Going the extra mile with artist riders: A way for event organisers to showcase the ‘tuan rumah' hospitality

Malay Mail

11 hours ago

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Manager of the famous Indonesian band Cokelat and event organiser Udzir Harris thinks going the extra mile with artist riders can go a long way for event organisers (EOs).
This comes in regard to the Indonesian music scene, which is currently abuzz following famous Indonesian musician Ari Lasso's recent public call for bands to provide simpler riders to EOs.
Riders or artist riders, are a list of requirements provided to EOs by artists during any concerts or live performances.
There are typically two types of riders. The first and most important, the technical rider, where the artists will specify the technical equipment or setup that they require. The second is the hospitality rider, which covers the artists' food and snacks, right down to their dietary restrictions and other personal needs.
Ari, the former vocalist of Dewa 19, said in his initial Instagram post that performers shouldn't take advantage of their artist riders and should treat EOs as their partners, as both need each other.
The post went viral, being shared over 2,000 times on Instagram, which prompted Ari to follow up with another post on July 8 after some of his EO friends admitted they too experienced a similar situation.
In his latest post, Ari admitted that during his Dewa 19 days, he and Dewa 19's founding member and composer Ahmad Dhani would have a lengthy list of riders; however, they have since done their best to simplify their riders over the years.
Ari said the reason behind this long list was mainly because there were a lot of unprofessional EOs at that time, adding that nowadays their technical rider list and hospitality rider list would each be just four pages long.
However, Udzir, who is currently set to debut the first Ruang Inspirasi Fest Kuala Lumpur 2025 (RIFKL2025) this August 17, said that although he agrees with Ari, he believes that as EOs — especially those hosting international artists at their events — they should at least consider going the extra mile in fulfilling their artist riders.
Udzir, who has also worked on Kunto Aji's Sama-Sama Tour 2025, said that in his experience as an EO, he has never encountered artists with outlandish riders — pointing out that even Juicy Luicy, the alternative pop outfit who is also one of the headliners for RIFKL2025, along with chart-topping singer-songwriter Tulus, had very simple riders.
'Both of them had humble requests and at the end, we called them and decided to add some things for them as their request was just food takeaways.
'Thank you Juicy Luicy but as promoter and tuan rumah (host), we took the initiative to add more things so that they can have a better backstage experience.
'We even had a meeting about this where we thought of some of the best Malaysian food to serve them, which includes satay Kajang, nasi ayam Chee Meng in Bukit Bintang as well as nasi kandar Hameediyah,' Udzir said during the RIF Kuala Lumpur 2025 virtual press conference.
Meanwhile, Juicy Luicy, who was also present at the virtual press conference, told local media that they too agreed with what Ari suggested and said that for them, when an EO fulfils their riders, it shows that the EO is attentive to details, allowing the band to perform without any worries.
Both Juicy Luicy and Tulus are set to take centre stage at Mega Star Arena this August during RIFKL2025, where Tulus will headline the afternoon showcase starting at 1.30pm, while Juicy Luicy will be take the evening session, which starts at 7.30pm.
Tickets are still available via http://www.ri-fest.com/kualalumpur