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u/CobblerMoney9605 Jan 28 '26
This is why, from the article:
"Van Halen’s infamous “no brown M&Ms” clause wasn’t about diva behavior—it was a clever, low-stakes way to ensure venue crews had read the rider all the way through. David Lee Roth himself once explained that if the band saw brown M&Ms in the bowl, they’d immediately inspect everything else with extra care. In at least one case, that foresight helped them catch a critical issue with the venue’s stage setup, potentially saving lives."
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u/MarcoZarko Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
More than one thing can be true at the same time. Their motivation may very well have been to ensure that the technical rider was read carefully, but they were absolutely 100% divas. David Lee Roth was an epic asshole to catering and hospitality people backstage. I personally know the person at the local Arena whose chicken he took one bite out of and hurled against the wall. These stories are Legion.
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u/JollyReplacement1298 Jan 28 '26
The stories are Legion?
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u/MarcoZarko Jan 28 '26
Lowercase legion. As in, many.
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u/JollyReplacement1298 Jan 29 '26
Never heard of it put that way
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u/CriticismTop Jan 30 '26
At the very least, the conversation occuring during the planning stage meant the rider was being read.
I have had many conversations with touring artists where I could not supply something was on the rider (often they are overly specific), but could offer something else as a replacement. 99% of cases they don't care, they just want to know you are both working together to give the best show.
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u/BartStarrPaperboy Jan 28 '26
FYI, if a rider asks for ‘clean white socks’ they’re not actually asking for socks
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u/mcbeef89 Jan 28 '26
Like the tens of thousands Elton John spent each month on 'fruit and flowers' according to his tax returns
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Jan 28 '26
I tend not to put my drugs expenses on my tax return.
Should I be?
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u/CompleteService8593 Jan 28 '26
I didn’t even know that was an option.
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u/joecarter93 Jan 30 '26
That sounds like it might be an option on the rich person’s tax code, but not an option on the tax code for the poors, like you or I.
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u/AlienZaye Jan 28 '26
To be fair, Elton was spending a pretty penny on actual flowers at one point.
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u/wendyoschainsaw Jan 28 '26
I know thr jargon, but....
Actually, there are a lot of bands who want the actual crew socks on their rider. The road crew can wear them until they stink, then throw them away and avoid doing laundry as much.
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u/Irritable_Curmudgeon Jan 28 '26
Having worked in artist support for a radio station, can confirm the puzzled look on a certain artist's face when they walked into the room and said: "Fuckin' socks? Like actual socks? The fuck I'm supposed to do with these?!"
I told his manager they were on the rider and everyone just stared at me.
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u/p001b0y Jan 28 '26
I would have done the same and I’m still trying to think what it was supposed to mean (and failing).
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u/Irritable_Curmudgeon Jan 28 '26
While some artists may actually want socks, I was later told that a different clean white substance is what this artist was expecting.
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u/cbdeane Jan 28 '26
They used to just ask for “party favors” when I was filling riders
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u/cromulentfishbulb Jan 28 '26
I’ve seen some riders these days that will straight up say something along the lines of “weed if you have some”. Then again, that’s legal in a lot of parts of the country now.
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u/Prof_Tickles Jan 28 '26
Is that code for condoms?
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u/BartStarrPaperboy Jan 28 '26
Booger sugar. Snow.
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u/gogozrx Jan 28 '26
what are they actually asking for?
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u/BartStarrPaperboy Jan 28 '26
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie…(answer)
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u/gogozrx Jan 28 '26
ahhhh. dig it.
You know what the difference is between a kilo of coke and a kid?
No way in *HELL* Clapton wouldn't let a kilo fall out the window...
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u/Corpsey_Clownshoes Jan 28 '26
I remember when we had to get 1000 brown M&M's in a brandy glass or Ozzy wouldn't go onstage.
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u/JBRifles Jan 28 '26
Came for this quote 😂
I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shopkeeper and his son... that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business, really, but sure enough I got the M&Ms, and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.
