When you come to watch your favorite rock band or pop diva perform on stage, your only concern is most likely how to get as close as possible to your idol. The sight of your beloved pop icon from a few meters away is enough to fill your heart with joy.
Not every person shares your glee, however. You may idolize these musicians, but if you’re one of the concert production companies in Utah, you might have a different view on them because of their weird requests.
Yes, your favorite musicians have the strangest requests that should be carried out before their performance on stage. Check out what these people have requested.
Van Halen
Van Halen revolutionized rock and roll in the late 70s up to the late 80s with Eddie Van Halen’s eclectic guitar riffs and powerful solos. But the band also became infamous for including a weird request on their contract.
According to several music magazines, the rock and roll band from California made it clear to every concert producer that there should be no brown M&Ms in their candy bowl. Lead singer David Lee Roth, however, clarified that this request wasn’t a self-indulgent move by the band. Rather, the request was their way of testing their concert promoters if they will stick to every detail of their contract.
Roth explained that if the producer who scheduled them for a concert was able to provide them with M&M candies without the brown ones, then it would mean that they read all the fine print in their contract. This way, there will be lesser chances of a screw-up in their concert preparations.
Iggy Pop and the Stooges
Iggy Pop’s manager managed to outdo Van Halen’s weird request by asking one concert promoter to hire seven short people to entertain the Godfather of Punk before he performs onstage. Jos Grain, Iggy Pop’s road manager, brought small people backstage and had them wear the costumes of the seven dwarves in the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
But Pop’s manager wasn’t done. According to reports, Grain also asked the concert promoter to look for any edition of USA Today that featured morbidly obese people in it.
Madonna
The Queen of Pop may have thrilled her audience through the years with spectacular shows and because of that, her fans may have loved her even more. But her concert promoters may have had a different perspective on the iconic singer.
According to insiders, Madonna’s rider request states that all of her furniture be shipped to her concert venues because she wants her dressing room to look exactly like her home. She also brings along a 200-person entourage, which the concert producer should have ample space provided for.
If that wasn’t enough, Madonna also wants 20 international phone lines in case she’d like to call some of her friends across the world. In addition to that, she also brings along her own chef who cooks only vegan food and her own dry-cleaning service.
Beyoncé
The former member of Destiny’s Child also has a long list of items she wants in her dressing room. According to reports, Beyoncé wants juicy baked chicken backstage when she’s ready to eat with a specific: the chicken should be heavily seasoned with cayenne pepper.
She also wants her dressing room to be at 78 degrees before she arrives. On top of that, she insists that there will be no Coke products in her dressing room and any other area in the backstage. This is because she’s under contract to promote Pepsi products and nothing else.
Being a celebrity musician indeed has its perks because anything they ask for, their concert producers will give. If you want to be treated like a king or a queen and get anything you want, try becoming a famous musician.