Live Industry’s Big Rigs Keep Truckin’ On

trucking
Upstaging’s “big red trucks” are pictured outside of NRG Stadium in Houston. The company prides itself on investing in Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) for all of its vehicles to reduce its carbon footprint.
Photo courtesy of Upstaging

Truckin’, got my chips cashed in / Keep truckin’, like the do-dah man / Together, more or less in line / Just keep truckin’ on,” the Grateful Dead declared in the classic song “Truckin’,” which appeared on the band’s 1970 album American Beauty.

As live shows’ productions have continued to become even more of a spectacle with the rise of stadium shows in recent years, the trucking sector of the industry has kept on truckin’ to deliver the goods. Though fans’ hunger for live entertainment post-pandemic may seem like a total win-win for the business, the demand has brought about unique challenges for those working in trucking.

“Coming out of late ’21 into ’22 I believe I’m not alone in saying we all broke records in terms of the amount of work, the gross revenues,” says Nick Weathers, president of Egotrips, whose clients include Stevie Nicks, Sebastian Maniscalco, Roger Daltrey and Imagine Dragons. “There was an enormous shortage of people and equipment and I think that was felt across all touring vendors. But trucking in particular — it was really hard to buy trucks, it was hard to lease trucks, it was hard to get trailers. I feel we all outsourced a lot to other companies just to make sure our clients were taken care of. And what that’s done — I feel like there was a core group of companies that have been in the business for a while. We all now have more competition.”

Weathers notes that Egotrips has lowered its prices due to the market and keeping in line with its competitors, while some of its costs have either remained the same or risen. He explains, “Our drivers are making more than they ever have, our equipment costs more than it ever has. Fuel is still fairly significantly high … It’s higher than normal. But I don’t know what you would call normal anymore. I mean, I could compare all day long our pre-pandemic, post-pandemic operating, and it’s all changed. And it’s almost like I said when we first started going [after COVID], I felt like we were a brand new company starting over again.”

When it comes to pricing, Weathers says that it’s important that clients “are comparing apples to apples” – specifically the insurance that carriers have. He adds that a significant factor in Egotrips’ pricing is its insurance limits for cargo.

“You have to think if you’re putting a million dollars worth of audio equipment on a trailer and it gets wrecked, God forbid, you want to make sure that insurance is gonna pay that vendor the million dollars for what’s on that trailer and not come after the artist for the money,” Weathers says.

As for the opportunities available with the growth of touring, Jeni Clark, senior account executive at Upstaging, says, “We are excited to be touring this year with legendary acts like Rolling Stones and James Taylor, Taylor Swift, the Foo Fighters and Green Day, K-Pop acts like IVE and Itzy, to today’s newest touring artists like Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan and Olivia Rodrigo, to name a few. With markets shifting and developing all the time, it’s interesting and exciting to see rising markets like Latin and K-Pop having such a huge moment. We’re loving being a part of the colossal wave!”

Looking ahead, Brandon Boles, senior director of operations at SOS Global — whose clients include Green Day, Kacey Musgraves and Billy Strings, and which was acquired by Rock-it Cargo in January — says 2025 is expected to be an even stronger year for music touring.
“Ten years ago everybody was paying two and a half percent on any money that they were leveraged on — now everybody’s paying eight percent and when I say everybody, I’m saying the global economy,” Boles says.

“So as interest rates probably come down, you’re going to just see money freeing up and opportunities freeing up and … more bands on the road at the end of the day. It’s a global financial issue. So people are ready, but what are they going to do today? Are they going to spend money on their groceries and their light bill, or are they gonna go to concerts? It’s not going to be just a flip of the switch, but we’ll see it continue to get better.”