Report: SCORPIONS' 'Diva-Esque' Rider Demands Drove Up Finnish Concert Ticket Prices
July 28, 2014According to YLE.fi, fans of German hard rock veterans SCORPIONS were forced to fork out an extra 30 euros each to see the band perform at a festival in Finland because of the "diva-esque stipulations" made by the group in their agreement with the promoter. Among the items requested by SCORPIONS in the 38-page "rider" — a list of requirements for their performances — for their July 26 appearance the Kuopio RockCock festival in Kuopio were a chauffeur-driven Mercedes for each member, individual porcelain toilets and a record-breaking enormous stage.
"The extent of the demands is huge," festival organizer Allu Koskinen told Savon Sanomat. "We're talking about tens of thousands of euros."
The rider reportedly required of the organizers to build new, individual porcelain toilets for all five bandmembers, and provide a Mercedes-Benz car for each musician with matching, uniformed chauffeurs. In addition, the band requested a 20-by-14-meter stage, bigger than any stage that had ever been seen at the Kuopio festival before.
Koskinen told Savon Sanomat that the list came as a surprise to the organizers. The ticket prices had already been announced before the SCORPIONS issued their demands.
When SCORPIONS peformed at the Lahden Yöt festival in mid-July, their extravagant demands resulted in the event's ticket prices being raised by a whopping 30 euros, with single-day tickets going for 69 euros (approximately $93).
"We didn't and still don't want to raise the ticket prices [for RockCock], even though the pressure is on due to these extra expenses," Koskinen told Savon Sanomat. "We just have to hope for a great turnout."
SCORPIONS' latest release, "MTV Unplugged", was made available in North America on January 21 via Sony International. Material for the set was taken from the band's first-ever "MTV Unplugged" show and features new acoustic versions of best-loved classic hits, as well as five brand new songs.
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