Glenn Felton of Los Lonely Boys – Staying Connected on the Road

A family business that is constantly on the move, Grammy Award-winning rockers Los Lonely Boys rely on mobile broadband and Eventric Master Tour software to keep their concert tours running smoothly and to stay connected with their management, vendors, fans and families.

By: David Callahan.  Photos:  Martin Adolfsson

(Excerpted from #2 2010 Contact, the magazine for Ericsson employees.)

It’s 9:43pm in Aspen, Colorado, and according to the day sheet that appears on Glenn Felton’s laptop screen, the band should be halfway up the three flights of stairs to the Wheeler Opera House stage entrance.

Within moments, Los Lonely Boys – comprising brothers Henry, Ringo and Jojo Garza – are led to their mark behind a side curtain. The group’s tour manager, Felton, pauses so everyone can catch their breath – it is after all more than 2400m above sea level. He begins directing the stage manager. “Dim house lights. Fade music …” Out in front, the house grows quiet with anticipation. “All right, here we go,” Felton says as he points a flashlight to illuminate the floorboards for the three musicians as they step out of the shadows and into the stage lights’ glare. The 16-song performance that follows is the culmination of a full day of activity, and of planning that dates back weeks. At each stop of the concert tour production routines are repeated, but countless variables enter the picture every day.

Out of the spotlight, Felton pulls it all together with a crew of five men, his phone, a laptop and a mobile broadband connection. “Our business is constantly on the move,” Felton says. “I don’t think you can operate a tour without broadband.”

Tour management requires keeping one foot in the future while managing the present. Felton says mobile broad band enables him not only to plan for upcoming shows, but to convey updates on stage requirements and catering, while attending to dozens of daily issues like stage wardrobe needs, band and crew laundry, ordering meals and procuring gear.

Felton snaps a photo from the side of the stage and uploads it to the group’s Facebook page, then retreats to a corner of the dressing room where he has set up operations. He checks e-mail whenever he can, and no detail is too trivial for his immediate attention. “It could be a request for documents, hotel room lists, or an update to our (contract) rider,” he says. “I’ll just take care of it right there and then, by text or e-mail or a phone call.”

A 20-year veteran of tour production, Felton has been on the road with Los Lonely Boys since shortly after the band won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Song with its breakout hit, “How Far Is Heaven?” This swing through the Colorado Rockies is one leg of a small tour of mid-sized venues, such as the 500-seat Wheeler. 

“As you get into bands that are bigger, operations become more centralized,” Felton says. “Like the Grateful Dead – they have their own building in San Francisco. We have a manager in Austin, but the center of operations is wherever the band is. “As for the Los Lonely Boys’ office,” Felton says, making a sweeping gesture to indicate the small seating area around a coffee table, “we’re sitting in it. It’s me, my laptop, a Verizon wireless MiFi unit, and my plastic tub of office supplies.”

As both a business and a family, Los Lonely Boys see a clear benefit. On his MiFi-connected laptop and phone, Felton uses specialized tools, as well as common programs and online sites to administer the band’s business, production, logistical and promotional needs. “I’m taking care of finances, I’m budgeting, I’m watching payroll and making sure we’re getting paid, making sure my crew is happy and the band is happy,” he says.

“I’m effective because I’m always connected.” – Glen Felton

Felton constantly monitors Facebook and posts regular messages and photos from the tour. He keeps fans engaged by streaming live performances or Q&A sessions from his laptop camera. With the mobile connection, the touring party also maintains a precious link to home. “There’s no one on this tour that doesn’t want to be home,” he says. “We’re on the road as many as 200 days a year, and staying connected with our families is important for all of us. We Skype with our wives and children every day. My wife and I just adopted a baby girl, so every night I talk to my wife and I listen to my baby cry – and that’s home.”

The Garza brothers are launching into the second half of their set when Felton’s financial duties call. The show’s promoter enters the dressing room with the night’s box office receipts and seats himself on the sofa beside Felton. They review the contracts, ticket sales and expenses in a matter of minutes. As soon as the check passes hands, Felton scans the documents into a program that generates PDFs, which he will distribute over the broadband connection to Los Lonely Boys’ management office, accountant and the booking agency. “These people want to see how the gig did – they want attendance, they want expenses, they want information as soon as the show is done,” Felton says. “With mobile broadband I’m able to generate an e-mail with all those documents and within seconds everyone has what they need. It saves me from making a lot of FedEx drops.”

The day’s business now complete, Felton packs up and makes his final rounds through the theater, checking on the production crew one last time before the encore. By midnight every one is back on the bus, preparing for the night’s drive eastward to the university town of Boulder.

Settling into a leather booth in the forward lounge area, Felton begins checking e-mail and the latest weather forecasts. A snow storm from the south promises to wreak havoc on the band’s travel plans. “This table is where my day starts and ends,” Felton says. “Often I’ll leave some work for the bus, and I’ll catch up on e-mails to friends and family, because once you get on the bus the distractions are almost over.”

Sudden blizzards are frequent in the Rockies in winter, and trucks are required to have chains on their tires in heavy snow. So when Los Lonely Boys’ bus breaks a chain later in the storm-swept Loveland Pass, the driver is compelled to pull off the road until daybreak, when the state highway patrol reopens Interstate 70. Felton monitors the time closely because he will need to provide the next venue with advance notice if the band expects to arrive late.

“With the technology we can get a quick text, e-mail or phone call to the promoter so they can adjust the time,” he says. “If they know in time that we’re running behind schedule, they can inform their crew to come in later and save an hour in labor costs. We save everyone money and no one is standing around for two hours waiting for us to show up.” 

He recalls that tour managers used to deal with delays by pulling off the road to place a call, only to delay themselves another 15 minutes or more. “In 15 years we’ve gone from laborious to instantaneous,” he says, recalling the days before broadband. “I remember guys walking around with huge bags, full of files and paper and phone cards. There would be 10 landlines in the production office so people could call in and you had to make sure all the numbers were working, because those were the lines that were given out to the management, to the wives of the band and crew – to everyone. It was archaic.”

Los Lonely Boys arrive at the Boulder Theatre at 11am sharp under a warm, sunny sky, and while the crew rolls fl ight cases through a loading door, Felton sets up his office at a weathered, gray desk a few meters from the stage. He begins checking payroll timesheets e-mailed from the accountant, then starts examining routes for upcoming dates. Using the Master Tour management system produced by Eventric, Felton enters dates provided by the booking agency, along with the addresses of all hotels, venues and other stops on the itinerary. The database includes contact information for promoters, radio station managers, catering companies, restaurants, laundry services, electronics and hardware dealers, and music shops – plus anything else that a touring band would need on the road.

Synchronizing with Google Maps, the database creates a route map that Felton uses to budget how much fuel the tour will use, how many days to rent a bus and pay the driver, and how many hours of travel and rest time the group can look forward to. Using the CDMA connection, Felton updates the Eventric server and the information is pushed out to the phones and laptops of everyone in Los Lonely Boys’ organization, including the families of the band and crew. When management wants to add a promotional radio station appearance to the itinerary, they can see in detail where and when such events can be fit. Felton gets the update immediately.