Every metal head’s favorite non-metal group are well known pranksters. Whether its requesting venues not to recycle food from “last night’s Dio show” or just ensuring that their fat roadies eat promptly, the Foo Fighters and tour manager Gus Brandt go out of their way to have fun with their tour riders. But the tour rider for their upcoming shows might be the best tour rider…EVER.
Among the highlights of the 52 page “Tour 2011” production rider is the “Field Guide To Food Coloring Book And Activity Pages.” This part of the rider is literally a coloring book that features drawings of the band and games explaining the differences between good food and bad food. Each page is pretty hysterical, but our favorite is probably the one explaining the difference between a steak and potato entrée from a sandwich with a side of rocks. You can take a look at the entire coloring book, as well as the rest of the 52 page rider, over at The Smoking Gun.
As for how such a tour rider came to be, frontman Dave Grohl explained the following to RollingStone.com:
“The first idea was to make the rider look exactly like a laminated Waffle House menu, with, like, suggested servings and shit like that. But evidently that was just a little too tricky, so we opted for the coloring book.”
Despite the emphasis on awesome entrees vs. lame ones, Grohl admitted that it doesn’t matter to him what he eats on the road, saying:
“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.”
Thus, the Foo Fighters’ “Tour 2011” rider is successful in ensuring that the crew are fed well and that fans are entertained by a free coloring book. I’m working on the “Circle the items that don’t belong in a salad” activity page now!
