Songwriting, practice, and live music
Concert Running Order Calculator
Build a timed running order from acts, changeovers, and curfew.
Enter planning values
Keep units, version, deadlines, capacity, and counting rules attached to the entries.
The songwriting, practice, or live-music result will appear here.
What Concert Running Order measures
Build a timed running order from acts, changeovers, and curfew.
Starting at the entered clock time, add each act duration and insert changeover only between acts.
The headline output is running order. Read it with Act durations, Changeover and Start time; removing those labels turns a reproducible calculation into an ambiguous number.
Preparing the entries
Take Act durations, Changeover and Start time from the same venue advance and event timeline. If Act durations belongs to a later revision, update the companion entries or save the two versions as separate cases.
Keep the stated units beside Act durations and Start time. The Concert Running Order form does not infer a missing unit, convert an unstated counting convention, or know which draft is current.
How to read running order
The displayed finish is deterministic. Doors, introductions, holds, encores, curfew buffer, and simultaneous stage work appear only if included in the inputs.
Compare running order with the contracted times, curfew, stage plot, and crew calls. An arithmetically correct running order can still conflict with a confirmed constraint outside the model.
A controlled check
Run the defaults once, note running order, and then change only Act durations. Before calculating again, predict whether running order should rise, fall, or remain unchanged.
Restore the original Act durations and confirm that 22:00 finish returns. This exposes stale Concert Running Order entries and keeps the example useful when the working plan changes.
Worked example from the starting values
The published example uses Act durations = 35 45 60; Changeover = 20; Start time = 19:00. With those entries, the calculator returns 22:00 finish: Timed act running order.
Keep the Concert Running Order example as a quick functional check. Replace Act durations, Changeover and Start time only after it reproduces, and never copy its answer into a project that uses different units or assumptions.
A mistake to avoid in Concert Running Order
A single average changeover can conceal one unusually complex turnover; split the schedule elsewhere when act requirements differ materially.
Check Act durations, Changeover and Start time for copied totals, mixed revisions, hidden allowances, and early rounding. Any of those errors can make running order look plausible without being reproducible.
Putting the number to work
Use the sequence as a first stage timeline and confirm every act's duration and turnover with the production advance.
The Festival Stage Schedule Calculator can answer the next nearby question, but carry over only values that describe the same version of the project.
Defining the calculation boundary
Write down what Act durations begins and ends, and whether Start time includes every component the project treats as part of the calculation. A boundary for running order stated in advance prevents quiet changes during review.
List any deliberate exclusions beside running order. If an omitted pause, fee, route leg, rehearsal task, spare channel, or musical event later becomes relevant, add it explicitly and rerun Concert Running Order rather than adjusting the answer by memory.
Use the same inclusive or exclusive counting rule for Act durations and Start time in the source document and this form. Start bars, final days, last acts, between-song pauses, and between-set breaks deserve particular attention when reporting running order.
Testing another scenario
Save the first running order as a baseline rather than overwriting it. Change one uncertain assumption—such as start time—and label the alternative clearly.
The difference shows how sensitive running order is to start time. For start time, that comparison is more informative than adding display precision to an uncertain source value.
Precision and reporting for running order
Keep the calculator's underlying precision while running order feeds another calculation, but report only digits supported by Act durations and the other source entries. Extra decimals cannot repair a rough estimate.
If running order must become a whole count, clock time, purchase quantity, or scheduled commitment, apply the practical rounding rule at the final handoff and record which direction was used.
When sharing running order, include a plain-language label and the relevant unit or clock basis. A reader should not need to reopen Concert Running Order merely to learn what 22:00 finish represented in the saved example.
Limits of the estimate
Real events contain dependencies and delays that arithmetic cannot predict when interpreting running order. Concert Running Order represents Act durations, Changeover and Start time; it cannot observe the surrounding room, performer, audience, vehicle, equipment, or agreement.
If running order touches safety, contracts, electrical work, wireless operation, or local rules, treat it as preparation for the appropriate qualified or responsible person—not as approval.
Keeping a reproducible note
Record Act durations, Changeover and Start time, running order, the date, and the plan version. Mark whether Start time is estimated, measured, or confirmed.
If a decision based on running order changes, keep the earlier case. The Concert Running Order history then shows whether the difference came from the model, a revised input, or a changed objective.
Questions about concert running order
What does Concert Running Order Calculator calculate?
It calculates running order from Act durations, Changeover, Start time. Starting at the entered clock time, add each act duration and insert changeover only between acts.
What should I verify before using the running order?
Confirm that Act durations, Changeover, Start time come from the same plan version and follow the units or counting convention shown on the form.
What is the main limitation of Concert Running Order?
The displayed finish is deterministic. Doors, introductions, holds, encores, curfew buffer, and simultaneous stage work appear only if included in the inputs.
How can I check this result?
Save the default answer, change only Act durations, predict the direction of change, and then restore the original value.