They had me at Nashville. When I got the invite from Dreamliner to tour their home base in Music City, I didn’t hesitate.
I’m a singer and lived in Nashville on and off for years, so getting the chance to learn the ins and outs of how they help megastars like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and SZA tour in luxury and comfort sounded fascinating.
Then they hit me with the double B’s: Benson Boone. Yes, the backflips, the jumpsuits, the mustache that launched a thousand ships – he’s got it all. And I got to see the man in action at Bridgestone Arena in front of 15,000 screaming fans.
He tours from city to city in state-of-the-art Dreamliner Luxury Coaches fully customized to his preferences. While they wouldn’t tell me what he requested, I’m imaging something like a trampoline and hot glue station.
They have a fleet of over 200 luxury coaches that criss-cross the country carrying your favorites to a city near you.
It’s a business built on both precision and intuition. CEO Rich Thomson and President of Tour Operations Damian Holton showed me a fascinating interactive digital interface tracking each coach in their fleet, measuring speed, predicting roadblocks and monitoring the health of each vehicle.
‘No one’s ever thought about the industry as a business. Everyone’s always thought about it as ‘I own some buses and I lease buses,’ said Thomson.
He highlighted Dreamliner’s bases in California, Denver, and the Northeast and 24 hr on call staff as examples of professionalizing the industry by filling in gaps where repairs and replacement coaches haven’t typically been readily available.
Coach breakdown? A new one is on the way. Tour stop cancellation? A coordinated rapid response keeps the artist on the road with no hiccups.
‘The majority of our stuff rolls between midnight and 7am. It’s about response time and how you get it back on the road,’ said Holton
As a musician with, give or take, five million fewer fans than Benson Boone, riding with Dreamliner is on the vision board.
The kicker? I can ride with them anytime I want. You can rent coaches directly from their site for damn near any purpose you’d like.
I’m a California boy so I’d love to take a coach to Big Bear, Yellowstone, the Redwoods, Lake Tahoe – all of it.
Seeing nature is one thing, but being able to head back to your coach after sightseeing and get a great night’s sleep while your kids catch up on their shows and watch Benson Boone clips on huge screens is another.
Speaking of Benson Boone on huge screens, the 23 year old puts on one of the best shows in music. While the massive LEDs and shifting set pieces were mind-blowing, it’s his soaring voice and dedication to his craft that really set him apart.
You can’t help but see traces of Freddie Mercury, Elton John and other greats when he sits at the piano and plays an intimate ballad, then immediately hops on top and wails through the next song.
The crowd adores him and he gives it right back, getting up close and personal and shaking hands and thanking us throughout the show.
I know you’ve seen the award show performances and constant chatter online, but seeing him live is another level. It almost feels like church, emotional and participatory and flat out beautiful.
As I spilled out onto the legendary Broadway Ave, I took in the sounds of musicians living their dreams playing to packed bars of boisterous half-drunk but fully committed audiences.
It felt romantic seeing artists plugging away and having a blast, many of them with hopes of playing shows just like the one I’d left.
I headed back to Dreamliner and kicked my feet up in a coach, unwinding with The Equalizer 3 and three fingers of Jack Daniel’s, feeling at home in the home of music itself.
