hollywood billionaire

Chapter 307 Go to the scene (Part )

Musicians perform on a variety of rides, and Kanye West’s request for Mad City’s five presidential suites is by no means the most extravagant, nor the most demanding, nor the strangest.

Van Halen's rider stated that the organizer must provide M&M chocolate beans and pick out all the brown chocolate beans inside. This may be the most famous rider clause in the history of rock music and even pop music.

It sounds unkind, but according to lead singer David Lee Roth, the reason they put this clause in was not because they really hated brown M&Ms. This band just wants to set up a small test: if the organizer discovers this ridiculous request and asks the band about the situation, it means that the organizer is rigorous and conscientious. What Van Halen really cares about, the extremely complex technical rider, will definitely also Will be strictly followed.

Another legendary rock star, Iggy Pop, also has a series of equally interesting rider clauses. The 28-page hospitality requirements statement was drafted by Iggy's tour manager Joss Grain. In addition to the regular specifications of drinks, accommodation and transportation, Rider also incorporates many hilarious details - there must be seven dwarfs dressed up as the seven dwarfs in Snow White in the dressing room, and a copy must be placed USA Today published "morbidly obese news," along with dozens of more bizarre clauses.

There is no doubt that Joss Grain did this just to make a little joke with the organizers, so that both parties could relax for a moment in the highly stressful preparation process for the performance.

These two cases are strange, but they are not harmful. The organizers do not need to actually implement them, and no staff members’ careers will come to an abrupt end because of this. But the following riders are different. They really represent It reveals the morbidly extravagant side of celebrity culture and the music industry.

As the first-generation pop queen, Madonna listed some ultra-high reception specifications in her rider that even royals would not require when traveling. Not only did she demand that each venue provide her with a new toilet seat, she also ordered that organizers provide her with hundreds of white and pink roses with stems cut to exactly six inches. The strangest thing is that her dressing room needs to be equipped with twenty landline phones that can make international long distance calls at any time for the use of her huge accompanying team.

Other than deliberately making things difficult, people can't find a better explanation.

Who would make 20 international long distance calls at the same time?

It is said that Mariah Carey, who inherited her legacy as a queen, also had a rider that drove the organizers crazy. The singer required twenty white cats and a hundred white doves to be in the dressing room before every performance, as well as vitamin water for her Jack Russell dogs to drink. In addition, every inch of the four walls of the room she stayed in needed to be covered with curtains, and eight tall green leafy plants had to be prepared to purify the air... Oh, yes, and thirty curved straws, because she likes to use straws Come drink champagne.

It's not just female celebrities who are difficult to deal with. Male musicians also have many unspeakable reception needs. In October this year, Golden Voice, the organizer of the Coachella Music Festival, just held a legendary music festival that shocked the world - Desert Journey Music Festival at the same venue. In two weeks, October 10th, 10th, 7th, and 8th, 9th, and 14th, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters Taking turns taking the stage with The Who, a special concert was held every day, attracting a total of 15 rock fans to make pilgrimages, allowing Golden Voice to obtain a box office revenue of 16 million U.S. dollars, making a lot of money.

However, in this world, there is no easy money, and there is no bad food... Well, wait, that doesn't seem to be what this sentence says, but you know what I mean. The six legendary superstars represent six riders that are difficult for ordinary people to understand and cannot satisfy. How unsatisfactory is it? Every night and every performance, Golden Voice needs to build a one-acre—yes, you read that right, one-acre—backstage for the superstars, for use by the artists, their accompanying teams, and their families and friends. The Rolling Stones even prepared a 36-meter-long, air-conditioned runway backstage to facilitate lead singer Mick Jagger to warm up before the performance.

There is no official announcement or media report, but the circle is so big that it is difficult not to hear some rumors. Judging from the gossip that Han Live executives revealed to Han Yi, the Desert Journey Music Festival was extremely painful for the entire Golden Voice company. The company’s CEO, Paul Tollett, founder of the Coachella music festival and one of the greatest show planners in history, almost plucked out the few gray roots under his iconic black cap.

"The sheer scale and complex logistics have pushed the boundaries of what we can actually manage," Paul Tollett is said to have said at the project council meeting. "In other words...fuck this shit, I'm done."

