Mike Tyson and Joan Jett began an interesting interchange on this day 30 years ago: The rock star called the up-and-coming boxer before his bout with Larry Sims, whom Iron Mike would crush. Tyson saw the call as an omen of good luck, and insisted that Jett call him before every match for nearly five years. He finally broke the streak during 1990 before facing Buster Douglas...and ultimately lost the fight, a first for his career. The guitarist may not have been the superstitious one in this case, but plenty of musicians have their own good luck ceremonies before concerts. Here are five, including Lorde, Louis Tomlonson and more.
Keith Richards and The Rolling Stones
Few superstitions are as legendary and complicated as Keith Richards' fascination with shepherd's pie. Many performers have foods that they eat before every single concert, but none are as precise as the Rolling Stones guitarist's fascination with the mashed potato-topped dessert. Everyone from the band and otherwise is allowed to share from the baked good that Richards has delivered before shows. There's only one rule however: He's got to be the one to cut the first slice (or "break the crust") and he takes the first bite. If someone else has cut it up? He sends it back and waits for a new one to appear so that he can slice it his way, and eat accordingly. This legend was confirmed by Stuart Cable of Stereophonic, who reminisced how he had drawn the ire of Mick Jagger for slicing the pie. Fortunately, a caterer on site managed to put the piece back and make things look good as new. Richards found out after the show however and confronted Cable who was never seen again (we made the last clause up).
Robert Plant
Led Zeppelin may or may not have actually practiced religions introduced during Lord of The Rings, so no one would be surprised to know that vocalist Robert Plant was superstitious. Zeppelin was also one of the hardest-partying bands in history, so some may be surprised that he also went out of his way to iron his own clothing. According to reports, the rather mundane chore helped him to ease his nerves before a show. Part of the band's rider was for a secluded area where the vocalist could avoid attention, sip coffee and press his stage clothing for that night. That may have also made him sexier in the eyes of all of his married, female fans at the time.
Louis Tomlinson
One Direction has been noted for their huddles before gigs, a ceremony not unusual among bands before concerts. Some of the individual members have solo superstitions of their own, which makes for much more interesting coverage. Louis Tomlinson gets the prize for the strangest warmup, which apparently includes eating an unhealthy amount of Haribo candy. Although we have many British fans who demand Cadbury rather than Hershey's, Haribo and its famous gummy bears are a German brand. Fortunately, the brand is readily available in American and other major music markets. It's worth noting that One Direction was behind the weirdest, albeit false, rumor we found. One publication claimed the boys took baths together prior to shows. Sorry fan fiction readers!
Chris Martin
Hopefully Tomlinson realizes that his millions of fans could make terrible life choices by following his lead (we're referring to possible tooth decay, not other recent news events). Therefore we hope at least a few young fans will take after Chris Martin, another British star who has a far more health-conscious set of habits. The Coldplay frontman insists upon brushing his teeth before every performance. Although he has cited the sensation that his throat feels better after a good brushing, there's no science to suggest the action impacts vocals, one way or another. That said, we're not going to discourage him from maintaining good oral hygiene.
Lorde
Lorde has gathered acclaim from critics and concertgoers for how authoritatively she holds herself onstage, not at appearing as young as her mere 18 years. That said, her preconcert ceremony reminds us that there is still a bit of adorable sentiment down there. For one, she takes a nap before every show...seems reasonable enough. Secondly, she needs to have her favorite blanket during that nap. That sounds remarkably similar to the sleep superstitions of...just about every toddler. Granted, we can't confirm that this cut of cloth is actually her childhood blankie, but we suppose it would be adorable if it were.
One performer who's oddly not superstitious? Stevie Wonder!
