What to Expect Producing Your First Concert
A practical guide for first-time concert organizers — what production involves, what it costs, and how to avoid common mistakes. Producing your first concert or festival is a significant undertaking. Understanding what professional production involves — before you start planning — prevents the most common and costly first-time mistakes.
Production Is More Than Equipment Rental
First-time organizers often think of production as renting speakers and lights. In reality, production encompasses planning, design, logistics, crew, coordination, safety, and execution. The equipment is one component of a larger system that includes the people who deploy it, the advance process that designs it, and the management structure that coordinates it. Hiring a production company is hiring a team and a process, not just renting gear. Understanding this distinction early sets realistic expectations for cost, timeline, and the organizer’s own involvement.
Budget Reality: What Production Costs
Production costs vary dramatically by scale: a 200-person club show might require $2,000–$8,000 in production. A 2,000-person outdoor concert might require $15,000–$50,000+. A multi-day festival with multiple stages can require six figures or more in production alone. These ranges reflect equipment, crew, transportation, power, and planning — not including the venue, talent, marketing, or other event costs. The most common budget mistake is underestimating production costs and trying to cut corners that create safety or quality problems.
What the Production Company Needs From You
A production company cannot design your production without basic information: venue (confirmed or under consideration), date, expected attendance, number and type of performers, any known artist rider requirements, budget range, and the desired production level. Providing this information upfront — rather than asking for a quote with no details — produces accurate proposals and efficient planning. Be honest about budget: a good production company will design to your budget rather than oversell, but they need to know the constraints.
The Advance Period: Where Success Is Determined
The advance period (2–8 weeks before the event, depending on scale) is when the production plan is built and validated. Venue technical assessments, artist rider review, equipment package design, crew booking, and logistics planning all happen during the advance. First-time organizers sometimes want to skip this phase to save money or time. Skipping the advance means every problem is discovered on show day, when solutions are expensive and options are limited. Invest in the advance period — it is the highest-value planning activity.
Common First-Time Mistakes
The most frequent first-time organizer mistakes include: underestimating production budget (leading to cut corners on safety or quality); booking the venue before confirming it can support the production (rigging capacity, power, load-in access); waiting too long to engage a production company (losing access to preferred equipment and crew); not understanding artist riders (technical requirements that must be met); and making changes after the advance is complete (late changes are expensive and risky). Most of these mistakes are preventable by engaging a production company early in the planning process.
Working With Your Production Team
The relationship between the organizer and the production company works best when both parties communicate openly. Share your vision, constraints, and concerns early. Ask questions when you don’t understand something — production terminology can be opaque to non-technical organizers. Trust the production team’s expertise on technical decisions while maintaining clear authority on creative and business decisions. Expect your production manager to push back when requests are unsafe, impractical, or outside the agreed scope — that pushback is protecting your event.
Planning Your First Concert?
No-pressure discussion about your event concept, realistic budget expectations, and how professional production works.
Reach OutFirst Concert FAQ
Common questions from first-time concert and festival organizers.
As early as possible in the planning process — ideally before you finalize the venue. A production company can advise on venue suitability (rigging capacity, power, load-in access) and prevent you from committing to a venue that cannot support your production vision. For most events, 3–6 months of lead time is ideal. Minimum lead time is 4–6 weeks for straightforward productions.
