Dave Grohl Explains Foo Fighters’ Hilarious 52-Page Tour Rider
The Foo Fighters have been known to sneak jokes into their backstage riders on past tours, but they’ve topped themselves this year. The hilarious 52-page list of demands for venues on the Foos’ 2011 world tour – complete with coloring book pages, word searches and more – went viral this week after the Smoking Gun posted it online.
“Our tour manager, Gus Brandt, has always been the one to write the rider,” frontman Dave Grohl tells Rolling Stone. “That’s his personality and sense of humor – he’s a wicked smartass. And after the last rider gained so much positive attention, we were all very proud that someone got it.”
Video: Foo Fighters Hang With Rolling Stone Backstage at SXSW 2011
Earlier this year, Grohl asked Brandt what he had in mind for their latest road trip. “The first idea was to make the rider look exactly like a laminated Waffle House menu, with, like, suggested servings and shit like that,” the singer says with a laugh. “But evidently that was just a little too tricky, so we opted for the coloring book.”
Perhaps the funniest section of the new rider deals with catering – one page helpfully depicts the difference between a “LAME ENTREE” (sandwich with a side of rocks) and an “AWESOME ENTREE” (steak with a baked potato). But Grohl denies being a picky eater himself. “Most of the rider is meant to make sure that the road crew are fed properly – those guys show up at fucking seven o’clock in the morning, and they don’t leave that venue until about two o’clock in the morning. To be honest, that rider has more to do with them than anybody else. I could survive on microwaved burritos and Crown Royal.”
Photos from the 2011 Sasquatch! Festival: Foo Fighters, Wilco, Flaming Lips and More