hello dear anon, i’m on the go, so I unfortunately have to make this brief, but it depends on a lot of factors if the main and support acts hang out or not.
a big one is whether they share a dressing room and/or a tourbus or accomodation (hotels). you’d also think the smaller the production, the more the bands/artists hang out, but it really also depends on how social the people on the band are; how busy they are, etc.
i’ve been on tours with the support acts where the main act barely spoke to us at all. i’ve been on tours with main acts where the support acts and the main one became thick as thieves and remain friends to this day.
i’ve been on tour where artists started out as friends and ended the tour on no-speaking terms. or tours where there was no animosity, but the main act just was so busy and overworked, that they literally had no time and energy at all to even talk to their support acts outside of a hello and goodbye.
tours is where friendships can start (and they can also end…) or they don’t.
with a production of Louis’ size, the main act probably only sees the (1st and 2nd) support act in the catering area and maybe when you enter it leave the tour bus and on such occasions. louis’ schedule (time-wise) will differ quite a lot from the other bands’, but obviously he could make an effort to go and talk to them, or they could go watch his soundcheck or talk to him in the catering area — what you usually don’t do as a support act is go into the dressing room of the main act uninvited, that’s a huge no-no and safety/theft/etc. risk. it’s just etiquette in general as a support act to respect the space of the main artist and don’t ‘bother’ them at busy times, such as 10 mins before their show or during soundcheck or right after the show (of course not ALL support acts respect that etiquette, but they should) and wait for the main act to approach them first. it’s honestly a lot about mutual respect and reconising that the main artist is taking you under their wing. i mean the whole touring party of the support acts with that. you’re a guest in their ‘house’ and you should act accordingly.
as for Louis and The Beaches… a big factor: Louis is a world famous closeted man (practically) married to another world famous gay person. that’s all i can say.
another factor is their different schedules. louis often has some promo to do during the day (for example those fan radio interviews) and his backstage get in and soundcheck times are different than those of the support act. often the main act eats while the support act soundchecks, so it the catering area is the only place where those 2 would hang out, you miss each other. IF louis eats in the catering area some artists either take their food into their dressing room or they pick from the menu and their PA (Oli lol) brings it to them to the dressing room. there’s a lot of main artists who don’t leave their dressing room at all aside from soundcheck and their performance. and not every day on tour is the same. some days you’ll feel more sociable than on other days. also as the main artist, louis has the luxury of ordering everyone out of the room if he wants to be alone. his team and band then have to find somewhere else to chill and they will potentially go talk to the support act. Louis doesn’t “have” to.
also Louis is very tight-knit with his travel crew, team, and liveband in general and he seems to really treasure the safe circle of his tour family. to me, it’s understandable that he keeps to himself and his circle most of the time. i’m not saying he definitely has trust issues, i don’t know him personally, but after everything he’s been through i’d understand if he’s very cautious with new people who -for work reasons- have to be where he exists as uninhibited and as much of his true (gay and practically married) self as he gets.
when you’re on tour, you are in your little bubble and a lot of the outer world completely disappears. crew becomes your family. and louis has had the almost same ‘family’ for years now! and louis values his privacy a LOT. the support acts are pleasant visitors, but at the end of the day, they are just that: outsiders.
i hope this helped to shed a bit of light. it’s definitely not as comprehensive as i wanted to be, but i hope it still makes sense it’s the middle of the night where i am and ive got a super busy next 6 weeks ahead of me 🥹💖
jacobvanloon
kaledo-art
prguitarman
germansingergirl
andulkaphoto
turnnoffyourmind
vaporwave
