Comments on: 7 Pampered Celebrities and their Ridiculous Pre-show Demands

By: Lena

Lena — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:59:12 +0000

Most of the time, especially for kinda famous bands, the management agency writes the rider without even talking to the band about it. For example, I have some friends in a band and their rider stipulates that fresh tube socks be in the dressing room at all times and are to be thrown away after they are used. She didn’t even know about. It is just a way to make sure the venue pays attention to the contract…sometimes.

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:42:32 +0000

The whole Van Halen/M&M thing started because at one gig they played in a sports arena (I keep wanting to say it was a high school or college gym, basically, but my rock history class was a coupla years ago) their stage fell through the floor. Their AV/structural requirements are explicitly outlined not just to be dicks, but because they have an enormous stage rig set up. No brown M&Ms (or other various booby traps in the riders) indicated someone had paid attention to the fine print.

By: Beamer

Beamer — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:30:08 +0000

Something not yet mentioned is that the Artists also pay for much of the “demands”.. it’s part of the agreed upon production costs that are part of the contract.
As for food requests, do a tour of nothing but KFC for 12 weeks followed by another leg of the tour of chinese take out, and another of takeout italian (mostly spagetti and subs) and you’ll start dictating your menue too. I have never seen a rider that had something on it that was not supportable.
As for the water and full jars of stuff, When your life and the livelyhoods of others depend on your wellness, you Don’t drink the local water if you can help it… because you aren’t used to it… and new jars of mustard prolly means it hasn’t gone bad yet.
I’d love to do a documentary on this so folks to see the reality of it all.

By: Nat

Nat — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:30:07 +0000

i’ve never actually had dreams for fame, but you guys have to admit that they actually can do all this things if they feel like, they have the money for it, and even if some requests might be stupid and over the top, but if they get paid enough and can do this kind of thing, then what the heck, they can do it! you sure need to have a little fun in life, but i do admit, these people are waaaay to full of themselves, extremes are never good, so they should tone down things a bit, look around and see that some people are not as lucky as they are and offer a hand once in a while, but if you worked “hard” and have the money for it, then i don’t see the reason why you cant have extravangant requests just once in a while.

By: Silver Fang

Silver Fang — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:16:41 +0000

I think we need to ease up on the artists. If we haven’t lived in the public eye and on the road, we don’t know what it’s like.

As Hapaboy72 pointed out, some of those venue promoters pinch every penny and would have the artists in a cell, eating dog food if they could get away with it.

As for my tastes, I would probably ask for animal posters on the walls, a husky puppy to play with (Purina for him), Coca-Cola by the carton full and plenty of pizza, nachos, tacos, burritos and maybe some lamb.

I’m getting hungry…

By: ChristieLea

ChristieLea — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:00:24 +0000

If someone tells these artists they can request anything they want, does it really count as “demanding” something? I also have a friend who’s in a band. A few months ago, they were asked if they would like to provide a rider. The venue encouraged them to put down “whatever they required.” My friend said that after filling it out (they asked for two party-size pizzas, a case of their favourite beer and things like that), they all wondered if someone down the line was going to say they had “demanded” and “insisted” on all those things.

By: Gregor

Gregor — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:46:39 +0000

C’mon really. My wife worked in the hotel industry, and the general public is probably more demanding than most artists. The writer of the article puts in these inflammatory words like “demands”, “forbids” and “insists” as if it was a shocking thing. This article gets 3 “eh”s and a “so what”

By: Hapaboy72

Hapaboy72 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:17:49 +0000

I work with this level of talent and I can tell you that if the average person were at this level and had gone through what many of these artists have, they WOULD make specific requests. The reason why is that in this business everything is a negotiation. If you put in your rider that you demand an all white dressing room, to a large degree, it’s because you DON’T want to be stuck in a dank, smelly room that is used by a sports team the rest of the year.

To knock off a couple of other items on the above list:
1. You’d be shocked by how many venues don’t read the whole rider and miss important items. You can tell when you advance a show with a building what kind of day you’re going to have. If you put certain outlandish things on a rider, it helps alert a building to pay attention and call the manager to confirm it. The Foo Fighters Rider really is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Their manager is a screenwriter.

2. That’s why she’s called a Diva. Most acts of her level, just want you to provide them with an empty room and 2 assistants for the day. Their decor person will travel with everything they need to vibe out their space. David Lee Roth’s Jazz Lounge that he creates actually is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen done to a room.

3. and 4. – It’s all about the after party. Throw a nice party at your house, but pretend there’s nothing at your house. No tv, no stereo, no food. Now make a list of everything you’ll need for that party, see if it looks like their rider.

5. Um, hold on to your hats, but every indoor show you’ve seen with pyro, probably had it’s smoke detectors off. The flashing lights and buzzing sirens that go off when they are left on, tend to kill the vibe. That’s why there are Fire Marshals on site in case of emergency. And way to be respectful of the Hearing Impaired. Many of them can FEEL the music and know the words. In some states, it’s mandatory that you have an interpreter on site. It’s nice to know that Poison demands it. I know a couple of others that due to. (Off-topic: Seeing “Make a dead man cum” signed from the Stones’ “Brown Sugar” is one of the funniest things
I’ve ever seen.)

6. Travel – If you don’t specify what you need transportation why you might end up in a situation where your band/crew is being shuttled back and forth from the venue and hotel by some assistant who has cat fur all over her tiny VW Bug and your guys have allergy attacks the show blows that night because yoru back up singers are sniffling the whole time (True story)
Cash – A lot of bands ask for at least a portion of settlement be in cash. Remember you need to pay your crew’s per diem in cash. If you’re paying each roadie $50 per diem that $350 for the week for anywhere from 10 – 100 guys. You’re going to need cash.

I’m just a crew member and I refuse to drink Dasani and I’m shocked by people who can’t taste the difference.

Lastly – the blacking out of windows. It’s not about them being prima donnas. That’s an indictment of our TMZ crazy society that would pay money for someone to take pics of the Tim and Faith playing basketball. It’s sickening. Until you’ve been followed around all day by papparazzi, you have no idea how effed up it makes you feel.

By: calliffy2

calliffy2 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:37:26 +0000

Some of the requests or demands made by these stars may well be legitimate but let’s face it, some are just downright ridiculous. I bet they weren’t that demanding when they first started out. Obviously, their heads swell along with their list of demands. In a world where so many suffer from deprevation, it’s disgusting. Thankfully, there are many stars who do give back after making the big time.

By: jodie

jodie — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:18:23 +0000

While it is true that Dasani is only tap water, it is also loaded with Magnesium Sulfate, a compound that some people are allergic to.