There was a sense of joy in the room when Ori Blistan, head of Han Live Music Festival, shared this anecdote at Mad City's preparatory meeting last week.

It is always joyful to hear others suffer.

It is doubly joyful to hear my peers suffer.

But soon, the elite team built by Han Yi with a lot of money discovered that the challenges they needed to face were no less than those of Golden Voice. Although Mad City Music Festival does not have living fossils like Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan who have been popular for half a century, their number of artists is four times that of Desert Trip Music Festival, and almost all of them are active on the front line. traffic star.

When it comes to enjoyment, these popular icons who mostly became famous after the turn of the millennium and are accustomed to being transported by private jets are much better at it than the rock veterans who rode in shabby buses in the 1960s and 1970s, took psychedelic drugs, and had to drive and refuel themselves. .

Just pick one of the 24 groups of artists to receive the rider and you will understand - Ariana Grande requires all photographers who shoot her to gather at the designated location in advance and be escorted to the designated location by the organizer's staff. In the shooting area, we could only shoot the first three songs, and we could only shoot the left side of her face, because that was her "better-looking side."

In addition, the organizers also need to hire a team of disinfectants who have been reviewed in advance to inspect the locker room that Ariana will use and issue a stamped test report. Not only that, SB Projects also asked the Las Vegas Police District Downtown Branch, which is responsible for the security of this music festival, to send two representatives, together with the two security representatives from the Han site and the venue, to follow up twelve hours before the performance. Ariana Grande's security director Rashad Ismail held a meeting to study the artist's security measures throughout the performance.

Justin Bieber, who also belongs to an artist management company, is no less generous. For this music festival performance, he did not have to bring an accompanying team of 120 people with him every time he went to each country like the ongoing "Purpose" world tour. After all, it is in the United States, and Las Vegas is not far from Los Angeles, so Justin "unusually reduced the number of team members" this time, but in the end, the list of entourage reported to Han's site still reached 34 people.

In this list, in addition to four backup singers, four backup dancers, a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, a keyboardist, a DJ, four tour assistants, and Scooter Braun In addition to himself, the other 16 people are all Justin's security guards, family members, friends, and "followers", commonly known as doglegs.

In addition to a Rolls-Royce exclusively for Justin's use during the performance, the band, backup dancers and tour assistants require two Volvo buses. Family and friends require eight Mercedes-Benz E-Class or above limousines to transport them in and out of the festival venue. .

His dressing room needs to be equipped with a table tennis table, game console, washing machine, refrigerator, massage table, and a full-size jacuzzi. Yes, not only did the accommodation require a presidential suite or a room of the same level, he even wanted to take a bath before going on stage.

有这一系列接待条款“珠玉在前”，那些室内装潢和后台餐食的要求看上去也就平平无奇了——比伯要求他的更衣室全部挂上白色窗帘、衣架、8个电源插座和12块白色手帕。为了解渴，他需要24瓶纯净水、24瓶碱性水、4瓶能量饮料、6瓶维生素水、6瓶奶油苏打水以及一个装满各种果汁和汽水的冷藏箱。附加条款还列出了4种天然果汁、4种香草蛋白饮料和半加仑杏仁奶。

Additionally, the Canadian star requested vegetables dressed in ranch dressing, diced fruit, organic bananas and seedless grapes. Snacks must include a charcuterie platter of organic turkey, lettuce, Colby and provolone cheeses, black olives and green peppers. Finally, white sliced ​​bread, potato chips, mint and watermelon flavored gum, cheddar popcorn, Ghirardelli dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds, vinegar chips, organic dried fruit and berry cereal are always available backstage. Take. Justin's team even has a list of his favorite tasty treats, like a giant bag of Swedish Fish, a box of Ritz Bitz peanut butter and cheese sandwiches, and Haribo Coke gummies.

Note, this is only the type of meal his personal dressing room requires. Another "Team Justin Bieber" locker room also requires the same amount of food and drinks.

Justin Bieber's price for appearing on the Mad City Music Festival stage is a landing price of US$190 million excluding tax. And just for his series of rider requirements, it is expected to cost Hanscene about another 10 US dollars.

