The tour that lost $4100
The spreadsheet came with one stipulation: every row or none of them, and not just the ones that make a point.
The rows that make the point are not the ones anybody guesses. Diesel did not do it. Neither did accommodation. The line that did it recurs on almost every date and is called, in the band's own file, nothing.
The deal
The tour was self-booked with an agent taking ten per cent on eight of the fourteen dates. Guarantees ranged from nothing to four hundred dollars. Three of the fourteen were door splits with no floor, which means that on those nights the band's income was a percentage of whatever walked in, and on one of them what walked in was under forty people.
They budgeted to lose about eight hundred dollars, which they describe as "the normal amount", and which is itself the most revealing sentence in this piece.
| Date | Room | Cap | Guarantee | Door | Merch | Costs | Running |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Halbeck | 180 | $150 | — | $210 | $95 | +$265 |
| 2 | Corrow | 120 | $0 | $88 | $60 | $140 | +$273 |
| 3 | Bellhurst | 250 | $250 | — | $180 | $310 | +$393 |
| 4 | Nayle | 400 | $400 | — | $340 | $395 | +$738 |
| 5 | — | — | day off | — | — | $180 | +$558 |
| 6 | Ashcombe | 200 | $0 | $142 | $95 | $265 | +$530 |
| 7 | Pell Bridge | 150 | $120 | — | $40 | $290 | +$400 |
| 8 | Trent Hollow | 300 | $300 | — | $260 | $340 | +$620 |
| 9 | Fenwick | 120 | $0 | $36 | $25 | $255 | +$426 |
| 10 | Marrable | 180 | $150 | — | $110 | $300 | +$386 |
| 11 | — | — | day off | — | — | $210 | +$176 |
| 12 | Oster Vale | 400 | $400 | — | $95 | $1,240 | −$569 |
| 13 | Kest | 250 | $200 | — | $130 | $385 | −$624 |
| 14 | Halbeck | 400 | $350 | — | $420 | $355 | −$209 |
| — | Fixed: van hire, insurance, agent commission | $3,891 | **−$4,100** |
We knew night twelve was bad. We did not know it was three nights bad.
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