Every working band reaches the point where the drummer’s estate car and somebody’s hatchback stop being a plan. A full backline, a drum kit, a PA and enough stands and cables to wire it all up is a genuine load, and it has to be moved twice in a night by people who are tired at the second attempt. Band equipment van hire is the sensible answer, and once van hire in Warrington is booked the whole evening becomes calmer.
Load Out Order Is the Whole Discipline
The van is loaded three times on a gig day. Once at the rehearsal room or wherever the gear lives, once at the venue for the get in, and once again at the end when everybody wants to go home. That third load is where equipment gets damaged, because it happens at midnight in a car park with nobody supervising. Agree an order once and use it every time. Heavy cabinets and the PA tops go in first and low, the drum hardware case next, then the fragile things on top where nothing can be dropped on them. A band that loads the same way each week stops losing stands and stops cracking cymbals.
Cases Are Not Optional at This Point
Gear that travels loose in a van gets damaged, and it gets damaged in ways that are slow and cumulative rather than dramatic. Amp corners chip, tolex tears, and cymbals develop edge cracks that end their life. Flight cases or padded gig bags are the difference between equipment that lasts and equipment that is replaced. Cymbals should be in a proper case, never loose between drums. Guitars travel in hard cases lying flat or standing upright and wedged, never leaning where they can fall. Anything with a valve in it should be handled as though it were made of glass, because in the relevant sense it is.
Choosing a Body With Height to Work In
Band gear is stacked and placed rather than poured in, and being able to stand up in the load space while you build the stack is worth a great deal at one in the morning. The short wheelbase medium roof van suits a four or five piece band with a modest PA, and the compact footprint means it will fit in the loading area behind a pub or a club, which a longer vehicle frequently will not. Everything we run sits within three and a half tonnes gross vehicle weight and is driveable on a standard category B car licence, so any member of the band with a normal licence can be named as the driver.
Venue Access and the Get In
Ring the venue and ask where the load in is and when you can use it. Many town centre venues have a narrow rear access, a time restricted loading bay, or a flight of steps between the door and the stage that nobody mentions until you arrive. Find out whether there is anywhere the van can stand during the set or whether it needs moving to a car park, because a vehicle full of equipment left on a street is not somewhere you want your gear spending the evening. Send one person ahead to look rather than reversing a loaded van into an unknown yard.
Late Finishes and Getting the Van Back
Gigs finish late and depots do not open at two in the morning. Our depot on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre beside Asda is open Monday to Saturday from 8am until 4pm and closed on Sunday, so a Friday or Saturday night gig means keeping the van overnight and returning it the next working day. Plan for the gear to stay loaded or to be unloaded somewhere secure rather than leaving it in a vehicle on a street. Bands based around Leigh van hire bookings and the surrounding towns generally build the return into the Monday rather than the Sunday.
Booking and What the Driver Needs
Bring a photocard licence and a DVLA check code generated on the DVLA website beforehand, and note that the named driver should be the person collecting. There is no deposit on most of our vehicles, no credit card is needed, and free secure parking on site means the driver’s own car stays here while you are out. If your gig diary is known in advance it is worth talking to us about regular dates, and you can reach the team through our contact us page.
Cables, Stands and the Box of Small Things
The gear that gets lost is never the amplifier. It is the cables, the clamps, the spare snare stand, the mains extension and the small box of adaptors that somebody put down on a stage and forgot. Give that category a home. One large purpose bought box or a wheeled case, packed the same way every time, means a missing item is obvious before you leave rather than discovered at the next rehearsal. Count leads in and out. Coil them properly rather than knotting them into a bag, because a bad coil shortens the life of a cable and a dead lead mid set is the most avoidable problem a band has. Load the box last so it comes off first, since it is the thing you need before anything can be plugged in.
Tell us the size of the backline and whether you are carrying a PA and we will point you at the right body. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 to get a van held for your gig dates.
