Artist liaison checklist: looking after performers on event day

Your headliner has arrived, but security has a different arrival list, the dressing room is still being used for storage, and nobody knows whether dinner is coming before soundcheck. The artist calls their agent. Your production manager calls you. Meanwhile, the support act is waiting for someone to tell them where to unload.

An artist liaison checklist should prevent those questions from reaching the performer in the first place. Give each act a named contact, confirm the practical arrangements before arrival, and check that each person receiving a handover knows what they need to do. The job continues through soundcheck, the performance, load-out and departure.

For a paid show, that work protects the experience you've sold. It also helps you avoid paying for rushed transport, repeated equipment moves and extra venue time because an instruction never reached the right person. Looking after performers means making the agreed day work, including when something changes.

This guide covers bands, DJs and other live performers at ticketed concerts and festivals. You'll get a copyable checklist, examples of difficult handoffs, and a worked show-day plan. It starts after the booking is agreed. Our artist performance contract template covers fees, riders and the terms that your liaison team needs to deliver.

Decide what your artist liaison can actually approve

An artist liaison is the person who connects the performer and their team with the people delivering the event. They meet the act, explain the site, check arrangements and follow up on problems. They need enough authority to get answers without promising things the event cannot provide.

Start by naming the artist's day-to-day contact. On a touring show, that might be the tour manager rather than the booking agent. For a solo performer, it may be the artist themselves. Confirm who handles technical questions, who can approve a timetable change, and who deals with money. Those might be different people.

Then define the liaison's own decisions. Can they buy a replacement meal within an approved limit? Can they book another vehicle? Can they move soundcheck? The first two might have a spending rule. The last one affects production and other acts, so it needs the person controlling the running order.

Write the escalation route in ordinary language. A missing towel goes to hospitality. A blocked loading route goes to the venue and production leads. A safety concern goes through the event's safety arrangements immediately. A request for another performance belongs with the organizer and authorized artist representative.

Your liaison shouldn't have to improvise the limits while standing beside an annoyed tour manager. Give them the current approved rider, the timetable and the relevant decision-makers' contacts. If they have to check something, they can say when they'll return with an answer. That is more useful than agreeing to everything and trying to undo it later.

Give the role realistic coverage too. A person meeting one band outside cannot simultaneously escort another to stage. Look at overlapping arrivals, soundchecks and departures when assigning staff. Our event staffing guide can help you plan the wider team; here, check the specific moments when an artist needs somebody available.

Turn the agreed rider into confirmed delivery

A rider describes requirements attached to the booking. Reading it is only the beginning. For each item your event supplies, establish what has been approved, who provides it, when it will be ready and how you'll confirm delivery. Keep unresolved requests visible rather than assuming silence means acceptance.

Technical details belong with the production lead and the artist's technical contact. The liaison can track whether they have agreed the equipment and timings, but shouldn't approve a substitute sound system on their behalf. An item marked unavailable needs an accepted alternative before the act arrives, especially when it affects their ability to perform.

Hospitality needs the same discipline. A dressing room, drinking water and meals can sound straightforward until you check the room's opening time, the delivery address and who holds the key. Put the meal time beside soundcheck and stage call. If catering closes before the band finishes checking, you haven't arranged a usable meal.

Ask for the actual travelling party. Performers, technicians, drivers and support workers may need different access and facilities. A booking for a four-piece band does not tell you that only four people are coming. Confirm the people covered by the agreed hospitality and resolve additions through the booking's change process.

Send one current advance document to the artist contact. Advancing is the pre-show conversation that settles delivery details. Include a version date and identify changes when you resend it. Your team needs the same approved information, with private details removed where they don't need them.

A useful confirmation asks the artist contact to check the arrival route, timetable, personnel and unresolved requirements. "Received" doesn't establish that the driver knows the entrance or the musician has accepted the equipment substitution. Ask the question that settles the decision, and record the answer where the responsible person can find it.

Make arrival work for someone who has never visited

Give the driver an entrance they can identify, a meeting point and a working contact number. Include loading restrictions and parking instructions confirmed with the venue. The street address may lead to the public doors, while the van needs a service entrance around the block. Walk that route before you send the directions.

Tell security who is coming and what access they have. Check the list with the artist contact, including touring crew and agreed support workers. Establish how late additions are approved. Someone arriving with the band still needs the right authorization; the liaison shouldn't wave an unknown visitor through because the queue is awkward.

Separate unloading from parking. A van may be allowed to unload near the stage but need to move afterwards. Explain who meets it, where equipment waits, who carries it and when the loading area must clear. If another supplier uses the same space, production needs to resolve that overlap in advance.

When the act arrives, meet them and confirm the next practical step. Show them the dressing room, toilets, water and the route to soundcheck. Introduce the relevant production contact rather than leaving the band to identify an engineer by asking whoever looks busy. Tell them where you'll be and how to reach you.

Keep public admission staffed while this happens. On Loopyah's ticketing platform, door staff can scan QR tickets from their own phones with check-in access only, and you can add event staff without sharing your login. Assign that audience-facing job to the door team so the artist liaison can meet performers when needed.

Backstage access still needs your venue's own arrangements. An audience ticket check doesn't establish which dressing room someone can enter. Give security the approved backstage instructions separately and tell them whom to contact when a name, pass or requested access doesn't match. That avoids sending every exception to the person already managing soundcheck.

Ask about access before anyone has to struggle

Ask every act about access requirements, including their crew. Attitude is Everything's Just Ask guide for promoters and liaison teams recommends making this part of pre-show communication and providing a named person for replies. A private conversation makes it easier to explain what support will help.

Ask about the arrangement they need rather than requesting a diagnosis. Confirm the practical route through the venue, including the stage, dressing room and toilets. A step-free front entrance doesn't answer whether a performer can reach the actual performance position. Check with the venue and the artist before declaring the route suitable.

Where support requires production changes, bring the relevant people into that decision early. Then confirm the agreed arrangement with the artist contact. On show day, check it exists and explain any change privately. Don't make the performer negotiate an unresolved access problem while the rest of the team waits for their set.

Check the dressing room before you call it ready

Open the room yourself. Check that the artist can use it at the agreed time and that it isn't doubling as somebody else's office or equipment store. Confirm who has access, where valuables can be kept and who controls the key. A sign with the artist's name doesn't make the room private.

Check the basics against the approved arrangement. Is there drinking water? Are the agreed seats and changing facilities usable? Does the lighting work? Where are the toilets? If the space is shared, tell each act when they can use it and who else will be there. Don't discover incompatible expectations after both bands arrive.

Pay attention to the route between that room and the stage. A comfortable room is less useful if the artist must cross an audience queue to reach soundcheck. Ask production and security to confirm how that movement works during public admission, the performance and departure. Keep the route clear under the venue's safety arrangements.

Set boundaries around visitors, photography and interruptions. Staff, sponsors and guests shouldn't treat a dressing room as an informal networking area. If a meet-and-greet or media interview is agreed, identify its time and location. Leave the artist's preparation time available instead of filling every gap with requests that weren't part of the booking.

Get food and welfare arrangements right

Confirm what the artist and crew will receive, where they collect it and when they can eat. Distinguish preferences from allergies when taking instructions, then send the necessary information to the catering contact. Ask that contact to confirm how they will provide accurate ingredient and allergen information.

The UK's Food Standards Agency explains allergen information and handling for food businesses. Use the caterer's verified information when answering questions about a meal. The liaison shouldn't guess that a dish is safe because it looks similar to something the performer ate before.

If a meal cannot be supplied as agreed, find an approved alternative and check it with the artist contact. Confirm the replacement's timing and cost before ordering. A delivery arriving during the set doesn't solve a missed dinner. Nor does an expensive substitute automatically become an authorized deduction from the artist's payment.

Provide a way to raise welfare concerns privately. The Musicians' Union's Safe Space service offers advice about bullying, discrimination and inappropriate behaviour, with defined confidentiality principles and limitations. Your event also needs its own named reporting route and a person who can act during the show.

Brief the liaison on that route. If someone reports a concern, listen and follow the event's response procedure, including getting appropriate help when needed. Don't promise absolute secrecy or try to settle a serious report through a group chat. Explain who needs the information and what the immediate next step will be.

Hand performers to production with a definite next step

Soundcheck needs a time, place and receiving person. Before bringing the artist over, confirm the engineer is ready and the stage is available. Otherwise the liaison has moved the band out of their room only to leave them waiting beside another act's equipment, with nobody taking responsibility for the delay.

Introduce the technical contacts and explain the immediate plan. The artist's engineer and your production lead should settle technical questions directly. The liaison remains available for travel, hospitality and schedule information. Keeping those responsibilities clear helps a musician get an answer without being passed through several people who can't authorize it.

When soundcheck ends, confirm where the act goes next and when they need to return. If production needs another check, specify who calls them and whether it affects their meal or preparation time. Avoid "stay nearby" unless you identify a waiting location and explain how long they need to remain available.

Before stage call, check that the artist contact has the current start and finish times. Stage call is when the act is asked to be ready at the agreed waiting point; it isn't necessarily the start of the performance. Confirm who collects them, who gives the entrance cue and how timing warnings will work.

The liaison should also know where responsibility changes. Once the act is ready at stage, the stage manager controls the entrance and show cues. After the set, identify who receives the artist and where they go. The plan should still work if the liaison is temporarily dealing with another arrival.

