Few things make me happier than when a musician or band’s hilariously detailed tour rider gets leaked on the web. It’s especially interesting when it involves an artist who’s been criticized for having vices detrimental to his or her career — as some have theorized Adele’s penchant for smoking, drinking and eating have been, what with her on-going throat issues and all. Ironically, it was those aforementioned throat issues that forced Adele to cancel her U.S. tour, so perhaps her rider, obtained by the document hounds at the Smoking Gun, offers a peek into how that came to be?
Indeed, the rider calls for hearty quantities of booze of only the “very best quality” to be made available to Adele, her band and crew. And one thing is made abundantly clear: “North America beer is NOT acceptable.” Clearly Adele’s never had an Abita.
Another interesting tidbit from the rider: Adele forces all guests of her shows to make a charitable donation when picking up their tickets at will call.
The rider explains how each guest of the show, a.k.a. industry folk getting in for free or personal friends of the venue, has to pay donate $20 (in cash) to a UK charity hand-picked by the singer herself when they go to pick up their “free” tickets. It even states “There will be no exception to this rule”. So no matter how high up you are, you or someone for you, will be donating…The charity, Sands, is located in the UK and is dedicated to “supporting anyone affected by the death of a baby and promoting research to reduce the loss of babies’ lives.”
I have to give props to Adele on this — it’s a pretty genius and reasonable idea. I’ve picked up concert tickets at will calls countless times in my life and would have no objection to tossing a few bucks to charity in exchange for them. So, well done, crooning lass. Well done.
The full rider can be viewed on the next couple of pages.
