A tour ride detailing the requests of Bob Dylan and his band has shared their on-the-road necessities.
Dylan has toured every year since 1988, except for 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. His frequency for touring, often around one hundred dates a year, means travelling with care, and a tour rider list details the usual order of food, drink and special requests for his travelling band. A tour rider from the Love and Theft tour sold at auction has since revealed the oddities and little details of Dylan’s tour at the time, including the necessity for headline billing on every show, as well as food and drinks requests. Dylan performed a total of one hundred and six shows on his 2001 tour, which began on February 25, 2001, and concluded on November 24, 2001.
The rider outlines breakfast for around twelve people on the day of the show, to be served around 8.30am. It includes “coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and hot water for tea” as well as “continuous service throughout the entire day until one hour after the end of performance. The rider also lists which drinks and foods are expected, reading: “Two quarts whole milk, one quart orange or grapefruit juice, one quart fresh apple juice, ten one-litre bottles spring water, one litre original organic rice dream or equivalent soy milk.”
Food requests were also listed, including a note to leave the toaster where it is until after lunch. All these food options strike as relatively normal for a rider, though fans may be interested to note some of Dylan’s specific requests.
From four in the afternoon, Dylan had a list of specifics he would need in his dressing room, including a bottle of wine on ice and a coffee setup. It reads: “Hot water set for tea, including cut up lemons, milk, sugar and honey. Teas assortment. Coffee setup (Mr. Coffee or similar) with freshly ground coffee and filter.
“Small fresh fruit tray. Six one-litre bottle Volvic or other spring water. Twelve clean hand towels. One bottle Pinot Grigio or Santa Margherita (on ice).” Though some of the tour rider has faded over time, a note for the after-show bus stock can also be seen, with a “variety of menus” expected for the tour team.
The rider reads: “Promoter to provide takeaway meals from a local restaurant for band and crew buses. Please provide tour manager upon arrival at sound check with a variety of menus. Approximate number of takeaway meals: twenty persons.” An additional check for Dylan’s tour bus is made too, requesting twenty-four one-litre bottles of non-carbonated spring water.
A crew bus stock reads much larger than the Dylan and band bus. It reads: “Twenty-four one-litre bottles of non-carbonated spring water, six bottles premium import beer, six bottles Beck’s dark beer, two quarts Ocean Spray Cranberry juice, one six pack Red Bull, twelve cans assorted soda.”
