[Eightball]

First of, congrats on the big 1500....

Now to Prince, and the awkward riders that come with performance artists....

This whole thing started with Van Halen. This was the first mega-mover band. Before Van Halen bands managed to fit into 1 or 2 tour trucks. Van Halen was really the first group to put on a really big show. Like 12 cargo trucks worth of stage and props. The band brought their own stuff, but required local contractor help to set up the majority of the heavy props and stage. All the instructions on how to assemble the stage were in the band's rider agreement... the really really boring stuff that most contractors didn't pay attention to (load bearing foundation, bad weather provisions, testing, safety procedures... and so forth). They quickly learned that most contractors skimmed the book, and assembled everything their own way resulting in lights falling, stage wobbling, and sound systems going out. So their manager decided to put in the M&M clause.

This wasn't a way of being douchy, or entitled, this was simply an assurance to the band that when they got to their dressing room and saw their bowl of M&M's without the blues that the locals read the entire rider and were adhering to all steps.

Most large scale performance bands soon adopted the same fail safe. The public may see this as an entitled act from some pre-madonnas that think they are better than everyone else, but it's there for a good and rational reason.

Is it perfectly foolproof? No, but it's a quick and easy step to assure that the show will go on.

I can only hope when K&Tg does their first large scale tour that their rider will carry a similar clause buried somewhere in the details. Perhaps an ice cold can of Bear Beer?