This is the importance of poaching people directly from Live Nation and AEG Live. Without this group of well-informed and experienced executives, Han Yi would not be able to cope with such a cumbersome reception process no matter how rich he was.

And this is only a small part of the music festival production process.

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber are only one-twelfth of the 24 performing guests.

The truly devilish and difficult ultimate boss is Kanye West.

"Where is the version of rider that we both signed and confirmed? Kanye's version?"

"Here, Mr. Han." Blair handed Han Yi an entire folder.

"let me see……"

Han Yi took a deep breath and opened Kanye West's rider like an elite difficulty dungeon.

"Of the two presidential suites or luxury suites of the same level, one must be labeled 'Master Room' and the other must be labeled 'Kid's Room'... He brought all the children?"

"Obviously, there are seven servants."

"The organizer needs to provide 24 brand new, unopened pure black towels. The brand must be Versace. This clause is non-negotiable...I can understand wanting Versace towels, but what the hell is the next one?" The designated driver must After prior review and approval by the artist's security team, he can only wear 100% cotton clothing when performing transportation tasks. Why, is he allergic to nylon?"

"It is said that Beyoncé also has such a request."

"The dressing room needs a barber chair, Carmex lip balm, shower shoes, and... two smoothie machines, one mixing Coca-Cola and Hennessy, the other mixing Gray Goose and lemonade?"

"We've tried his recipe in the office," Adam Cohen added, "and it tastes good."

"Actually, it's just Coke and lemonade to get you drunk," Blair added.

"Can you find these two flavors of smoothie machines?"

"You will definitely not find it if you look for it, but we have ordered two. We are going to make them ourselves when the time comes. We have already communicated with the artist catering team and added them to Kanye's exclusive recipe."

"Ok, there is also this one, 'A pair of Genelecs 1031a must be placed in the locker room and the hotel room.' What the hell is this?"

"I've actually never heard of it, but after searching on Google, I found that it was a specific model of an audio brand, but this model was discontinued in 2005."

"Then putting this inside should be a test, right? To test whether we have carefully looked at the rider. He doesn't really need these speakers."

"No, we have asked, and Kanye wants these speakers. He needs them to listen to the entire set before the performance, and then decide whether to modify the track temporarily."

"I want you to tell me that this model of equipment is available in Las Vegas."

"Unfortunately, we don't have them in Las Vegas." Blair-Shuman shook his head, "However, we... found a pair at an equipment rental dealer in Branson, Missouri, and paid the rental fee for a week to ship them over. ”

"Where's the other pair?"

"There wasn't another pair... We were just carrying them back and forth between the locker room and the hotel, praying that Kanye wouldn't find out he was using the same pair of speakers."

"If found..."

"We need compensation. Based on three times the current market price of a pair of Genelecs 1031a, it is about US dollars."

"It's so fucking frustrating."

Han Yi rubbed his temples, exhaled a breath, and complained dissatisfiedly in Chinese. If the US$400 million hadn't been paid in full, and Kanye was also the finale guest on the third day of Mad City, Han Yizhen would have wanted to tear up the contract and let him go back wherever he wanted.

Scooter Braun's other artists' rides only have high specifications, but Kanye West's rides are even better in terms of specifications, and they also cost lives. They are also hip-hop superstars. Take a look at Eminem’s rider: 24 bottles of Diet Coke, 12 cans of regular Coke, 48 bottles of mineral water, 6 bottles of regular Red Bull, and 16 bottles of Sugar-Free Red Bull. 1 loaf of white bread, 1 loaf of whole wheat bread, turkey, ham, Italian sausage, 2 types of cheese, 2 types of pickles, 8 types of dips, and then gone. It does have a big appetite, but it is convenient and cheap.

Moreover, Eminem's accompanying team does not have many people. Of the ten people signed in the contract, only seven were actually brought to Las Vegas. Except for Eminem himself, who wanted an executive suite in the Wynn Hotel Tower that cost US$1500, the other six people traveling with him only requested regular king-bed rooms.

Why do I say there are six other people? Because Kara-Lewis will also follow Eminem to attend the Mad City Music Festival this time, and meet Han Yi to discuss his duties.

