The backstage rider is always a measure of how much of a “rock star” you truly are. It’s a significant moment in any stars career when they try to override the usual smorgasbord of delights to add their own, usually surreal, twist. While some will opt for a pre-match meal of room temperature water and kale salad before storming the stage, others get their fuel in a less nutritious manner. Eminem, however, went for something way off the beaten track.
When you’re on tour, having fun with your rider requests is a quintessential part of life-on-the-road. Knowing that somebody is working at the venue, whose job is to find whatever bizarre items you have written down on your rider request, can make artists drunk on power and challenge themselves to see how absurd they can make their requests.
Sometimes the requests aren’t even extravagant or expensive, not particularly gruelling to achieve even, but are just downright odd. Drugs, girls and drink are all expected but some demands are not what you’d expect world-famous artists to rely on as they trot around the globe.
A rider gives fans a glimpse into what some superstar artists are like when they are off-stage, and on occasion, it’s as glamourous or hedonistic as you’d expect. However, a few earth-shatteringly humbling omissions from artists act as a reminder that they are very much human.
Considering Eminem is one of the biggest stars on the planet, you’d never guess so from his rider, and the beauty comes from the absolute mundane nature of it. His list comes from his festival appearances in 2010. The most extravagant request is Shady’s demand for any brand of water apart from Evian, which for some reason is where he draws the line.
Elsewhere on the list is bucket-loads of Red Bull and Diet Coke, but it looks like Eminem opts for a pre-set sandwich for food. Two loaves of white bread he requests, along with ham, turkey, mayonnaise, jalapenos, mustard and anything else you’d find at ease in any supermarket in America. However, the most bizarre inclusion on the list is six branded Lunchables, precisely three turkey and three ham.
Picturing Eminem eating Lunchables before tearing up a festival is a vision that we will keep with us until our dying day.
