Read the venue's tech spec before you send your rider. Half the questions a promoter would ask are answered in it already.
What it lists
- Stage size and height, plus load-in access with door and lift dimensions
- PA make and model, and the front of house and monitor desks
- How many monitor mixes and wedges exist
- Lighting rig and control desk
- Power: how many circuits, where, and what type
- Curfew, parking, and how many local crew are called
Reading it against your rider
Compare line by line. A 16-channel desk cannot take a 26-channel input list. A stage of 6 by 4 metres cannot hold a riser and a five-piece. Raise the gaps during Advancing and agree the fix: hire it, cut it, or redraw the plot.
Where to find it
Most European venues publish the spec as a PDF, often with a stage drawing and a patch list. Ask for the dated version, because specs go stale the moment a rig changes.