Until May 2024, Better Touring was just me (Phil) and one van, Vangelina. The operation’s recently expanded to two vans, with both being available either with one of our team of excellent drivers, or as a dry hire vehicle. We’re based in Leeds at the moment but can deliver a van and provide crew anywhere in the UK or Europe.

I’ve been working in live music - as a driver, tour manager, merchandise vendor/manager and occasionally a backline tech - for nearly a decade. I’ve worked from fifty cap venues to stadiums and I’ve driven about half a million miles around the UK and Europe in that time. Vangelina’s been with me for the last hundred thousand or so.

I think I’m pretty good at putting together plans and finding ways to get things done, whether that’s advancing a tour, building a merch display out of blu-tack and coat hangers, or sleeping all day so I can drive through the night! I’m getting really good at coming up with ways to get things done when plans don’t work out quite like you expected, too.

I‘ve driven about a hundred different band vans in the last ten years. Some are good, some are great; some are dingy and a bit gross. I designed Vangelina with that experience in mind, taking the good ideas on board and making sure to avoid the bad ones. I tried to make it a place where artists and crew can relax and enjoy their time on the road. That’s what I’m all about really: on the road, I’m there to make everything around the performance run smoothly so that everyone else can be fresh and ready to go to work on stage when the time comes.