With his tour rider, Bruce Springsteen probably fulfills every star cliché. In a 37-page document, the rock singer expresses more than 100 special requests – including seafood and soup. This is now revealed by the US daily newspaper “News-Gazette”. The wishes read so exaggerated that one could almost call it a satire.
While Springsteen wants chicken soup “with lots of broth” before his show, afterward he expects 16 cold, fresh shrimp “with homemade seafood sauce” and two bags of Rold Gold pretzels “without exception.” The 74-year-old musician’s list also includes half a liter of hand-squeezed lemon juice, six hard-boiled eggs without yolks, peeled and sliced apples and diced watermelon. The beverage selection should be four bottles each of Congo Pear, Costa Rica Clementine and Kula Watermelon. His cabin is also said to contain a blender, toaster and kettle.
And Springsteen’s wife Patti Scialfa is not neglected either and brings just as many extra requests to the list. Her wardrobe is said to be decorated with a “high-quality vase of white roses” and contain three high fashion magazines such as “Vogue”, “Elle” and “Vanity” – but no “Cosmopolitan” magazine. A jar of Martini olives from the gourmet store, a fruit basket “with bananas, seedless white grapes, green apples and pears” and bottles of Belvedere vodka and Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio should also be available. For her meal, she wants either skinless chicken breast, salmon, or tuna with vegetables “sauteed in a little olive oil.” Here, too, a specific request: just no zucchini.
While the couple eats in the dressing room, a dining room is set up for the E Street Band. Wild blueberry fruit spread from the St. Dalfour brand, Rice Dream vanilla drink and cinnamon raisin bread from Glutino will be offered there. Guitarist Steven Van Zandt seems to always order “wild-caught” seafood, which “can be flounder, shrimp, sole, tilapia or halibut from Alaska – not the Atlantic.”
All food and drinks must be “of the highest quality” and “served and presented in the most appetizing manner possible,” that is, with metal cutlery, earthenware dishes and linen tablecloths without any added “bling.”
The band and crew also need 408 towels, 21 couches, 27 dimmable floor lamps and 15 table lamps, 16 non-flowering potted plants, three large and three small refrigerators, 47 upholstered chairs, nine wheeled office chairs and seven full-length mirrors. Six types of alcoholic beverages will be provided to the production office, including six bottles of “quality beer” that is “not Budweiser.” A masseur and a manicurist should be available on the day of the show. The former must be able to perform “deep tissue/sports massage” while the latter is expected to do “acrylic nails for men and women.” The strict disclaimer is: “This is more than a normal manicure.”
Apart from that, Springsteen’s team expects “American-style SUVs” for their transport, at least one of which should receive the radio station “SiriusXM”. The drivers of these and five other vehicles must speak English, have a COVID certificate and be masked while driving.
But the Tour Rider will probably not be used again until 2024. The “Dancing In the Dark” singer is on the mend, but had to cancel the rest of his tour for 2023 due to a stomach ulcer and postpone it until next year.