The day of show, in one view

A day sheet is one page for one day of the tour. Where you wake up, what time you leave, how long the drive is, where the venue is, when you load in, when you play, where you sleep after. Everyone on the run reads it, and it is the answer to every “what time is” question before it gets asked.

Most bands start without one. The plan lives in a group chat, a spreadsheet and someone’s memory, and it works until the second run. Here is what a day sheet needs to carry, from people who have run tours with and without one.

The whole day, in order

From episode 42 · August 25, 2026

Nuda, SINE and Curse Mackey

NUDA, SINE and Curse Mackey on running the Divine Creatures tour from one sheet.

When NUDA, SINE and Curse Mackey took the Divine Creatures tour out this summer, they ran it on a sheet built from the spreadsheet Rona had made. What mattered most was seeing “our schedule for the day, what’s going on the entire day, from hotel check-in to load in to a run of show or set list, when we have to load out, just all the things in one single view.” Episode 42, 39:10

That is the test for a day sheet. If someone has to open a second thing to find out where they are sleeping, it is not done.

The times move, so the sheet has to

From episode 2 · March 4, 2024

Jared Christianson

Jared Christianson of ARKAIK on set times that slip, and the drive that is longer than the map says.

Jared Christianson of ARKAIK described the thing every band knows and no printed itinerary survives: “If you are slotted to play ten o’clock and you have five bands before you, you’re playing 10:45 if you’re lucky.” The promoter may push the whole night back to wait for a late crowd. Episode 2, 19:35

A paper sheet printed that morning is wrong by dinner. The sheet has to be the live copy, and when someone changes the set time, everyone has to see the change.

The drive is longer than the map says

This one is mine. When the map says four hours to the venue, it is not four hours. “It’s actually like five, five and a half to six hours with gas stops and food stops and all that stuff.” We built a buffer into Tourouter for exactly this, so the drive on the sheet is the real one and the call time comes out right. Episode 2, 62:26

Put the padded drive on the sheet, not the optimistic one. Nobody has ever complained about arriving early.

Load in has a door, and a clock

From episode 37 · July 13, 2026

Naika Malveaux / DJ Whisperwish

Naika Malveaux on what new bands get wrong at load in.

Naika Malveaux, who promotes shows in Texas, likes to be at the venue half an hour before the bands to make sure they know “where the load-in doors are, where to park.” Bigger venues send all of this in an email and expect it followed. Smaller ones need you in and set up quickly, “because we got another band coming behind you.” Episode 37, 23:50

Bellhead, on why the call time is so early: the venue says four o’clock for a seven o’clock soundcheck “because there is a history of bands being late.” Episode 38, 59:00

So the sheet carries the load-in time, the door, and where the van goes. Then it carries the venue’s day-of contact, because when the door is locked at four you need a number, not an email.

The hotel, and when you have to be out of it

From episode 17 · June 6, 2025

The Russian White

The Russian White on rooms you pay for and barely sleep in.

The Russian White sleep in their van most nights, and part of the reason is hotels: you load out with the merch at two or three in the morning, and “a lot of times you have to be out of the hotel at not the most convenient hour,” so you paid for five hours in the room. Episode 17, 11:25

Whether you take the room or not, the sheet needs the address, the check-in time, and the checkout time, because the next day’s leave time depends on it.

Everyone gets the same sheet

From episode 21 · July 21, 2025

Curse Mackey

Curse Mackey on being the person everyone asks what time it is.

Curse Mackey’s experience of being the person with the answers is that every morning “all those guys are always like, hey Curse, what time are we leaving tomorrow, when is load in.” His fix is to give everyone everything: “Here’s everybody, here’s all that.” Episode 21, 22:07

On the Divine Creatures run they went further and shared the work too: “Somebody else made a promo video. We all drove equally.” He had seen bigger bands “grind down” when one person carries the weight. Episode 42, 36:34

The sheet is how you share the weight. When the driver, the merch person and the promoter’s runner all have the same page, nobody is the bottleneck.

What goes on it

The list, in the order the day happens:

• Where you wake up, and the checkout time
• Leave time, with the padded drive to the venue
• The venue, its address, the load-in door, and where to park
• Load in, soundcheck, doors, set times, curfew
• The day-of contact and their phone number
• Where you sleep tonight, with the address and check-in time
• Day notes: the alley door, the curfew that is not negotiable, the name to ask for

In Tourouter this page sends itself as a text every morning, on the tour’s own timezone, to everyone on the list, whether or not they have an account. It is the same sheet Kaylie described, arriving before anyone has to ask for it. Here is how NUDA ran the whole tour on it.

Quotes are lightly tidied from the episode captions. Each timestamp links to the moment it was said.