Gary James' Interview With
The Owner Of Roadshow Services
David Kiely



He's the guy who literally keeps Rock bands on the move. His name is David Kiely and he is the owner of Roadshow Services. His client list includes Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Boz Scaggs, Chris Isaak, Ringo Starr, Michael McDonald and Stevie Winwood to name just a few. So, we set out to find out how David Kiely's company works.

Q - David, I first heard about your company in the Spring of 2024. There was a local TV station in Syracuse that reported on Bruce Springsteen cancelling his show at the J.M.A. Wireless Dome because he was sick and the camera showed one of your trucks. See, when your truck is there and the equipment is set up and has to be torn down, how does the payment work? Do you get paid again when Bruce finally comes to town for the makeup concert?

A - No. When you're on tour you're nothing more than a seventy foot Uber. It's so much a day and so much a mile. So, a band can do a routing and they say, "Okay, we're going to play these thirty cities in the next forty-five days. So, based upon forty-five days and twenty thousand miles let's say, what would your rate per day be?" Now, the band has the option to amend or change the itinerary at any time. They might drop out Indianapolis and add Ft. Wayne or they may add a second show in Chicago. It just adjusts, depending on the mileage. Everything is on a factor of mileage because that's fuel, tolls, taxes and everything else.

Q - How much competition to you have?

A - There's a handful right now. There's five majors and we're one of the majors. Upstaging is the largest, Stagecall, Egotrips, Jamco, Truck 'N' Roll. We're right in there. Then there's a lot of smaller companies, a lot of little, regional companies. And also some of the freight carriers are getting into the marketplace, like Landstar, but they're more of a general freight carrier.

Q - Did it take a lot of money to get this company of yours off the ground?

A - Believe it or not, I started this company on a Mastercard. I was in college and I was working at Ryder Truck Rental, my college job. The crew from Santana came in to rent a truck. They had overflow. They said, "Hey, we're looking for a driver." I said, "Well, I'm a driver." "Can you drive this truck?" "Sure, I can drive this truck." And that's how it started. Then I was graduating. It was my final year of college. I went to the management of Santana and said, "Hey, I'd like to start my own company. Would you be my first client?" And they said, "Sure." I didn't have a $2,000 deposit. I was working at Ryder. Ryder wanted a $2,000 deposit. So, I called Mastercard and Mastercard upped my credit limit to $2,000 and that's how Roadshow started. We started with two Ryder trucks and two rental trailers.

Q - How many trucks do you have now?

A - Now, we're between fifty and sixty in the peak of the season.

Q - Do you rent those trucks or buy them outright?

A - We own most of our trucks. We have some rentals. We do supplements. Some lease trucks in the fleet during the year, but the majority of our trucks, we own. And then we also sub-in a lot of smaller companies. We all work together. The nice thing about this business is we all get along with our competitors. I've always said we're like brothers at the same Thanksgiving table, fighting over the turkey bone, but at the end of the day we're like deep sea fishermen. We're out there to get the most amount of fish we can, but if somebody's in trouble or somebody needs help, we all help each other. We all stick together. If we're slow, some of the other carriers will use us on their tours. If we're busy, we'll use the other carriers. We all work together. We all work to get along. Somebody called me on Sunday because their trailer got wrecked and we helped them find a trailer. So, we all get along.

Q - Do you load and unload trucks?

A - We do not load and unload. That is done by the Union stagehands. Our job is only to drive from show to show. We get to a show, back in, and the stagehands unload the trailers. At the end of the night we back in and the stagehands reload it. We make sure the load is secured correctly and safely and then we are on to the next city.

Q - What do the drivers do between the time the truck is unloaded and the time it gets loaded again?

A - Sleep. We sleep during the day and run at night. We get it loaded in the morning and sleep all day long, wake up for dinner and then sleep and run to the next city.

Q - Someone has to be making hotel reservations for the drivers.

A - Well, we sleep in the truck. If there were multiple shows, say four shows in Dallas, guys will go get a hotel. But, the majority of guys, their trucks are pretty comfortable today with generators and TVs. Most guys prefer to stay in the trucks. At the venue there's always showers and there's always food.

Q - How do you get to work with so many A-list clients? Is it word of mouth?

