THE CONCERT
CONSULTING GROUP
Advance to Settlement and Everything In Between
There’s no user manual for concert production
Live production is one of the most unforgiving industries on the planet. The stakes are high, the problems are expensive, the timelines are brutal, and the pressure is always on. Nobody hands you a playbook. Whether you're a venue trying to tighten operations, a promoter protecting margins, an artist navigating your first tour, or a crew member trying to climb, you're forced to figure things out in real time, often in front of a packed house. That's exactly why this firm exists. Come with a specific problem. Come with a topic you want to understand. Come with a contract or riders you need decoded. Come hungry to learn how this industry really works. Come with a situation that's about to go sideways. After thousands of shows at every level, we've already seen your problem many times and know exactly how to fix it.
Venues — A well-run show starts long before doors open. From advancing and scheduling to hospitality and settlement, the difference between a smooth night and a costly one is operational discipline. I'll help you build tighter systems from the inside out.
Artist Managers — The production side of touring will surprise you if you don't understand it. Riders, advancing, budgets, settlement are areas where managers routinely get caught off guard. I'll make sure you know exactly what's coming before it catches you by surprise.
Aspiring & Emerging Professionals — Whether you're trying to break into the industry or you've been in it for years and can't seem to move up, we'll guide you on exactly how this industry works, what it takes to climb, and what's actually holding you back. No gatekeeping, no vague inspiration, just a straight conversation about what it takes to build a real career in concert production from someone who’s done it for decades.
Promoters — The gap between what you offered and what you spent is where promoters get hurt. I'll show you where the overages hide, how to protect your margins, and how to stop losing money on problems that were preventable.
Production Companies — Scaling a production operation means building systems that hold up under pressure, promoter and venue relationships that keep the gigs coming, and crews that execute without babysitting. I'll help you build the kind of operation that runs clean regardless of the show size.
Touring Artists — Touring professionally is a different discipline from performing locally. Knowing what to ask for, what to realistically expect, and how to work with promoters and venues professionally makes the difference between a sustainable career and an expensive education that ends back at the local club where you started.
Independent Artists — Breaking into live performance without the right guidance means paying for every mistake with money you don't have. We'll help you skip the trial by fire and do this right, right from the start.
"The obstacle is the way. Every problem is an opportunity to learn, grow, and prove you know what you're doing. Until that day comes — we’re here."
Welcome to the Machine
Career Coaching
If you're trying to break into concert production or are already in and trying to climb your way up, we’ll show you how the industry actually works. Not the fantasy version people post about online, the real version. How to get on shows. How to get noticed, how the people at the top of this industry actually got there. No vague inspiration, just the facts about what it takes to build a real career in live music.
Production Management
We'll teach you how to manage a production from advance to show day, working budgets, vendor relationships, crew coordination, technical specifications, contingency planning, and everything in between. Production management is the art and skill of pre-orchestrating every moving piece, knowing exactly what should be where and when. Get it right in advance, and show day becomes a pleasant execution, not stressful crisis management.
Vendor Negotiations
We know what vendors will move on, what they won't, and where the real money gets wasted. Most people on the buying side don't understand how strong vendor relationships are built. The promoters and venues that consistently get the best gear at the best price aren't the ones who push hardest. They're the ones who've built trust, communicate clearly, reach out far in advance, and know what they need before they pick up the phone. We'll help you build those relationships, spec the right gear for the right show, and negotiate pricing that protects your budget and your relationship with the artist.
Catering & Hospitality
Artists notice. Tour managers remember. Word travels fast. Hospitality is one of the most underestimated parts of a concert or festival, and one of the fastest ways to damage a relationship when you get it wrong. A bad catering spread, a dressing room that missed the rider, a runner who doesn't know what they're doing, these aren't small details. They set the tone for the entire day. We'll help you execute catering riders correctly, set up dressing rooms that meet expectations, build a runner operation that holds up under pressure, and know the difference between what's non-negotiable on a rider and what you can skip without consequence.
Stage Management
Stage management is the job of keeping an entire show from coming apart at the seams, and doing it without anyone knowing there was ever a seam. Most people don't understand what stage management actually requires until something goes wrong. You'll learn how to keep the day moving even when it doesn't go as planned… because it won't. We’ll show you how to prepare and be ready, how to react, and how to respond.
Settlement & Accounting
By the time you're sitting across the table doing settlement, it's too late to fix the fact that the budget and the invoices are miles apart. Settlement actually began months ago, long before the offer was submitted. When you understand the full process from offer to settlement, you stop being reactive and start being in control. We'll walk you through how to be prepared well before show day, where the overages hide, how to protect your margins, and how to keep from getting taken advantage of.