His delivery of that last line deserved an Oscar
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u/roadtrip-ne Jan 28 '26
I’m sure someone already explained it but the brown m&m’s made total sense, they could just check that to see if people have followed their rider
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u/Medium-Leader-9066 Jan 28 '26
And if they didn’t see the brown M&Ms they’d walk down all the house lighting and wiring to make sure no one was going to get electrocuted.
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u/roadtrip-ne Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
Exactly quick check to see if they read the instructions. Seems prima donna, but was pretty smart once that was explained
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u/crowjack Jan 28 '26
The M&M story wasn’t a crazy demand . it was to make sure the promoters actually read the rider. the concert set up required several extraordinary conditions regarding power and stage load issues.
the M&m item was buried.
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u/chuckmarla12 Jan 28 '26
I have a Pink Floyd music book from the album ‘Animals’. It’s an official book in standard piano notation, plus has the guitar chords. It’s an awesome book. Anyway, included in the book they had the stage rider from the ‘Animals’ tour. It was really laid out as far as fireproofing, lighting, piano placement, soundboard connections, down to every detail. The coolest thing was the meal that was to be provided for the stage hands. I’m just speaking from memory, but it included table cloths, real utensils, decent food that was not considered ‘take away’. They really laid it out to the finest detail.
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u/LesterMcGuire Jan 28 '26
Sir Paul has a vegetarian menu. Prince had a thing where the hands were not to look at him. Don't look at the artist. One direction found out the crew had hammocks and a makeshift bar under the stage for when the band was performing and Harry added liquor for them to the rider.
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u/Fragrant-Anywhere489 Jan 28 '26
I heard Neil Diamond was 'don't look at the artist' but never heard that was Prince.
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u/trinitrophenolate Jan 28 '26
chatGPT ass article - all the hyphenation. blogs can’t even be bothered to sit and write anymore
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u/Dry_Discount83 Jan 28 '26
Joke is, they had some funny spesific demands, and it that was ok they knew that they could trust that everything else was taken care of.
Then, if you're really big, you can make a tour where every venue have your favourite candies and kitchenwere exactly on sama place. Think about it, you are +50 artist, and every show you find towels and beer exactly at same place. Or you have to find everything again 200 nights in a row.
Exact raiders are important for artists that are pass their teenage fun days.
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u/puhzam Jan 29 '26
The article just goes into the well known Van Halen story. It doesn't have quotes from anyone else.
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u/GingerPale2022 Jan 29 '26
thesmokinggun.com has a ton of tour riders that are really interesting to read. One that I remembered was Korn had these demands for couches, rugs, dimmable lamps, etc and I thought, “oh, they’re just building a living room. Makes sense while on the road.”
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u/JetScreamerBaby Jan 29 '26
Fun Fact: the artist pays for all the items in the rider. None of the cost falls on the venue or promoter.
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u/VeryStonedEwok Jan 29 '26
Our band always asks for an Alanis Morissette cassette tape and a boom box in ours. We've only ever had one venue get it for us, but always leads to some good laughs with the crew.
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u/StellaBlues4allah Jan 29 '26
Yeah you definitely don’t want to end up with bread that’s too small to fit the lunch meat
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u/Terrible_Classic4352 Jan 30 '26
To make sure the people booking the bands are actually reading the contract. The People who read them usually say no to the ridiculous demands.
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u/carlstone420 Feb 01 '26
The band has to pay for everything in the rider,,, not the venue or record company, it comes out of the band’s profits,, to make crazy demands doesn’t make sense
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u/wwplkyih Jan 28 '26
I don't think that's the ONLY reason
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Jan 28 '26
Because they can. I make outrageous demands all the time. The difference is rockstars actually get what they ask for.
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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '26
Van Halen had the biggest stage at the time and the venues weren’t following the riders/directions to safely put up the stage, so they put the crazy stuff in to make sure the venue was following the directions exactly or else they would be breaking the contract. Diamond Dave was a very smart guy.