How can I get my band on your tour is a question which constantly rings in the ears of promotor Mel Bush. He's one man who can say YES, thereby giving a band the surest possible chance to make it. More often, he says no.

Last year, despite the economic misery that left people in all branches of the business world licking their wounds, Mel Bush enjoyed his best year ever. The highspot of the year was Mel Bush's presentation of Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Band at Wembley's Empire Stadium. A quarter of a million of us paid a few quid each (do your own sums) for that privilege, and by the time the box office closed, all but 2,000 tickets were sold.

Sadly for Mel Bush, one of the worst of his few failures also happened in 1974. Bush promoted the David Cassidy gigs last spring, and even his careful planning and precautions couldn't prevent the tragic death of a 14 year old girl at the London Concert in White City Stadium and the hospitalisation of scores of other fans, for reasons ranging from nervous exhaustion to sprained ankles and broken arms. The national press pounced on the story, neglecting Bush's previous successes, including a more or less flawless Cassidy concert only two days earlier in Glasgow. The reasons for the disaster ranged from accusations of negligence to simplistic suggestions that, sooner or later, it was inevitable.

Bush unquestionably was shaken by the tragedy, but he knew that he had done his best to prepare in advance. He also knew that more people had enjoyed themselves than had suffered. He soldiers on, a tarnished success, but still a success.

Will success spoil Mel Bush? Over expansion and over confidence have felled great promotors before. In the size staff that is usually required by most promotors of Bush's stature, the chances of a spanner or two in the works are enormous.

In this and so many ways, Mel Bush is not like most promotors. "I started out in a very small way", Mel admits. "Initially I was promoting Saturday night hops at the local village halls near my native Portsmouth. I had my successes and my failures, but I learned about promoting.

"Most important of all I learned not to invest what you can't afford to lose".

Those early lessons, and a gambling instinct have served Mel well, and, like all good gamblers, he's always trying to cut down the odds.

That's why the permanent staff of Mel Bush Promotions is Mel Bush. "I like to make sure that everything is done properly and the only way of doing that is to do it myself or see it done. When I'm on tour I'm working very hard indeed. Nearly all the organisation had been done before the tour starts but making sure the machine works properly certainly takes a lot of time.

"I suppose I have an accountant's mind", Mel continued. "I work every tour out to the last penny before I start — even down to carrying bottles of booze in my car boot in case the artists want a drink after the show!

"Of course things do happen that I can't foresee and I always set aside a contingency sum. Up to now I haven't been disastrously wrong".

Mel ranks the last minute cancellation of last November's Mott The Hoople tour among the largest of his few financial failures. "We were so late that I couldn't put anything else on in the venues.

"I always insure against things like that. It cost me £1,500 to insure David Essex against ill health during his tour, and it's well worth covering yourself in that way".

The Essex tour last autumn is a classic example of the Bush promotional strategy, from start to finish. Virtually all the concerts were sell outs, and the story, from start to finish, is indicative of the Bush style.

It began with Mel motoring up the M6 to Manchester's Belle Vue, where Essex was filming a concert for his film Stardust. Mel spent a breathless three minutes asking for a change if he could promote a concert tour. Essex and his manager Derek Bowman agreed and Mel went to work.

Even after achievements, Mel claims that he's still learning. "There are so many subtleties to ensuring a successful tour. I might find a situation, for example, where a concert is not selling out in, say, Halifax. I then need to know exactly where to reach the concert goers.

"I try to reach them where they live, where they work, or where they relax. In every area I get to know the main firms that have a young work force and I get the posters up in that firm.

"I get to know the record shops and the clubs. It's only by knowing and understanding each area that you can really assess your chances of putting on a sell out in that town.

The Essex tour was a sell out, a box office success. Mel Bush had promoted a concert tour, and helped to create an idol.

Proof of the pudding was served to CBS Records' Managing Director Dick Asher at the opening night in London. As Asher was about to leave his seat, an overwrought fan collapsed, in front of him. What more could you ask for — Asher and audience agreed that the job was very well done indeed.

Even with a monstrous success like the Essex tour, Mel Bush still has the sense of irony common to the best of gamblers. As he says "If you're promoting, you're gambling, and you could lose. In promoting the Wembley concert (Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Band) I had to gamble against the economy and the weather. Many people were saying it would all depend on the weather on the day of the concert.

"I knew that the weather wouldn't matter if we could sell the bulk of the tickets before the actual day of the concert. On that morning, we only had 2,000 tickets left. Considering that there were over 300,000 people there, that wasn't bad".

No, not bad. Damn good in fact. Another of Bush's hallmarks is the care he takes in choosing support bands. "We're very, very careful about the bands or acts we use for support. In fact, all the bands we've used in the past have broken very soon after their tours with us — Queen and Thin Lizzy, for example".

In short, to get Mel Bush to say yes, all you have to do is to be very good. After he says yes, you could be great.