Things you didn't know about...touring

I have been clearing out my old magazines, and I found this in a 2003 Kerrang and thought it was interesting.

1. During the latter days of The Stone Roses, the tension between John Squire and Ian Brown was symbolised by their seperate tourbuses. On Squire's bus, concaine was the drug of choice; on Brown's it was cannabis. More successfully, Outkast also have a weed bus for Big Boi and a weed-free bus for Andree 2000.

2. Freddie Mercury once wound down backstage after a gig; chucking an iron at a full-length mirror, because of a minor technical cock-up wit the show. "Some people can take second best, but I can't," he explained.

3. Bob Dylan's 'Never Ending Tour' which started in 1988, had taken 1562 shows by October 2003. The busiest year was 1999 (119 gigs), the slackest was 1993 (80 gigs). In 2000 he played 'Tangled Up In Blue' at 111 of 112 dates.

4. The manager of the Arosa Hotel, Manchester, before the Sex Pistols arrived, 9 December 1976: "I have booked them in for one night. They seem like decent people and I will expect decent behaviour from them". The next day, having thrown th band out the previous evening: "They were filthy and their language was filthy".

5. The Ramones were named after Paul Ramone, the name Paul McCartney used when checking into hotel on tour. Other guest book pseudonyms:
Hugh G Rection (Poisons CC Deville)
Phil S Stein (Robbie Williams)
Sir Humphrey Handbag (Elton John)
Peter Gunn (Eminem)
Chris Quest (Micheal Jackson)
Alotta Warmheart (Britney Spears)
Tina Modotti (Madonna)
Sid James (Rod Stewart)

6. The avoid having the audience ask for the old songs tehy didn't want to play ageless art- punk conceptualists Wire were supported on their 1987 US Tour by 'Ex Lion Tamers' a tribute band who would play the whole Wire's classic debut albulm 'Pink Flag' in sequence.

7. Before a gig in Rochester, New York in 1987, Vince Neil of Motley Crue was making a sandwich when he discovered that he'd been supplied with the wrong brand of mustard. Neil slammed the offending jar against the wall, severing tendons, nerves and an artery in his arm in the process. He had to have an eight hour operation and a month in a cast.

8. During their 1997-98 Brides to Babylon Tour, The Rolling Stones used $60,000 worth of confetti.

9. On a Fall tour of the US in the early 90's, an increasingly grouchy Mark E Smith divided the tourbus up with gaffer tape to create a clear and unbreachable boundary between the band and the crew. The crew responded by going home.

10. Drugs reportedley consumed by Primal Scream backstage at their homecoming Glasgow Barrowland gig in 1991: methadone, ecstacy, speed, magic mushrooms, cocaine and hash.

11. Some roadie speak:
BFH-Big fucking hammer
Flusher- A toilet connected to running water
Stage Turd- Clumps of used gaffer tape stuck to the bottom of shoes
Bus Factor- The degree to which bad movies improve due to extended bus rides
Germ- A fan.

12. While most musicians use their hands and boots to trash hotel rooms, Joe Walsh of coke addled Californian soft rock superstars 'The Eagles' preferred to use a chainsaw, doing a staggering £67,000 worth of damage to a single hotel room in the mid 70's.

13. Queens of The Stoneage 'Nick Oliveri' has been arrested twice on tour. The first was in July 1999 for getting into a punch up with Terrorvision because QOTSA were taking too long vacating the bands shared dressing room. The next time was in Jan 01 when he walked on to the stage in Rio de Janeiro naked and was seized by the police on a charge of corrupting minors.

14. Among the items on the rider of Christina Aguilera's 2000 US tour: soy cheese, Oreo cookies, chewable Vitamin C tablets, votive candles, Nesquik, 10 bottles of room temperature mineral water (not evian, a platter of gums and mints, dried cranberries and four packs of Carnation Instant Breakfast.

15. The Cure's Robert Smith suffered from a chronic fear of flying throughout the 1980s, but still insisted that the band travel in style. They went to the US on the QE2, and travelled to Venice on the Orient Express, racking up a £2000 bar bill every single evening.