What Bands Really Really Want

02/25/1998 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Bruce Haring

(2/25/98) - It seems the days of touring bands insisting that the brown M&Ms be removed from their dressing rooms are far from history: a look at the tour riders for a few artists on the road have yielded some puzzling requests. Concert promoters, who have the daunting task of fulfilling these requests each night, are looking more like babysitters than businesspersons.

For example, Blur demands four pairs of black socks, a vase of fresh flowers, eight packs of Marlboro lights, 12 cans of Red Bull energy drink, fresh-squeezed orange juice, fresh carrot juice, French champagne and a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin--in addition to a host of food items like bread and cheese.

The members of Everclear are more health-conscious: they demand a large box of Nutri-Grain cereal (no sugar, please!) and no-fat Tostitos brand tortilla chips.

Gwar have one of the oddest tour riders, though they've been known to use a few of these items in their show: a one-quart container of powdered non-dairy creamer and a bag of non-pleated, Baggy brand sandwich bags.

Cheap Trick demand an oxygen canister, two large bottles of Paul Newman brand salsa, a large bag of M&Ms and four bars of Neutrogena soap. What do you suppose they use the oxygen canister for?