It costs a touring act substantially more to travel by chartered jet — some 10 times the leasing fee of a tour bus for a monthlong outing. So why fly?
The Moody Blues’ John Lodge, 69, says that for long-distance tour legs, “anything over 250 miles, particularly overnight, we do a charter.” The veteran 1960s British pop act performed in the United States in August and September 2014 on a tour aptly titled The Voyage Continues: Timeless Flight.
“The important thing for me is when we get onstage, I don’t want to be tired or anything like that,” says Lodge. “We want to be rested and ready to play.
“Charters have changed over the years, of course,” he adds. “In the early ’70s we used to charter the Starship, this huge, four-engine thing. It was great fun.”
The Starship, a Boeing 720B, was first used by Led Zeppelin in the early ’70s. According to biographers Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett in Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, after a stadium show in San Francisco in 1973, the band encountered such disturbing turbulence flying back to Los Angeles on a smaller Falcon Jet that manager Peter Grant leased the former commercial jetliner. It became part of rock’n’roll legend as it later transported The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Peter Frampton and others, along with The Moody Blues.
Today, companies like Rock-It Air Charter, AirPartner and SkyNet Aviation Group lease smaller charter jets to touring acts.
“The smaller jets are really good,” says Lodge. “You can get into airfields that are much closer to the venues, which is important.”
But for many acts, flying is a treat prompted by an unusual booking.
“We were down in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and we got the call from the NHL to play opening day in Winnipeg,” recalls Neil Sanderson of Three Days Grace. “The only way to do it was to charter a jet from Albuquerque up to Winnipeg. And absolutely it was awesome. I could roll like that any time.”
Other bands on the alternative-rock circuit await their first chance to fly to a show.
“I have not had that occasion,” says guitarist Scott Lucas, 44, of the trio Local H. “We’ve never swamped in those kind of waters.
“There was one point where I could’ve ridden on Stone Temple Pilots’ private jet,” recalls Lucas, “but I chose to stay in Boston and drink and drive back on the bus.”
Reporting by Gary Graff.