Was that Ozzy? Whoever it was, it was a request for a bowl of only brown M&Ms backstage and their reasoning was that, if that request wasn’t fulfilled, whoever was responsible didn’t do their job and they’d assume that other, necessary stuff also wasn’t done properly. Kind of a canary, in a way.
So it was Van Halen and you’re right, it was an easy way to be sure that venues actually read their contract which contained instructions to safely assemble their stage rig. But there was a parody of that story in Wayne’s World 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7kg5ZzDZo
Van Halen’s road crew confirmed that. They also confirmed that, without exception, if the M&Ms were wrong, there were other major problems. And when I say major, it’s on the level of “people would have died” if they had continued with the show.
If I remember the story about it, van halen productions were way bigger than most, on the order of 18 semis worth of equipment compared to a normal production’s two semis. The candy thing was a quick and dirty way to check that the venue had followed the instructions for everything else to the letter, because it would get complicated if they hadn’t.
Was that Ozzy? Whoever it was, it was a request for a bowl of only brown M&Ms backstage and their reasoning was that, if that request wasn’t fulfilled, whoever was responsible didn’t do their job and they’d assume that other, necessary stuff also wasn’t done properly. Kind of a canary, in a way.
It was Van Halen
So it was Van Halen and you’re right, it was an easy way to be sure that venues actually read their contract which contained instructions to safely assemble their stage rig. But there was a parody of that story in Wayne’s World 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7kg5ZzDZo
Oh I see, hah. It did sound like you were simply misremembering and it’s been quite a while since I saw the movie so that went right over my head.
Van Halen’s road crew confirmed that. They also confirmed that, without exception, if the M&Ms were wrong, there were other major problems. And when I say major, it’s on the level of “people would have died” if they had continued with the show.
Sounds totally rational….
If I remember the story about it, van halen productions were way bigger than most, on the order of 18 semis worth of equipment compared to a normal production’s two semis. The candy thing was a quick and dirty way to check that the venue had followed the instructions for everything else to the letter, because it would get complicated if they hadn’t.
What happens when they remember the candy but forget other shit?