Give delays an owner before they affect the whole bill

An arrival delay starts with facts. Ask where the act is, their realistic arrival estimate and whether they have all required people and equipment. Tell production what you know and what you still need to confirm. Passing on "they're almost here" without a location gives the team very little to plan around. Agree when you'll ask for another update if the estimate changes. Give the artist contact a single person to call, so conflicting arrival messages don't send different teams towards different waiting points.

Production can assess which parts of the schedule can change safely. The organizer and authorized artist contact handle any change to the performance commitment. The liaison relays the approved decision and checks understanding. They shouldn't shorten a set, promise a later finish or swap the running order on their own.

Look at the whole consequence of a proposed change. A delayed soundcheck may overlap meals, doors or another act's setup. Extending the headline set may affect the venue's permitted finish and transport. Ask the people responsible for those arrangements before telling the performer that the new plan is confirmed.

Then update the people who act on it. The stage manager needs the cue, security may need another movement time, and the driver needs the departure instruction. Say what changed and what remains confirmed. Keep a current written record after the urgent conversation so the next shift doesn't recover the old plan from an earlier message.

If the change affects ticket buyers, the organizer owns that communication. Your liaison can supply verified information without making a public announcement themselves. Avoid naming a new time until the delivery team has accepted it. An optimistic update that you retract later can create more confusion than a clear explanation of what is still being resolved.

Put safety decisions through the event's actual plan

Artist care continues during unloading and departure. In Great Britain, HSE's event management guidance covers coordination, staff competence and information about risks, including work before and after the public show. Brief the liaison on the relevant site hazards and the safe routes agreed with the venue.

They need to know how to reach the safety lead, request first aid and report an immediate concern. Explain the stop-show and emergency communication arrangements used at this event. Naming an artist liaison doesn't transfer the organizer's wider safety responsibilities or make that person qualified to approve technical work.

Give performers practical instructions that match the venue plan. Identify where their party goes during an emergency and who helps with any agreed access arrangements. If the plan changes during the event, communicate the revised instruction through the responsible team. Don't invent another evacuation route because it appears quicker from the dressing room.

Keep personal information limited too. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office describes data minimisation as keeping personal data adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary. Give colleagues the delivery instruction they need, rather than forwarding the artist's entire private correspondence.

For example, a driver needs the pickup location and practical transport requirement. They may not need the artist's explanation of a health condition. Keep confidential records within your approved handling process, and decide who retains them after the event. These UK sources provide context; use the requirements and qualified advice relevant to your event's location.

Plan transport around readiness, not applause

Departure starts with knowing what the party needs to do after the set. They may need to change, pack instruments, complete an agreed guest interaction or speak with finance. Confirm that order with the artist contact and the people receiving each handover. A vehicle booked for the final note may arrive well before anyone can leave.

Give the driver an instruction they can act on. Identify the pickup location, the authorized contact and how they will hear that the party is ready. Check that the vehicle can reach that point during audience departure. The route used for afternoon arrival might be unavailable when the street fills with people leaving the show.

If the artist brings their own vehicle, confirm how it returns to the loading position and who supervises that movement. Ask production when equipment can leave, particularly if another act is performing. Don't send a musician to collect a heavy case through a live audience route simply because they want to start the journey home.

Keep equipment and passenger movements distinct where the plan requires it. Confirm who checks that the necessary cases have loaded and who confirms the people travelling. The liaison can ask for those confirmations without taking over specialist handling. A driver leaving with all the musicians doesn't establish that the technician's equipment has left with them.

If transport falls through, contact the person authorized to approve the alternative. Check suitability with the artist contact, confirm the price and arrival estimate, and tell the waiting party where to stay. Record the approved expense for finance. Avoid promising reimbursement first and discussing whether the vehicle meets the agreed requirements afterwards.

A copyable artist liaison checklist

Copy these checks into your show-day document and add an owner, confirmation and unresolved action for each. A checked item should mean somebody verified it. If a supplier hasn't replied, mark it pending with a deadline. Adapt the detail to the act and venue rather than sending every performer an identical long form.

Before arrival

• Confirm the named artist contact, liaison and backup, with working event-day phone numbers and each person's decision authority.

• Confirm the travelling party, arrival estimate, approved entrance, loading instructions, parking location and who will meet the vehicle.

• Check the current agreed technical and hospitality riders, recording instructions and any approved changes against the document production will use.

• Ask privately about access requirements, confirm the practical arrangements with the artist and venue, and identify who checks delivery onsite.

• Confirm dressing room availability, access rules, keys, water, meal timing and the catering contact responsible for ingredient and allergen information.

• Check arrival, soundcheck, stage call, performance, stage clearance and departure times together, including conflicts with other acts and staff responsibilities.

At arrival and soundcheck

• Meet the approved party, confirm their arrival with production and explain where equipment, personal belongings and vehicles should go next.

