Tour riders and hotel requests for artists on the road are often run-of-the-mill, but not for The Rolling Stones.
Where Van Halen would list “brown M&Ms” to make sure a venue was paying attention, the Mick Jagger-fronted group had a list of requirements for their hotels. It was during the heyday of booking out entire floors of a hotel to give the band privacy as they toured the country, and The Rolling Stones would find themselves needing the space. Their list of requirements for hotels they stayed at during their 1976 tour of Europe is a delightful look into the band’s requirements. Jagger required a room just for his luggage, while Bill Wyman and Keith Richards had to be kept separate, presumably because of the latter’s desire to party the night away.
A full list of the band’s needs has been shared in a letter, featured in Far Out Magazine. In there, the letter listed off the necessities of the band, including that a security person should be manning each floor which had a musician. Another requirement, though not a necessity, was trying to get everyone onto the same floor of the hotel.
The letter reads: “Go to the hotel first and tell them you would like to see the rooms they have blocked for you. I am enclosing copies of our correspondence.” A list of the requirements can be found below.
- Try to place everyone on one floor
- Must have at least one security man on each floor housing a musician
- Callaghan should be next to Percy Thrower
- Bender and Poweski near Arthur Ashe
- Try to get large beds for everyone
- Keep Bill Wyman away from Keith because of noise
- Everyone gets room sfor single occupancy however the hotel should give us larger rooms
Though there was the expectation of larger rooms, there were some specifics for the rooms also, mainly about the size of the bed. A list of these expectations can be found below.
- Patrick Moore (Ron Wood) must have a large bed
- Ollie Brown must have a large bed
- Arthur Ashe (Mick Jagger) must have a deluxe suite with attached luggage room
- James Burke (Billy Preston) gets a suite
- Peter West (Charlie Watts) must have a large bed
- Security men must be near musicians
- Peter Rudge must have a large bed
- Alan Dunn must have a connecting door with Jennie-Collen-Smith
- Percy Thrower (Keith Richards) gets a suite
- Debbie Freis and Bill Zysblatt must have connecting rooms
- Robin Day gets a suite
- John Victor should be close to Percy Thrower
These requirements come as quite standard for The Rolling Stones’ touring troupe, which took to a European tour just two years after a nightmarish series of shows across the United States. The “world’s worst bomber” blew up some of the band’s equipment, while Richards would end up in an alleged knife fight with Stephen Stills.
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