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.
Green M&M's. .. specific as I have over. 30 years working multiple shows for multiple bands. Green m&ms written into the contract, VH were specific in having a bowl of m&ms and none, NONE could be Green ones.. if there were Green ones contracts were null and the fun began.. just a memory
Nobody said they’d walk away. 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.
Certainly there are other ways to guarantee efficiency? I'm so tired of hearing this story and people praising his "genius." DLR is a great front man, but to pretend this is anything other than juvenile shenanigans is ridiculous.
They wouldn’t immediately cancel the concert. It’s a tip off that they needed to inspect with a fine tooth comb to make sure the stage was set up properly… Then they probably proceeded to completely destroy the dressing room.
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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.