“The Chain is Only as Strong as Its Weakest Link” – Why Every Crew Member Matters on Tour

Touring is a team sport. It’s not about rockstars and hierarchies. It’s about collaboration, timing, and respect. Whether you’re the frontperson of the band, the FOH engineer, the merch seller, or the one pushing road cases at 3 a.m., your performance affects the entire machine.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it:

If the band plays like shit, we don’t sell merch. If FOH messes up the sound, we don’t sell merch. If the guitar tech doesn’t tune properly or the backliner flops a changeover, we don’t sell merch.

And guess what?

If the merch person zones out, is rude, or fumbles the setup, no one makes money either.

This isn’t drama. It’s logistics. It’s the reality of touring economics.

Everything is connected.

The show might last an hour and a half—but the tour lasts weeks or months, and that’s where the cracks really show. You can be the best tech in the game, but if you treat others like shit or can’t function in a group, you’re dead weight. The same goes for any role.

A bad attitude spreads like mold in a damp van. It poisons morale, wrecks efficiency, and makes everything ten times harder. Skill matters—but personality matters more. I’d take a solid, dependable, team-oriented human over a “world-class tech” with an ego the size of the venue any day.

The best crews aren’t built on skill alone. They’re built on mutual respect, reliability, and the ability to not lose your mind when you’re tired, hungry, or dealing with a last-minute venue change.

Touring is pressure. It’s problem-solving in real time. It’s sleeping three hours and still needing to be sharp.

So if you’re hiring for a tour? 

Ask yourself:

Can this person do the job, and can I live with them while we do this job together?

Because in the end, it doesn’t matter how well you can fly a console, tune a guitar, or fold a hoodie—if the rest of the crew avoids you like the plague, you’re a liability.

Teamwork makes the dream work, cliché or not. Every single role is vital. Respect each other, cover each other, and stop thinking some jobs are less important.

Without the crew, the show doesn’t go on.

Without a solid team, the whole thing collapses.