Yes, after the second quarterly meeting, United Artists Management Company and Carla Lewis’ CLG reached an acquisition intention. In addition to US$2200 million in cash and stock options worth US$450 million, UTA will also hire Kara Lewis as the global head of the company's music department, forming a dual-headed structure with Neil Warnock.

The deal has not been officially completed and the press release is still being drafted, but Carla Lewis joining UTA is a certainty. As a direct descendant of Han Yi who is about to take office, she must take this opportunity to pay her respects to the mountain.

Perhaps Eminem’s extremely simple rider was also a meeting gift from Carla Lewis to the new boss.

Other artists outside the system are just doing business, but the attitude of these contracted artists in the circle is to hope that Han Live can save money. After all, it is an event held by one's own family, so there is no need to be pretentious and exacting specifications. Musicians in front of the stage who act more humble and friendly can win the favor of the support team behind the scenes, which will be of great benefit to their future career development.

"What a rider, we have our own activities, don't worry about this kind of thing."

When Zhao Youzhen asked for her personal opinion, Madison Beer's answer was basically the same as that of other Han Music signed artists.

"Just give me a dressing room. Just leave me in there and don't worry about it. You can go about your business and I can put on my makeup myself."

Not only for his own activities, but also for Madison Beer's other performances, the rider is also very simple. Six bottles of Diet Coke, six bottles of Stewart’s cream soda, a fresh fruit platter, and a vegetable platter with ranch dressing, that’s all she asked for in the dressing room. There is only one person accompanying her, Dylan Bachman, who has followed her and Billie since Future Now: The Tour.

There is one five-star suite and one double room. If there is no suite, two double rooms are also available. Many organizers say that Madison's rider is the shortest of all the Billboard No. 1 singers, even simpler than Ed Sheeran.

Six packs of regular Coke, six packs of Diet Coke, six packs of Fanta orange juice, six packs of Sprite and one pack of Manuka honey. This is Ed Sheeran's dressing room reception needs, and the total cost is less than 60 pounds.

It is undoubtedly surprising that a teenage star has fewer demands than a rough man from the north of England.

"I don't know what I want. Scooter and the others filled out the previous rider for me, and I haven't even looked at it." Madison defended herself, "Besides, I brought everything I needed with me. ...Look at my bag, Yuzhen."

Madison picked up the Celine smiley bag that Han Yi gave her, with pride and happiness written all over her face.

"Everything can be accommodated. Headphones, sunglasses, lipstick, earrings, chewing gum, they are all here. What else do the organizers need to provide me?"

"Some people may think..." Zhao Youzhen likes Madison's mentality and state very much, but as a manager, she still has to explain the pros and cons to her contracted artists, "A complex rider is a symbol of status. The ones listed in Rider The more additional clauses there are, the more the organizers will take it seriously.”

"I don't believe this." Madison rolled her eyes, not at Yuzhen, but at the previous management team, "My original rider had almost 20 pages, and no one took me seriously."

"In the end, it still depends on the hit singles. There are more songs that the audience will sing, and it doesn't matter if the rider is complicated or simple... If it is simpler, it will make them like me more and be more willing to invite me to other activities. "

“Why miss out on an opportunity to make more money because of a presidential suite or... the type of car you pick up from the airport?”

"Maddie really said that?"

Hearing what Zhao Youzhen repeated, Han Yi turned sideways and was quite surprised. In his impression, Madison should be a girl who has high requirements for the quality of life. Not to mention being as difficult as a diva, she should at least have some hobbies and quirks that are different from ordinary people.

Being so free and straightforward, Han Yi couldn't help but secretly give Madison a few extra points in his heart.

"That's what she said."

"It's hard to imagine that a minor is more sensible than my uncle who is about to turn 40."

Han Yi sighed softly. Blair Shuman and Adam Cohen clearly wanted to laugh, but ultimately held back.

Very few people call Kanye West an "uncle," but considering his public support for the New York real estate tycoon's presidential bid this year, the title is actually appropriate.

A vivid image of a dark-skinned, red-necked man appears on the page.

"Well, anyway, he is the top guest we invited, and the trouble he caused should be solved by us... So, five presidential suites."

