Live Music’s Golden Era Boosts Coach Industry

One needn’t look at charts with ticket sales for every artist and venue to know the state of the live entertainment industry. A simple phone call to a coach company and asking them what’s available would suffice, and it’s likely most would give the same answer.

“We’re already booking for 2025, and so we’re mostly sold out for 2024,” Doug Rountree, president of Nashville-based Pioneer Coach, Inc., tells Pollstar.

The same goes for Wichita, Kansas-based Village Coach, which is mostly booked through December and taking orders for next year.

“We say no to a lot of people,” said Kyle Filiatreault, general manager for Village Coach. “We’re pretty much out of availability. … We started the year off with about 80% of our fleet out by the end of January, which is pretty unheard of. The year started earlier than it did in 2023, which is surprising.

“I’ve been in the industry for 16 years and with Village six years. I’ve never seen this. We’re at a new high when it comes to demand.”

Though some industry insiders worried the live business would come back down to earth following a record-setting 2023, it hasn’t stopped artists from hitting the road, and touring coach companies are trying to keep up with the demand of the music industry by investing in their own growth. Pioneer and Village not only continue to build their own vehicles to increase their fleet of buses but also expanded their services by offering trucks.

Pioneer bought 20 tractor trucks in the past year and started a new division to focus on that part of the business. Rountree admitted that there were logistical challenges with the addition of trucks, but it was a welcome service for artists as well as a new revenue source for the company.

The coach industry is experiencing its own Golden Era with many of the companies continually growing to become bigger fish in the pond that is the live entertainment business. Last November, Dreamliner Luxury Coach, which boasts a client list that includes Beyoncé, Drake and Chris Stapleton, tripled its fleet by acquiring Hemphill Brothers Coach Company, a Nashville-based business that had been around for more than four decades.

“It has changed drastically from when I entered the industry to today,” says Rountree, who has worked with Lainey Wilson, Dave Matthews Band and Dave Chappelle. “Once upon a time, the industry was a lot more fragmented, and there were just a few major companies and smaller companies. Now that’s certainly changed, and you have a lot more major companies.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is the industry’s reliance on Prevost, the popular Canadian manufacturer of touring buses that is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary. Despite producing 1,000 vehicles a year at their factory, buses are still hard to come by for many artists, which is a testament not only to the product but to the evolution of the music industry that relies heavily on touring.

“You look at music before, artists would cut an album, tour the next year to promote and sell that album and get back in the studio, and there were enough coaches out there at the time to service the industry,” says Steven Ziegler, Prevost’s vice president of North America bus shell division. “And then, the industry changed with downloading of music, and really the only revenue that comes in is for the whole industry is if the touring’s happening. That’s a massive change over a short time in history, and the operator’s business is super capital intensive. These are million-dollar buses, and I think it’s been tough for operators in the industry to not be able to keep up with the demand. … It’s going to be a while before that high-demand touring season’s ever going to be satisfied.”

While busy is always good for the touring business, it may not always be good for the drivers, mechanics and administrators who work long days to ensure that artists reach their destinations to perform the concerts audiences love. Filiatreault says he keeps a close eye on his Village Coach team to make sure they aren’t suffering from physical or mental exhaustion, an issue that is often discussed in the live entertainment business, especially among artists.

“The biggest challenge is making sure we’re all taking care of each other,” he says. “We’re here for each other and want to make sure fatigue doesn’t get the best of us, communicating when one can use a break. It’s important. … Is it cheap to do? Absolutely not, but we don’t blink at that. Family is important.”