Venue Relations
Every venue has its own culture, its own crew, its own quirks, and its own way of doing things. Knowing how to walk into that environment professionally, communicate clearly with the venue production manager and techs, and work alongside local crew without friction is a skill that takes years to develop. For touring artists, it means making sure everything is organized and confirmed long before you pull into the parking lot. For production companies, it means building the kind of reputation that gets you invited back. We'll show you how to navigate venue relationships the right way, from the first advance call to the final load-out, so every room you walk into feels like home turf.
Show Advancing
Most show day problems are actually advance problems. It's stressful and expensive to fix on show day what you should have confirmed two weeks ago. There's a reason it's called an Advance, and there's a reason it's called Show Day. By the time the trucks roll in, every department is counting on the work that was done in the weeks before. A missed rider item, an unconfirmed crew call, a production timeline nobody agreed on, any one of those can become an emergency in the blink of an eye. We’ll show you how to advance shows the right way, cover every department, ask the right questions, and confirm everything that needs to be confirmed so that when Show Day arrives, you can focus on the show, not finish the advance.
Schedule Consultation
Contracts & Riders
Technical and hospitality riders are negotiable documents, not legal ultimatums that have to be executed in full without question. Artist contracts, technical riders, and hospitality riders all have non-negotiables buried inside wish list items, and knowing the difference is what separates a smooth advance from an expensive surprise. We’ll help you read, redline, interpret, and advance riders correctly, identify what you have to deliver and what you can realistically push back on, and have the right conversations with the right people at the right time so you can keep the buyer and the tour happy.
“The chaos is part of the gig. Learning to lean into it and move through it, without breaking, that’s the job.”
Our Founder
I started as a stagehand at 19 and retired at 49 as Director of Production for AEG Presents, the world's second largest concert promoter. Every rung in between, I climbed it. That's exactly why I can help you.
That career didn't happen in a classroom. It happened on loading docks at 6AM, at settlement tables at midnight, in the middle of problems that couldn't wait and decisions that couldn't be wrong. I've been involved in every aspect of this industry. Thousands of shows. Every role behind the curtain.
Thirty years in the business, now I work for you.
-Theron Rodriguez
Career Arc
Stagehand — Where most people start and where most people stay.
Audio Engineer — FOH, Monitors, Patchguy, System Tech, & Department Head.
Stage Manager — Running the deck. Every piece moving to the right place at the right time.
Production Manager — Budgets, vendors, timelines. The whole machine.
Promoter Rep & Show Accountant — A direct connection to the artist’s team. Finance & settlement, hospitality, production, labor, and everything else that touches the talent.
Director of Production — AEG Presents — Overseeing the entire operation. Every department, every show, every person behind the scenes. All sizes, all genres.
“The job is supposed to be fun. That’s why we got into it. If you’re stressed, you’re doing it wrong.”
After that many shows, nothing surprises us. The chaos is part of it. Every problem has a solution, every crisis has a response, and every obstacle has a right way through. We've seen it all, from the smallest detail that derails a changeover to the last-minute production crisis that nobody saw coming. This is how we think. This is how we work. And this is what we bring to every client, every consultation, every conversation.
The goal is never to just survive the day. The goal is to finish on time, under budget, make it look easy, and actually enjoy the ride. Never forget, this is supposed to be fun.
Calm is the Skill. Experience is the Teacher.
-The things you're not thinking of can get very expensive, very quickly.
-Pad your budget. Pad your schedule. Expect the unexpected. We learned that the hard way, so you don't have to.
-Don't schedule the day as you wish it would go. Schedule it for everything you're not thinking of right now. Let it breathe. Squeeze too tightly, and it falls apart before doors.
-Most shows run long. Accept it. The only question is whether you built that into your schedule.
-While you can't always control what happens, you can always control how you react and how you respond.
-Every problem requires a response. None of them requires a reaction.
-Fear and anxiety do not live in the event itself. They are born of your interpretation of that event. This you can control.
-The answer is often found in differentiating what you can control from what you can't.
-The obstacle is the way. Every problem is an opportunity to learn, grow, and prove you know what you're doing.
-The chaos is part of the gig. Learning to lean into it and move through it without breaking, that's the job.
-This job is supposed to be fun. If you're stressing, you're doing it wrong.
The Most Valuable Conversation You’ll Have This Year
You're not talking to someone who studied this industry. You're talking to people who’ve lived it, for decades, from the bottom to the top, across thousands of shows.
One hour with someone who's already made the costly mistakes in front of you is worth more than a year of making them yourself. The consultation pays for itself on the first mistake you dodge.
Book an hour. Ask anything. Get the answers you need and the knowledge you can use on your next show and every show after that. We’ve made the mistakes, so you don’t have to.
“It’s going to cost more than you think and take longer than you think. We’ll help you plan for both.”
“The answer is often found in differentiating what you can control from what you can’t.”