Security for artists and touring acts

Where this work comes from

The founder of Royal Brute Group has worked protective details and venue security for stadium tours, headline recording artists, and touring bands, in Nashville and on the road. That is the background this company is built on, and it is why the way we plan an artist detail looks more like a production schedule than a guard post.

We do not name the people we have worked for, on this site or anywhere else. References are available under NDA to a manager or tour director who asks.

A Nashville tour stop, move by move

Most of the risk on a show day is in the gaps between controlled spaces. Venue security owns the building; the hotel owns its lobby. The walk from the car to the stage door, the hotel side entrance at midnight, and the bar crowd that recognizes someone are nobody's job unless they are ours.

• Arrival at a private terminal at BNA or John C. Tune, or at the bus lot, with vehicles staged and the route already driven
• Hotel advance: entrances, a service elevator if the property allows it, room placement, and who holds the keys
• Load-in and soundcheck at Bridgestone Arena, the Ryman, Nissan Stadium, or a smaller room, coordinated with venue security and the production office
• Meet and greets and radio or press visits, with a clear start, a clear end, and a way out of the room
• Studio days on Music Row and writer rounds, where the setting is relaxed and the protection should be too
• After-show plans on Broadway or at a private venue, with the exit decided before anyone goes in

Working with your security director

Many tours travel with a head of security. When they do, we work under that person as the local team: we know the city, the venues, the load-in docks, and the hotels, and they know the artist. When a tour does not carry its own security, we build the detail from the ground up and report to the tour manager.

Either way we keep to the tour's own communications and schedule. We read the day sheet, we attend the production meeting if there is one, and we do not add steps that the crew has to work around.

Tour legs and extended details

Some artists want the same faces for a run of dates rather than a new local team in every city. Extended details travel with the tour for a leg or a season, advance each city before the buses arrive, and hand off cleanly to venue and hotel security at every stop. Travel, lodging, and per diem for agents are quoted up front.

Looking like part of the crew

A protection agent in a business suit stands out backstage. Our agents dress to fit the camp: all black for a rock crew, a sharper look for an awards night, and the tour's own look when there is one. The point is that the people watching the artist should read as part of the artist's world, not as an addition to it.

Drone advance for load-out and outdoor shows

For outdoor shows, festivals, and complicated load-outs, a drone can show the crowd, the lots, and the route to the vehicles before the artist walks it. Every flight is flown by an FAA Part 107 certified pilot and planned around airspace authorizations (LAANC near BNA), temporary flight restrictions such as the stadium restrictions on game days, and the permission of the venue or property owner. Where a flight is not allowed, we do not fly it, and we plan the route on foot instead.

Questions