Show dictionary · Production Management
Deadhead
To deadhead is to travel empty: a truck driving a leg with no freight, a bus repositioning without passengers, or crew moving between cities on a non-working day. The term comes from railroad and trucking usage and carries the same meaning across touring logistics.
In practice
Deadhead miles are pure cost, so routing tries to eliminate them: a tour that plays Chicago, skips to Denver, and backtracks to St. Louis pays for empty miles in both fuel and driver hours. Trucking vendors price runs partly on how much deadheading a routing forces.
For crew, a deadhead day is travel without show pay, governed by whatever the tour or union agreement says about travel days. The word also names the person: a deadheading driver is riding, not driving, to reposition for hours-of-service rules.
How you’ll hear it
"Truck three deadheads to Nashville tonight so we have a floor package there Thursday."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.