Line-up

What is a line-up?

The line-up is who plays. On a flyer or an event page it is the list of DJs, live acts and b2b pairings (two DJs playing back to back), usually in billing order: the headliner at the top, then the other names by how many people they draw, often alphabetically below a certain level.

The line-up is not the same as the timetable. The line-up says who plays; the timetable (also called running order or set times) says when. Many organizers publish the line-up weeks ahead and the timetable only a day or two before, so people come early and stay instead of arriving for one set.

How a line-up is built and announced

A club night line-up often has three to five slots: a warm-up from doors open, one or two main sets, the peak, and a closing set. Resident DJs often take the warm-up or the closing. Festivals have one line-up per stage, and the order on the poster rarely matches the order of play.

Announcements usually come in phases: a first wave with the headliner, a second with the support acts, then the full bill, and finally the timetable. Each phase is a new, concrete reason for promoters and DJs to post, which makes line-up news some of the strongest story content an event has.

Example: three announcements for one night

Say a club night in Stuttgart announces in three phases. Four weeks out: the headliner. Two weeks out: two regional DJs and the resident. Four days out: the timetable, with the resident from 23:00 to 1:00, a regional DJ from 1:00 to 3:00, the headliner from 3:00 to 5:00, and a b2b closing set until 7:00.

In this example, each drop gets its own story asset, so promoters have three things to post instead of one, spread across the weeks when people make up their minds.

Tips for organizers

• Announce the headliner first and keep something back for later phases.
• Mark b2b sets and live acts clearly on the flyer. They are selling points.
• Design for a phone screen. In a story, twelve names in thin type turn into a blur.
• Publish the timetable late but before the day, and give promoters an asset for it.

Line-ups on Parmo

Organizers add the line-up in the Content step of the event wizard: up to 20 names, typed in billing order. The event page shows them in that order, and search engines receive them as the event's performers. The step-by-step setup is in Create your first event.

Common questions

What is the difference between line-up and timetable?

The line-up lists who plays; the timetable shows who plays when. Many organizers publish the timetable only a day or two before the event.

What does b2b mean on a line-up?

Back to back: two DJs sharing one set and taking turns, track by track or every few tracks.

Is it line-up or lineup?

Both spellings are common. Line-up with a hyphen is the usual British and German spelling, while lineup is common in American English.