• Show the artist their room, toilets and agreed access route; confirm how to contact the liaison and where to wait.

• Check that meals and agreed hospitality are available when promised, with the correct information supplied by the catering team.

• Confirm the stage and engineer are ready before escorting the act to soundcheck, then introduce the people handling technical decisions.

• Record unresolved delivery issues with the receiving person, their next action and the time the liaison will check back.

• After soundcheck, confirm the waiting location, preparation time, stage call and any revised instruction with the artist contact and production.

During the performance and departure

• Confirm the agreed cue and timing-warning arrangements with the stage manager; keep the liaison available through the route briefed to the artist.

• Route safety and welfare concerns through the event's response arrangements, with private information shared only where needed for the response.

• Check post-show room access, agreed guest or media commitments and the handover to the person supervising equipment removal.

• Confirm the vehicle, driver, pickup point and departure readiness before directing the party towards the loading or transport area.

• Pass finance any approved expense records or settlement questions without changing booking terms, and confirm who follows up after the show.

• Record departure, unresolved items and the next owner; return keys or passes under venue procedures and report any incident through the required route.

A shift change deserves the same care as an artist arrival. Tell the incoming liaison which act is onsite, where they are waiting, the next confirmed time and any unresolved request. Include the person who currently owns each issue. "Everything is fine" leaves your replacement unable to distinguish an approved arrangement from one somebody is still checking.

Try a spoken handover followed by the current written record. The incoming person repeats the next action and confirms how the artist reaches them. Then tell the artist contact that the liaison has changed. Otherwise they may keep calling a person who has finished their shift, while their replacement assumes nobody needs help.

At a festival, apply that handover between stages too. Confirm which team receives the act, when the transfer happens and what equipment or support travels with them. The receiving stage should acknowledge the plan before the performer leaves. Check whether the second stage uses a different entry point or access instruction.

Keep the artist's immediate instructions concise even when your internal record is detailed. They need the next time, location and contact without searching through every supplier's update. Ask whether they have any outstanding question before ending the handover. An answer that arrives then can prevent another interruption just before the set begins.

The checklist will only work if staff understand the words they check. Before doors, ask each receiving person to explain their next handover. If security says arrivals go to the public entrance while the driver has loading instructions, settle the mismatch then. You still have time to change a message before someone acts on it.

A worked show-day plan with two awkward handoffs

Imagine a fictional ticketed club show with a support band and a headline DJ. All the times here are planning choices for this example, not standard call times. Doors open at 19:00. The support band plays from 19:45 to 20:15, and the DJ plays from 20:45 to 22:00.

The headline party includes the DJ and a touring technician. The support party includes four musicians and a driver. Before show day, the organizer confirms separate arrival times, each party's access, their equipment responsibilities and hospitality. Liaison Sam handles the headline party. Liaison Noor handles the support band and remains available during Sam's meal break.

The support band arrives at 15:30 for a 16:15 soundcheck. The DJ arrives at 16:45 for a 17:15 technical check. Production confirms that the support equipment can clear the relevant positions before the DJ's check begins. Both acts know where equipment waits after checking and who handles the change between performances.

Meals are arranged for 17:45, after both checks. The support band returns to the stage waiting point at 19:30. Sam collects the DJ at 20:30. The stage manager gives entrance cues and timing warnings. Noor receives the support band after their set and confirms the approved equipment removal route with production.

Now suppose the headline driver's navigation takes them to the public entrance. Security contacts Sam using the approved contact list. Sam confirms the party, sends the already-checked loading directions and tells production the updated arrival estimate. The technician receives the same message, so they don't unload at the wrong door while Sam is walking over.

That mistake needs one correction because the receiving people have a usable route and contact. Without those, the driver might unload outside public admission, a volunteer might send the DJ through the audience area, and production might still expect equipment at the service entrance. More messages wouldn't fix the missing instruction.

The second problem appears after soundcheck. Catering has delivered the support band's meals to a room being used by another supplier. Noor checks the delivery record, asks catering to retrieve the meals through its handling procedure, and confirms the new delivery time with the band. If safe delivery can't be confirmed, catering supplies the approved replacement.

Noor also checks that the band can still eat before preparation and stage call. The organizer approves any replacement cost under the event's spending rule. Production only needs an update if the timing affects readiness. The incident goes into the debrief with the correct room reference, rather than a vague note that hospitality communication was poor.

Finish the job after the artist leaves

Confirm departure rather than assuming the performance ending means the party has left. Someone may still be waiting for transport, equipment or an agreed payment conversation. Keep the relevant contact available until the final handover is complete, then record any outstanding task and who will finish it.

For the next booking, review the instructions that failed. If the van used the wrong entrance, improve the directions and security brief. If catering used the wrong room, fix the delivery reference. Make those changes while the details are fresh, so the next liaison starts with a document that reflects how the venue actually works.