"Yes, boss." Blair nodded vigorously, "Five presidential suites, or executive floor suites of the same level, must be satisfied without negotiation."

"Did SB Projects say... who will live in these five rooms?"

"We have asked this question, and the SB Projects team put it very tactfully. They said that according to the artist's request, the true identity of the actual users of the five presidential suites must be kept secret, and they cannot even tell us whether they are staff members or family friends. However, ..." Blair glanced at Adam, "We can basically determine the identities of several guests."

"It should be pretty much what I thought, right?"

"Absolutely." Of course Blair knew what Han Yi was referring to. "I have a pretty good relationship with a girl in their company. She hinted... Well, actually, there is no need to hint. Kanye needs someone of this caliber to travel around. , just a few.”

"clear."

Han Yi understood.

Who else could it be?

Of course, they are the stars of America's most famous reality show.

In addition to Kim Kardashian and Kanye living together, the five presidential suites should belong to Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian, Chloe Kardashian, and Kendall Jen Na, and Kylie Jenner.

Now all the Hollywood witches are here.

"But... I don't quite understand why they didn't add their accommodation needs to the list at the beginning and had to wait until this time to notify us?"

"It should be because our activities...are becoming more and more popular and participated in."

Blair cleared her throat, the proud look clearly visible on her face.

"I have to say that it was a very clever move for us to set Mad City in Las Vegas. As far as I know, many Hollywood celebrities took this opportunity to come to our place to watch the show, and at the same time, they also considered this time Music festivals are used as business platforms to strengthen connections within the industry. The best way to strengthen connections is naturally the various parties before and after the music festival. Las Vegas is a place suitable for hosting hidden luxury parties, such as Mad City As an introduction, this Halloween, as far as I know, there will be at least thirty or forty celebrities here."

"Are there so many?" Han Yi raised his eyebrows, "I probably know a few things. Timbaland is coming, Justin Timberlake is coming, and... Ryan Seacrest is doing a feature for 102.7FM. The coverage is coming. And then Scooter Braun, Carla Lewis, Andre and Jimmy... who else is there?"

"I'm probably 90%, no... 95% sure, Virgil Abloh is coming."

"Oh, yes, I know that." Han Yi nodded and responded, "He and Diplo are good friends."

"And Dr. Luke, Swizz Beatz, Pharrell Williams, Shaquille O'Neal, Odell Beckham Jr., Russell Simmons..."

"James Corden is coming over. It is said that he is going to interview a guest we invited at the music festival, but he did not inform us in advance." Adam Cohen continued, "Childish Gambino and others said they received the invitation. But it’s not certain whether they will come or not. Macklemore, Kevin Durant, Gaga, Marc Jacobs, Cara Delevingne, and some Instagram celebrities like Logan Paul, KSI, Nash- Greer and stuff like that. You know, these 'celebrities' with a lot of social media traffic, they all want to be at the same music festivals and the same parties as the real stars."

"Then no wonder the Kardashians want to come." Han Yi shrugged. In his heart, no matter how prosperous these women's fashion brands are, or how terrible their reality show ratings are, combined How many European and American leeks can be harvested are no different from Internet celebrities like Logan Paul.

No talent, no talent, no shame.

"Okay, if it's them, I can understand. But..." Han Yi glanced at Zhao Youzhen beside him, thought for a moment, and asked, "Can we really find five more presidential suites? Them?"

"That's the problem, boss. Kanye insists on seven presidential suites. If he can't meet the requirements, he would rather cancel the show and refund the full amount to us. But..."

Although it was a difficult question, when he said this, Blair Schumann couldn't help but smile.

"Not to mention the presidential suite, during the three days of the music festival, there was not even one suite left in Las Vegas."

"Rich people from all over the United States, and even the world, are rushing here."

　I hope you all find this chapter interesting. When I look at Qidian or the Internet literary circle, whether it is American entertainment, domestic entertainment or Korean entertainment, when it comes to performances, basically no one mentions Rider, and no one tells you the interesting things in it. and the importance of the rider to the artist's performance. This chapter, or the entire music festival production and performance process that I am about to write about, should be the most complete, detailed, and vivid on the entire Internet. I hope you like it too.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)