NOTE: to those who're reading the comments here instead of RTFA [because you're like I am...], you should RTFA.<p>I first heard this story about 3 months ago and was blown away [because everyone knew that Van Halen were prima donas, right?!]. That Van Halen plays IROC-Z rock doesn't mean they <i>aren't</i> big time business people. There are certainly outliers, but big time business people are big time business people without regard to the business and that's a lesson most of us need.<p>EDIT: I attended an alternative educational conference where the theme was "Taking Yourself Seriously". Naturally, I sat thinking "I write computer programs! I'm a serious man!". Learning about Van Halen's idiotic-but-wait-oh-my-god-that's-super-insightful contract drives home the point that I might not be taking myself seriously enough... There's always room to improve.<p>EDIT: to those who're pointing out that this is a re-hash, this is an important re-hash. Yes, it was discussed two years ago, but it bears repeating. Even an atheist, such as myself, appreciates hearing the 10 Commandments reasonably frequently.
Reminds me of the Alice Cooper scene from Wayne's World.<p>I was raised to believe that these hedonistic punks knew only sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Learning that they were in fact professionals who intimately knew their craft (and, yeah, also liked to have fun) is a blessing of age.
Repeat from about two years ago: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=743860" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=743860</a><p>I suspect it's not the first time. It's a great story.
Iggy Pop's concert rider appeared on the Smoking Gun several years ago, and it's a very amusing read -- they were clearly sick of venues screwing things up as well by not reading carefully. It's only 18 pages:
<a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/lust-laughs" rel="nofollow">http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/lust-laughs</a>
Back in 2009 This American Life covered the issue with aplomb. <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/386/fine-print" rel="nofollow">http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/386/f...</a>
Makes me think of the trick we used a large website I used to work for: we'd have everybody and their mother copy our T&S because that was easier that writing it themselves. So we added a 2 very uncommon spelling mistakes into it on purpose. After that just a simple google Alert on those keywords would tell us immediately when someone copied our T&S.<p>Adding something weird/uncommon can make something easily measurable (as showcased in both my example as the article).
Nowadays, something like this can also be seen as somewhat insulting to a venue. We spend hours pouring over contract riders to make sure we meet the specifications, and many more hours pricing out the materials and labor necessary for an event. If the lead singer of the band is putting M&M clauses into riders, instead of the touring production manager dealing with the venue TD directly, there's already something wrong with the negotiations.
Down for me, but<p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080305234616/http://jimcofer.com/personal/?p=621" rel="nofollow">http://web.archive.org/web/20080305234616/http://jimcofer.co...</a><p>worked
The counter-argument is, of course, that someone who knows they can't fulfill all contractual clauses will try to check off the easy ones only - including the risible demand that M&Ms be sorted. The argument in the article is simply invalid, because it can be used to justify everything - the more unreasonable, the better!<p>Instead of such a ridiculous demand, they could have just picked a couple of random, but useful clauses from the contract (like the number of sockets) and checked those instead. Yes, it would have taken a couple of extra minutes, but certainly a huge concert is worth that.
Always assumed they were just a bunch of divas for doing this, but now it makes sense :)<p>When I was in charge of leading meetings as chairman of a study association, I used to do something similar. Every once in a while, the secretary and I would conspire to put some easter eggs in the list of decisions or action items, such as "Person X will bring a fresh, home-baked cake to the meeting on Y". If that person did not object during the meeting the minutes were accepted, it was a playful reminder to prepare for meetings, with a perk of free cake :D
So I have a question about these riders: some of them specify a lot of specific equipment like amps and mixers... does the venue really provide that? Do they rent it, or is the listing just like a minimum spec and the artist and venue negotiate to use what is already on site at the venue?
There was a very detailed Metallica rider online that I read some time ago. Quite entertaining. Might be this one?<p><a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstage/hall-fame/metallica" rel="nofollow">http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstage/hall-fame/metallica</a>
This really made me want to put aside some time to read the David Lee Roth autobiography. I love learning little bits like this about people who are generally recognized as idiots in the public eye. Fantastic.