Rider Demands: What singers ask for on tour
From the bizarre (bendy straws, a wig room and a square melon) to the sweet (compulsory charity donations and postcards for their kids), we look at what the stars request to help them deal with the stresses of being on the road.
Picture Editor: Sandra Waibl
Getty ImagesSam Smith
Sam Smith may be a humble guy, but even the most down to their celebs have a few pre-show demand. "I don't ask for puppies in my dressing room," he told the BBC. "But sometimes - and I'm really embarrassed about this - when they're doing my make-up before I go onstage, people do up my laces for me."
He also admitted that after hanging out with the likes of Beyonce and Taylor Swift, and jetting off to world premieres of Bond flick, Spectre (for which he wrote the Oscar-winning theme), the Brit star did get a bit sucked into the A-list lifestyle. "I did get a bit… I wouldn't say big-headed, but I was living in that scene way too much, and I needed to be brought back down to earth," he said. ""There was one time when I wore a new pair of pants every day and threw all the old ones away. I got obsessed with wearing different pants every night."Lucky for some, aye!
GettyBritney Spears
Ms Spears’ requests have altered over time. She used to ask for comfort food like fried chicken, Cheetos and Red Bull for when she came off stage. Now that’s all changed and junk food is banned from her dressing room; however, she does still ask for a framed photo of Princess Diana.
Getty ImagesKanye West
Of course Kanye West isn’t going to ask for your average fare. The singer likes backstage to be decorated all in white and has some special requests for when his daughter North West joins him. She needs an $8K bed, a TV preloaded with her favourite shows and a personal chef in case she wants a gourmet snack while Daddy’s off performing.
Getty ImagesMariah Carey
Mariah Carey is known to like everything to be just so: her requirements include kittens, no harsh lighting and Cristal, things we totally get. But there are a few slightly stranger demands: she asks for bendy straws, two air purifiers, an assistant whose sole job is to get rid of her gum and another to help her on the staircases (well, she does wear some epic heels!)
Getty ImagesDavid Hasselhoff
We’re not sure why David Hasselhoff requires a life-sized cut-out of himself in his dressing room but apparently he does.
Getty ImagesLady Gaga
We think Lady Gaga might be having a bit of a joke here: her rider demands include a mannequin with puffy pink pubic hair, posters of Queen and peanut butter with flax seed that has no more than 4 grams of sugar. She also very sensibly likes her and her dancers to stay hydrated and asks that the green room to be stocked with 28 water bottles at room temperature and 28 chilled.
Getty ImagesJennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez must really like white because she asks for roses, furniture and candles all to be this colour. The requirement doesn’t stop there: her food needs to be white too. She’ll be having lots of white fish then.
Getty ImagesChristina Aguilera
It’s not easy being a judge on The Voice so Christina Aguilera asks for a masseur to be on call to rub her feet (again, the heels!). She also likes to have soy cheese, an organic food spread without plastic or Styrofoam and water but "NOT Evian". But it’s not all good, healthy stuff: she also likes Nesquik on set.
Like us, there’s nothing Christina hates more than sitting in a traffic jam but, unlike us, she can actually avoid it. The singer asks for a police escort because "under no circumstances are the vehicles allowed to encounter any delays due to traffic".
Getty ImagesAdele
Not all rider demands are ridiculous. As if we could love Adele any more, apparently she requires anyone receiving a free ticket to her show to donate a minimum of $20 to Sands, the UK stillbirth and neo-natal death charity. And that is compulsory.
Getty ImagesFoo Fighters
The Foo Fighters win the prize for funniest demand. The ask that their tour rider include only vegetable soups, “because meaty soups make the roadies fart.”
Getty ImagesP Diddy
P Diddy must be very clean by the time he goes on stage because his rider demand is modest: 20 bars of soap.
Getty ImagesLL Cool J
We don’t know what LL Cool J gets up to in his dressing room but he requires two long-stem roses and a bottle of baby oil to do it.
Getty ImagesColdplay
Coldplay has the most heartfelt demand: postcards to send home to their kids from each city that they tour in.
Getty ImagesCher
Cher is known for her penchant for wigs so we weren’t really surprised to hear that she requests a “wig room” backstage. Considering all the wigs that the singer wears, our hearts go out to the venues’ security staff, especially as they have been briefed: "Cher and her managers are not accustomed to wearing their passes once they have arrived backstage. Please be aware of this and brief security as to their identity."
Getty ImagesSlash
Just be glad that you’re not working for Slash. On his last tour, the Guns ‘n’ Rose star asked for a square melon (does such a thing even exist?), seven different types of cheese and two pots of honey but they had to be in the shape of a bear.
Getty ImagesJustin Bieber
The Biebs has quite an eclectic array of demands when he’s touring, including herbal teas for his pipes, peanut butter and cheese Ritz Bits and Swedish fish. Of course an assortment of his trademark white T-shirts is also on the list, as well as the instruction that no one talk to him directly which seems a little harsh.
Getty ImagesEminem
Eminem’s requests are relatively simple. Not. He requested a full pond of koi fish while on tour in Ireland recently.
GettyJohn Mayer
John Mayer is apparently very concerned about dental hygiene. The singer asks that there are four soft-headed toothbrushes, a bottle of Listerine, two small tubes of mint-flavoured toothpaste and two packs of Altoids mints backstage. Or maybe it’s just because he also requests the sugary kids’ cereals Count Chocula and Cap’n Crunch.
Getty ImagesIggy Pop
Iggy Pop’s tour demands stretch to 18 pages and include that his backstage quarters should be made to "look less like a typical rock & roll dressing room". Most shocking though is the request for a pack of cards. Sounds innocent enough until you read this: "For me... in case one of the band's girlfriends fancies a quick game of strip poker while the band are on stage.” Seriously, this has to be a joke.
