If anyone is wondering about some specifics and doesn't already know the story, this was a (now well-known) trick by Van Halen. Their rider included a provision

If anyone is wondering about some specifics and doesn't already know the story, this was a (now well-known) trick by Van Halen. Their rider included a provision where backstage needed to have a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones removed. It was explicitly done as a safety measure. More details: http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp