Tour Riders [File this in: Rock 'n' Roll]

I love concert tour riders -- those sometimes lengthy contract terms that reveal all of a band's idiosyncratic  backstage requests.  The most famous rider term is, of course, Van Halen's requirement of no brown M&Ms.  And we've  blogged about the explanation for this peculiar request more than once: here and here. 

WNYC's John Schaefer hosted an extended discussion of tour riders on Soundcheck.  My favorite is Iggy Pop's request: "One monitor man who speaks English and is not afraid of death."  

The Brooklyn band Parquet Courts asked for:

• 1 bottle of communion grade red wine
• 1 bottle of white wine that would impress your average non-wine-drinking American
• 1 bottle of lower-middle shelf whiskey – cheap but still implies rugged masculinity
• Mixers for aforementioned mid-level whiskey, of slightly higher quality than the whiskey
• A quantity of “herbal mood enhancer”
• 1 copy of newspaper with the most interesting headline/front page picture (comic section must feature Curtis)

You can listen to the show here: