School me on riders

[BlueRock]

This is one of the best riders of all time.
Randy Brecker 1999

After any specific equipment requirements I'd include a dressing room with a shower and bus food. Those are the things that have bugged me most to do without. More water than you'll drink is always good to put on. Many places will just have water around but an extra box or two on the bus for the places that don't is good.

 

[groovepump]

I’ve used technical riders even when hauling our own PA to out of town bars/weddings/etc. You would be surprised at how many people don’t understand basic power and stage requirements and I find it helpful to clearly outline our needs in signed contractual form. You would also be surprised at how little thought goes into feeding the band if they are playing during dinnertime. A hospitality rider helps ensure you aren’t forgotten about.

As a soundman I love getting a clear stageplot and input list so I can be prepared and ready to soundcheck as soon as the band is setup. Even solo acts benefit. Nothing worse than thinking everything is done and ready to go at 5 minutes till doors open and the artist says “oh and we’ll need to mic this digeridoo that i need a lot of in the monitors but also tends to feedback and i only use on this one track for ambience.”

AGREE 100%.
Especially out-of-town or longer commute venues. get a stage plot. Nothing worse than having the venue build a stage that the barely fits the drum kit. I've had to stand beside the stage on the ground because the two guitars
have higher priority than a mere bass player (!) Also, POWER Requirements are a must! We played the same venue twice this summer, and pulled their breakers out 3 x in each show, before they ran an additional 20A service from an out building with an extension cable. 2 gigs ago this year, the venue had NO IDEA what we needed, but they asked us. They built an incredible stage, provided a generator (BIG) that gave us 3x 20A services. Pizza, wine, water, changing rooms, and an air B&B were provided. That's the way to fly. They also comp'd us $100 EACH to offset our gas expense. I won't say what they paid us, but I know we will play there again next year's fund-raiser. Great gig. "....This is how we do it...."

 

[higain617]

Rider? Is it 1987?

 

[Chrisk-K]

Ask for Belgian beers.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Riders?
It's called travel with a "family," think Grateful Dead, Allmand Brothers. We had wife's and kids that would scurry around and make sure that stuff was handled, rider or not. Had 5-6 year old grandson string mic cables and plug in snake into FOH board if we provided PA. It was a fun circus to watch. Come early!

 

[knumbskull]

no help at all for you, but a good enough excuse to repost Iggy and The Stooges' famous rider from c.2006:

Iggy Pop and the Stooges rider

 

[tgriley62]

No brown M&M's

 

[DanAdams]

Opening band rider???
Maybe just make sure that they'll let you stay to watch the headliner.

 

[kmon]

I try to be really clear on the cocaine and hookers. Everything else we can just wing it.

 

[Windreaper]

I don't think there are that many rules, so you can ask for pretty much anything. OP didn't specify whether touring or local gigs, and whether it was for the hospitality or tech rider, but here goes.

Hospitality Rider:

1. Expect them to throw this out if you're a local opener. Still, doesn't hurt to communicate things like allergies and dietary restrictions in case they manage to pass the info to the catering company.

Tech Rider:

1. Band lineup (names, instruments)
2. What do you bring? What kind of backline? Any exotic instruments, vocal processors, or other things the FoH engineer should be aware of? Do you bring your own IEM rig? Backdrops, stage props (and are they flame-retardant)?
   
3. What do you need? Backline, mics, stands, monitors, etc.
4. Logistics like parking space (you don't want to park your van a mile away from the venue).
   
5. Contact details (your tech or a tech-savvy member of the band)
   
6. "Last updated YYYY/MM/DD", so that the FoH engineer knows your management sent him the rider from your previous tour.

Stage Plot:

1. The location of your backline, monitors, power drops, mic positions, DIs, and such, on the stage.
   
2. Simple geometric shapes with text works best IMO (use google slides or such), make sure it is legible when printed out in B&W.
3. Bring some printed copies for the venue staff.

Input List:

1. Critical if you run your own split, useful nevertheless.
2. List your inputs in standard festival order (see below). Can also list other useful info.

 

[gregbackstrom]

My bands' riders have usually specified stage size, cooperation with our FOH/Monitor tech, power, whether meals and green room are provided, load-in / load-out / parking access.
I can't think of anything else at the moment.

 

[getBAK]

Aside from the stuff mentioned before, the phrase 'provide secure parking' should be included. You'd be shocked how many big city gigs assume you should fend for yourself on parking.

 

[mr_musica]

One of these days, I'll play a gig where we have a rider. OK, maybe not. You've gotta be pretty high up in the pecking order to be talking about this sort of thing. If you're there, I'd think you'd have management do that for you.

Doing FOH, a couple of times I worked with bands that had technical riders. I sent emails saying what we did and didn't have on their rider. Both times, the band was clueless about any technical details. As I was FOH (they didn't have a sound person), it was a very odd chat - usually a technical rider precipitates a couple technical people talking about things - the venue's person, and the FOH person (who travels with the band). Anyway, I did what I thought was best, they were fine with that.

I have no idea why a band would forward a technical rider if they had noone you could discuss details with - I think maybe they thought it was a good idea to have one, and copied someone else's, but in the end, it was a useless exercise.

When you get to a certain level, then this kind of communication becomes absolutely necessary. Are you there yet? If you don't travel with technical people, I'd argue no. Food riders and the like are things that come into the picture long after you need a technical rider.

I've been playing in a "resort-type" band that prepares different tribute or theme shows. We only take care of the music, the venue has its audio crew. We don't actually have a mixing engineer, that's provided by the venue, but our lineup can change every time to accomodate the show (two or three main singers, or just one main and a backup vocalist, acoustic guitar, two electrics, keyboard player with several keyboards or with an acoustic guitar, etc...)

So I think we fall in this category of sending a tech rider without having a technician, we do it just to inform the crew the layout and the type of connections we'll be needing in the stage... however, we have not been able to have a streamlined setup time not even once hehehehe (or maybe once or twice, out of 12 or so shows...)

I'm still not sure what's missing, if it is some leadership on our side or on the audio crew side, but I think it is pretty useful and necessary to communicate the technical needs beforehand...

 

[micguy]

I've been playing in a "resort-type" band that prepares different tribute or theme shows. We only take care of the music, the venue has its audio crew. We don't actually have a mixing engineer, that's provided by the venue, but our lineup can change every time to accomodate the show (two or three main singers, or just one main and a backup vocalist, acoustic guitar, two electrics, keyboard player with several keyboards or with an acoustic guitar, etc...)

So I think we fall in this category of sending a tech rider without having a technician, we do it just to inform the crew the layout and the type of connections we'll be needing in the stage... however, we have not been able to have a streamlined setup time not even once hehehehe (or maybe once or twice, out of 12 or so shows...)

I'm still not sure what's missing, if it is some leadership on our side or on the audio crew side, but I think it is pretty useful and necessary to communicate the technical needs beforehand...

Sending info on your instrumentation, vocals, etc is always a good idea. Sending specs on mics and outboard gear when you’re using the house FOH guy… not useful.

 

[swarfrat]

I don't play in this field. But I'd be more worried about riders and contracts in the wedding business than corporate. Standard Oil isn't likely to blame you for ruining a failed merger.

 

[JimmyM]

Mostly a hot meal and an amp for the gig. I was in that category of “needed for the show but not important enough to worry about turning the requested SVT/810 into an 80s Peavey combo and making the hot meal a cold deli tray.”

 

[callofcthulhu]

Aside from the stuff mentioned before, the phrase 'provide secure parking' should be included. You'd be shocked how many big city gigs assume you should fend for yourself on parking.

If they were assuming that before they read your rider, it's unlikely to change after they've read it.

 

[drumvsbass]

 

[gregbackstrom]

I don't think there are that many rules, so you can ask for pretty much anything. OP didn't specify whether touring or local gigs, and whether it was for the hospitality or tech rider, but here goes.

Hospitality Rider:

1. Expect them to throw this out if you're a local opener. Still, doesn't hurt to communicate things like allergies and dietary restrictions in case they manage to pass the info to the catering company.

Tech Rider:

1. Band lineup (names, instruments)
2. What do you bring? What kind of backline? Any exotic instruments, vocal processors, or other things the FoH engineer should be aware of? Do you bring your own IEM rig? Backdrops, stage props (and are they flame-retardant)?
   
3. What do you need? Backline, mics, stands, monitors, etc.
4. Logistics like parking space (you don't want to park your van a mile away from the venue).
   
5. Contact details (your tech or a tech-savvy member of the band)
   
6. "Last updated YYYY/MM/DD", so that the FoH engineer knows your management sent him the rider from your previous tour.

Stage Plot:

1. The location of your backline, monitors, power drops, mic positions, DIs, and such, on the stage.
   
2. Simple geometric shapes with text works best IMO (use google slides or such), make sure it is legible when printed out in B&W.
3. Bring some printed copies for the venue staff.

Input List:

1. Critical if you run your own split, useful nevertheless.
2. List your inputs in standard festival order (see below). Can also list other useful info.

View attachment 4873966

We do this plus pictures/info of each band member with their instrument(s) and a set list that indicates who’s singing and who’s soloing.

 

[Bullitt5135]

For my wedding band gig, the bandleader always includes “band to be served the same food options as the guests.” This was after one gig at a posh country club where the band was literally served a basket of stale dinner rolls and a few pats of butter. We had a couple of gigs this year where someone at the venue dropped the ball…if we run into any guff, our bandleader goes straight to the kitchen and politely informs the head chef about the situation and the contract…they are always cool about it and totally hook us up.