s “Saint Pablo Tour” 2016.

While life on the road has many challenges, McGuinness laments that he “would like to get a dog. Being a tour manager makes that tough.” Still, he loves being able to give people an awesome experience, saying being able to upgrade fans from the last row or comping someone who helped him in an unfamiliar city is one of his favorite parts of the job.

A key skill, he says, is adaptation, as “Each artist and their organization expect something different from a tour manager, so being able to adapt to those expectations is key.” His best advice for young tour managers is: “Don’t think any task is beneath you. Being accountable for the success of a gig is important.”