Regional touring in Australia is a different animal to playing the capital city circuit. The distances are brutal, the infrastructure varies wildly, and the economics can be tight. But I’ve also seen some of the best shows of my life in country towns, and there’s a growing audience out there that’s hungry for live music. If you plan it properly, regional touring can be both financially viable and genuinely rewarding.

Planning the route

The number one mistake I see is artists and managers treating regional touring like a capital city tour with longer drives. It doesn’t work that way. You need to plan your route as a genuine logistics exercise, factoring in driving time, fuel costs, accommodation availability, and the day of the week each town is most likely to turn out for a show.

A few rules I’ve developed over the years:

Never schedule more than four hours of driving between shows on consecutive nights. Driver fatigue is the single biggest safety risk in regional touring, and it’s killed people in this industry. Build in rest days.

Know where the petrol stops are. On some routes, particularly in Western Australia, South Australia, and outback Queensland, you can go 200km or more between fuel. Running a tour van dry at 2am on a remote highway is not an adventure — it’s a crisis.

Book accommodation before you leave. The number of times I’ve seen bands assume they’ll “find something” in a regional town only to discover there’s a rodeo on and every bed for 100km is taken. Book ahead, even if it’s just the local pub.

Where the audiences are

The towns that consistently support live music tend to have a few things in common. They’re big enough to have a dedicated venue or a pub with a decent PA. They’re close enough to a regional centre that people will drive in from surrounding areas. And they’ve got a local champion — usually a venue owner, a community arts coordinator, or a dedicated music fan who promotes shows and builds an audience over time.

In my experience, towns in the 5,000-30,000 population range are the sweet spot. Big enough to draw a crowd, small enough that a visiting act is an event. Places like Castlemaine, Bellingen, Denmark (WA), Port Fairy, and Tamworth have thriving live music scenes that regularly outperform what you’d expect from their population.

The money side

Let’s talk numbers. For a solo artist or duo, a regional pub gig might pay $500-$1,500 plus a meal and basic accommodation. For a full band, you’re looking at $1,500-$4,000 for a well-promoted show at an established venue. These numbers haven’t moved much in real terms for a decade, which is part of the problem.

The key to making regional touring financially viable is stringing together enough shows to spread the fixed costs of travel. A single regional show is almost never worth the trip. But a run of five or six shows over eight to ten days can work financially if the routing is efficient.

Selling merch matters more in regional areas than in cities. Regional audiences tend to be enthusiastic buyers, partly because they don’t have as many opportunities to see live acts and want a souvenir of the night. I’ve seen bands make more from merch than from the guarantee at regional shows.

The support infrastructure

Several organisations support regional touring in Australia, and it’s worth knowing about them. The Contemporary Music Touring Program (through the Australia Council) provides funding for regional tours. State arts bodies have their own programs. And organisations like Regional Arts Australia connect artists with regional venues and communities.

There are also emerging tools built by Melbourne AI consultants that help artists and managers plan efficient regional routes, identifying towns with strong demand signals based on streaming data and social media engagement within a given radius.

The Music in Regions program has been particularly effective at building sustainable regional touring circuits, linking venues and communities that commit to regular programming.

What makes a great regional show

The best regional shows I’ve seen share a common element: the artist connects with the audience as people, not just ticket holders. In a city, you can play your set and leave. In a regional town, people expect to meet you at the bar afterward. They’ll invite you for a meal the next day. They’ll remember your name and come back every time you tour through.

This personal connection is the secret weapon of regional touring. Build that relationship with a regional town and you’ve got an audience for life. I know acts who’ve been playing the same pub in the same country town for fifteen years, and the crowd gets bigger every time.

Regional Australia deserves great live music, and the audiences are there if you’re willing to do the work to reach them.