New series: teams race to fulfull eccentric tour riders

New series: teams race to fulfull eccentric tour riders
Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY 6:23 p.m. EDT September 20, 2013
In Live Nation’s online series ‘The Rider Challenge,’ contestants attempt to fulfill the tour riders of such acts as Edward Sharp & the Magnetic Zeros and Fall Out Boy.
Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

Tour riders have been an amusing corner of rock lore since Van Halen’s famous M&Ms demand in a 1982 contract. At each venue, the band required a bowl of the candies with the brown ones removed.

Events promoter Live Nation addresses the rock tradition of eccentric backstage stipulations in The Rider Challenge, an online reality series that pits six pairs of contestants against each other in a race to fulfill the tour rider requirements of five acts. The participants are Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Fitz & The Tantrums, Kid Cudi, Fall Out Boy and The Lumineers.

The triumphant pair wins a new Ford Fiesta and an all-access pass that gets them into every Live Nation U.S. venue for a year.

The first episode of the Ford-sponsored series will be unveiled Sept. 30, with new installments airing weekly. A preview of the series can be seen here.
http://www.livenation.com/riderchallenge