A - Absolutely. It's reputation. We all have A-list clients. Every one of us. Think of an airplane: You have First Class passengers, your Business Class, your Premium Economy. We all have our First Class passengers and those First Class passengers we know exactly where they sit. We know exactly what they drink. We know exactly what they eat and we never lose their luggage. Then you have your Business Class. Your band is on the way up. Hopefully you work with smaller bands and they're going to turn into bigger bands. Today a Stage Manager on a larger tour is tomorrow's Production Manager on a smaller tour. So, it's all friendships, relationship based, quality of work, caliber of the drivers. All of that. Ninety-nine percent is referral.

Q - At the height of COVID I interviewed Roy Ericson of Starflight. He told me the big groups would survive. The smaller groups probably not. And it's not only the bands, it's the road crews as well. Guys would most likely not be coming back. Truck drivers for Rock groups would most likely drive for a long haul company. Have you found that to be the case?

A - During COVID we lost a lot of our fleet. We sold a lot of stuff in order to survive. At lot of the older guys, and this is the same for the lighting and sound guys, retired and decided not to come back. They just decided they were done. But, everything did bounce back. It was like rebuilding again, finding new employees. I know the lighting, sound and video companies were having the same problem finding new guys. It's come back fairly healthy. It was definitely a hit, that's for sure. The nice thing about the trucks is we we're able to go out and do general freight. During COVID general freight rates were fairly healthy. But, if you have something like an Entertainer Coach, what are you going to do with an Entertainer Coach? You're not going to rent it out. So, those guys really took a hit. Nobody was renting lighting or sound. So, I felt very fortunate as a trucking company. We were able to ship and do general freight. I know some of our competitors and colleagues, they did the same thing while they were doing COVID relief stuff. As far as truck transportation, that was still there even though it was very, very difficult because many of the truck stops were closed. Many of the restaurants were closed. We got through it.

Q - Yes you did. We wouldn't be talking if you didn't.

A - Right.

Q - You say your reputation was built by hiring only the most talented and professional drivers. What is it that you look for in a driver?

A - Drivers are the key factor in our business. If you think of somebody who delivered your TV or delivered your food or delivered your couch, you don't really know who that driver is, nor do you care. But, when you're on tour, that driver is part of the crew. You're going to see that person at breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next ninety days. So, not only do they have to have excellent skill, I mean we look for fifteen years experience minimum. They have to have the right personality and be able to be flexible and to be friendly, but not overly friendly, be amenable, good manners, good hygiene. Willingness to get along and work as a team player. That's what we look for. We've had some drivers here twenty-five, thirty years, thirty-five years.

Q - Is it hard to find guys like you've been describing?

A - It's very hard. It is my number one challenge. I am the guy who does almost all of the hiring. It's the one thing that I do and I spend a lot of time. I will talk to one hundred people, whittle it down to ten, pick five and hope that three work out.

Q - How do you know if they're going to work out?

A - You don't know. The guy who you think is not going to make it will be there for a million years. And, the guy who you think is the best, doesn't last two weeks. You just don't know. You try to have a gut feeling. You try to weed it out. You try everything, but until they actually get out there and do the job, 'cause this is unlike any other truck driving job. Truck drivers having excellent skill in maneuvering is just the baseline. Learning how to maneuver around people, maneuvering in tight spaces, maneuver inside venues. You have to have a lot of patience and a lot of skill. Truck drivers by nature tend to be very independent. They're kind of cowboys. They like the freedom of the road. We're not very corporate, but we're structured. Some people get along with it. It works well. For some people it doesn't. You just don't know.

Q - Obviously you must sit in your office and take calls, but how often do you go out on the road?

A - I'm on the road all the time. I'm always out there. I do all the local driving in San Francisco and I do a lot of the team drives. I like to drive. I don't sit at a desk.

Q - Who sits at the desk then?

A - Melissa runs the company. She's the G.M. (General Manager). She has a great operation staff. We have a great working relationship.

Q - David, Roadshow had been around for how long now?

A - Since May 28^th, 1992. I graduated from San Francisco State, drove to Sacramento and incorporated the company, got two tractors from Ryder and started the tour on like May 29^th.

Q - What was your major in college?

A - Business and Transportation.

Q - That would help in the business you're in now.

A - I think so. By the end of the day I love what I do. I still have a lot of passion for it. I enjoy our clients. I enjoy seeing our guys success. The guys run their own tours. The lead driver on Springsteen, that's his tour. The lead driver who's on Billy Joel; Billy Joel has been out eleven years. They have almost the same crew for eleven years. The same guys. That's their tour. They pretty much tell me what they want to do. They run it the way they want and it works out.

Official Website: RoadshowServices.com

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