Madison music scene prevents big riders

The rock ’n’ roll scriptures have told of the artists’ backstage as a magical place—a mythical landscape of long-legged bombshell groupies where rail liquor is laughed at and personal caterers lay out feasts for the greater good of Mick Jagger. So that raises the question, where do all these festive items of rock revelry come from?

At the base of this backstage circus is the “concert rider,” a document containing the list of items needed by the artist and crew for the show. It is the task of the hosting production company to fulfill this list of needs, which always goes beyond dinner and a bottle of wine.
Perhaps the holy grail of all riders, Van Halen’s 1982 tour, featured a 53-page rider that demanded brown M&Ms be discarded from the rest of their bite-sized candies. The rider also requested four cases of Schlitz malt liquor and one large tube of KY jelly. Clearly, this was rock ’n’ roll gluttony at its finest.

The hip-hop scene also boasts many noteworthy riders listed on theSmokingGun.com, a celebrity news site that hosts a library of concert riders from big-name acts.
DMX requested all the key props to a legendary rap video. Among the backstage desires, some highlights included one gallon of Hennessey cognac, a carton of Newport cigarettes and three boxes of condoms, Trojan only.

Eminem’s 2003 tour with 50 Cent featured nine pages of action-packed requirements, including an arcade game room and a blueprint for his backstage furniture arrangement.
Other artists have taken themselves less seriously, providing riders that poke fun at rock-star excess. In 2006, Iggy Pop’s crew provided an 18-page rider filled with a comical list of requests and irrelevant rants.  Only about half of those pages included information pertinent to the show’s production. One specific statement explained the need for two heavyset fans, noting, “So that I can wear a scarf and pretend to be in a Bon Jovi video.”
“I’ve seen artists ask for four cartons of Marb Reds, two oxygen tanks, local lottery tickets and a garden gnome,” said Perry Blanchard, an independent production manager based in Madison.

Blanchard, who has worked with national touring acts Fall Out Boy, OK Go and Motion City Soundtrack, explained that artists will add minute details just to make sure readers are paying attention.

On the local level, Madison attracts a more level-headed group of artists, as the city’s venues are too small to host megastar head-cases and their laundry lists of gimme-gimmes.

With a capacity of 600, the Majestic Theatre isn’t booking artists looking for world domination. Co-owner Scott Leslie explained that touring acts at this performance level simply do not have the credentials to ask for big-ticket items.

“At this level, we just tell them no. Touring acts respect our backstage area. It’s the local bands that have trashed the green room,” Leslie said.

For many local bands, it’s their first chance to soak up the splendor of the backstage revelry. They try to live up to the legacy of behavior written in the rock ’n’ roll scriptures, taking full advantage of their first rider.

“In my experience, touring bands treat the dressing room as a dressing room. Local bands have a tendency to bring friends back, show up and party,” Blanchard added.
While local bands may sporadically break a lamp in the Majestic’s green room, it’s the bigger acts that ultimately launch the runaround on production crews.

“I’ve seen some pretty impressive riders for arena shows. We’re talking $1,500 worth of food just for breakfast,” said Blanchard, who recently handled the rider for Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Kohl Center.

Madison’s small-scale music venues offer some positives to fans with closer seats and lower ticket prices. But on the downside, Madison is passed up by many superstar acts traveling between the bigger markets of Milwaukee and Minneapolis. While Madison residents may miss out on some legends of rock, its music scene stays pure and its concert riders remain untainted by the unholy excess of rock-star gluttony.