But I guess as a libertarian who uses “socialist” and statist goods in my daily life, I am somewhat sympathetic. 99.99% of libertarians could be called hypocrites for similar reasons.

That sort of thing was why I had some degree of sympathy for Elton John when he was slagged six ways from Sunday for a hissy fit he threw in a hotel in, I believe, Australia. He had asked for a fresh fruit bowl and it wasn’t there, drama ensued. My own view was that the management of any place that is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars out of a touring concert to accommodate the star, the musicians, the crew, and so forth and can’t even be bothered to give the guy who is responsible for all this loot the one fucking thing that he specifically asked for deserves to be fired, not yelled at.

seeker6079: You’re thinking of Van Halen :)

Snopes Entry

And what thorn said about being realistic about what they do. These travelling shows are huge enterprises for which the band is ultimately responsible and they have a million things to do before they go onstage. To insist that they drop everything and run to the 7-11 for their own drinks is levelling nonsense.

Having said that, their Concert Rider isn’t really that obscene as far as such things go. The socks and underwear are a bit weird (and I’m not sure I want to know the back story)… but their food/drink list is rather tame. The cost is included in the deal made with the promoter.

As to why they don’t pack their own – logistically, large acts can’t just pull 10-20 tour buses into the parking lot of Kroger and walk around grocery shopping for 2 hours. They have to hit the venue on schedule, get the sound check, eat, perform, and drive across 3 states in one night to do it all again. Some acts do carry along their own caterer who shops/cooks for the band locally, but it’s an exception.

Do you expect to see Bruce Springsteen or Carly Simon walking around the supermarket looking for cold cuts and salsa an hour before a sold-out performance? No. ;)

Right, but RATM doesn’t have “issues” with capitalism. It “rages against” it and consumerism, in general. Nothing wrong with enjoying the refreshing taste of Coke (personally, I can’t stand it without rum), but I just think it’s funny that these guys who preach against wasteful consumerism and conformity can’t pack their own simple refreshments and bring them to the gig. But then you can’t really look for logical consistency from guys who look at Che Guevara as a role model.

Still, Tom Morello’s a great guitarist.

Cui bono?

Dead transsexuals tell no tales.

Whoever did this will experience TRUE KARMA someday.

The question, now, for those standing over that murdered body is this: “Did somebody not take that at all well???”

Remember the Bembenek case
? The woman tagged with the crime just happened to be the one honest cop on the Milwaukee force who was co-operating with the FBI? Cough cough.

Ummmm…. Since when does suspecting somebody who had means, motive and opportunity to commit a murder constitute a “conspiracy theory”? It sounds like pretty sound investigative procedure to me.

My point was that you can still enjoy products made by a company and still have issues with Capitalism. Hell, Socialist Europe has many fine corporations that make quality products….just because you drink Coke means you can’t criticize Capitalism? Come on….

Yeah, Rage is a poseur band, just like most death metal, Goth, or other shock genres. De la Rocha is a fruitcake who fantasizes about Che’. But they are pretty good.