A tour rider which asked for “loads of red wine” and a “Bob Hope impersonator” can only be for one artist.
Iggy Pop‘s reunion with The Stooges through the mid-2000s saw the band request some of the strangest written requests in music history. The Godfather of Punk had some strange asks found in his tour rider from this era, with the reformed Stooges pairing back up with Pop for a series of staggering shows across the globe. Production manager for the tour, Jos Grain, says the band would have some fun with the requests made on their rider, which is usually used by acts requesting sandwiches, booze, and, in Pop’s case, “Chinese gunpowder”.
The rider reads: “Somebody dressed as Bob Hope doing fantastic Bob Hope impersonations and telling all those hilarious Bob Hope jokes about golf and Hollywood and Bing Crosby. Oh God, I wish I’d been alive in those days so that Bob Hope could have come and entertained me in some World War 2 hell-hole before I went off and got shot. What joy they must have experienced…”
Should a Hope impersonator be unavailable, the band would be equally as satisfied with the substitute request provided. The rider adds: “Seven dwarves, dressed up as those dwarves out of that marvellous Walt Disney film about the woman who goes to sleep for a hundred years after biting a poisoned dwarf, or maybe after pricking her finger on a rather sharp apple… or something.
“What was the name of that film? Was it Cinderella? Taller people are acceptable, of course. It’s attitude, more than height, that’s important here. Don’t forget the pointy hats.” Some more reasonable rider requests are also featured, including a few fruits and a “sharp knife.”
Pop adds: “Some fresh ginger, honey, lemons, and a sharp knife. So we can make ginger, honey and lemon tea. God knows why. And some Chinese gunpowder tea. So we can attempt to blow up the dressing room. That’s a joke by the way. Good thing this isn’t an airport…”
Plainer requests were found under the assorted food and drinks, but even then, the note for “fucking loads of good red wines” is quite unique to Pop and The Stooges’ needs. It reads: “6 bottles of Grolsch or decent local beer. 10 16oz plastic cups and four glass wine glasses, and a corkscrew to open wine bottles. Two bottles of smooth, full-bodied, Bordeaux-type red wine. Probably French.
“And something we’ve heard of, but still can’t pronounce. Look, there’s fucking loads of good red wines. Ask the man in the wine shop. Or here’s a number of suggestions: 1st choice – a Medoc, St. Emilion, Pomerol, or Pauillac, years ’86, ’89, ’90 or 2nd choice – a Barolo or Barbaresco ’89 or ’90. 4 large, clean towels.”
The rider was signed off by Pop, who adds: “See? Not all that bad, is it?” Pop’s notorious drink and drug use through the 1960s onwards has been commented on numerous times by the frontman, who believes everyone should steer clear of narcotics.
He said in 2016: “The drugs — everybody should just drop that shit. For me, the best is a very good wine, but weed is OK for most people. All can say is I don’t drug up anymore. I don’t do it. I have wine with dinner and that’s about it.”
