SPARE A THOUGHT for the concert promoter: dealing with rock stars can be, well, delicate. And judging by their backstage demands, it seems the acts of Oxegen 2011 are no exception.

From a daily change of jam, to “philosophical books”, to, er, arranged marriages – they may not quite have the sheer chutzpah of Van Halen’s genre-defining ‘no brown M&Ms’ stipulation, but today’s superstars aren’t far behind. Here TheJournal.ie takes a look at some of the items that musicians playing Oxegen absolutely, definitely need.

Brandon Flowers

Alongside the usual nutritional demands, the Killers vocalist requests one litre of Jack Daniels – but only if it’s Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it must be Absolut vodka. The same rules apply to his jam selection (alternate days strawberry, raspberry and apricot). This might seem boring, but perhaps Brandon doesn’t react well to excitement: he also requests an entire bag of boxer-briefs underwear.

The Foo Fighters

Since being leaked last month, the Foo Fighters’ concert rider has practically attained cult status. It runs to an eye-watering 52 pages of demands, including a colouring book, a wordsearch puzzle, and a quiz for catering staff on what does and doesn’t belong in a salad. (Tip: yes to lettuce leaves, no to octopus.)

The Rubberbandits

TheJournal.ie has exclusively seen the Limerick rap superstars’ extensive backstage rider, and we can reveal that it features: €20 of Meteor phone credit, €10 on Vodafone, two large-size Bart Simpson t-shirts, and “one of them parrots who can say rude words like c**j and f**m”.

Diplo

Dance producer Diplo separates his list into two halves. One is the ‘must haves’: champagne, chewing gum and cereal. Then there are the optional requests – not essential but “generally appreciated”. These include a violin player, two air horns, a framed picture of Diplo, one bonfire pit, VHS tapes of the third season of Lost, and an arranged marriage.

Weezer

They may not be party animals, but it seems Weezer have very specific tastes. A distinctly un-hedonistic rider from last year requests “St Dalfours” jam, “Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Whole Grain Bread”, and “Teuscher, Vosges or Lindt” chocolate. The four members of the group also require no less than one pound of turkey.

Ke$ha

She’s got dollars in her name, but education on her mind. Singer-slash-rapper Ke$ha’s demands for a show in Toronto last year were reportedly topped off by “glitter, hot dogs, and philosophical books on the origins of species”.

Coldplay

If Weezer aren’t exactly lighting up the dancefloor, Coldplay are just sitting in the dark. According to reports, their rider for this year’s Glastonbury featured two crates of filtered mineral water, all the chopped raw vegetables they could eat, and an “assortment of vegetarian, gluten-free dips”. For shame.

Slideshow: Bands and their demands