Promoter Michael Chugg reveals his most debauched tours in new Matty Johns Good Chat podcast

From Fleetwood Mac’s outrageous rider to stopping a gang war in a Los Angeles jail, promoter Michael Chugg trades stories with Matty Johns in a new podcast.

Australian promoter Michael Chugg has seen it all when it comes to sex, drugs and rock’n’roll on the road but even he was shocked by Fleetwood Mac’s “medieval” excess back in the ‘70s.

Chugg shared the band’s epic demands on their 1977 tour of Australia at the height of their Rumours success, and the bizarre way they hid their drugs, with Matty Johns for his new Good Chat podcast.

The promoter said the band’s rider demanded a backstage “medieval marquee like you would see in the old jousting movies.”

Fleetwood Mac’s excess on tour was legendary according to promoter Michael Chugg. Picture: Supplied.

“There was a 40 foot long table with the King and Queen chairs at each end and on the table were whole pigs and whole sheep and just piles of fruit and vegetables, it was just over the top,” Chugg said.

“I’d never heard of Pimms till that tour and there was every imaginable drink you could think of, vintage French champagne, just everything.

“And the funny thing was they never went into that tent at all. It was a total waste of money. The roadies had a great feast after they bumped out.”

Other extraordinary expenses to the tour budget were fresh limes, Gatorade and Heineken beer, none of which were available at your local supermarket in the 1970s.

Fleetwood Mac L-R: Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Lindsey Buckingham in 1978. Picture: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

And imported beer was tough to find in Australia then, with Chugg having to order in cases of the European ale for the band.

But they didn’t drink a drop. The beer bottles were intended to facilitate the band’s notorious drug use during their shows.

Chugg shares some of his greatest road stories with Matty Johns on the Good Chat podcast. Picture: AAP.

Chugg made sure the Heineken was in the dressing rooms ahead of show time but was horrified to discover two dozen bottles missing their tops hours before the concert.

“I went nuclear. (One of their staff) comes in the dressing room and asks me what’s wrong and I said ‘What the f … are you doing? This cost me a fortune and it’s going to be flat by the night,” Chugg said.

“And he takes me up on stage and at either side of his stage were these little tents and in the tents were card tables with one bottle top on the bottom and another one on top.

“And he took the top one off and of course there was the dreaded white powder.”

Johns’ future podcast guests include Wallabies coach Eddie Jones. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Chugg revealed that Bon Jovi indulged in a different kind of rock’n’roll hedonism early in their career enjoying a debauched holiday in Port Douglas after one of their Australian tours.

But these days, the veteran promoter said a tour entourage is more likely to include a “masseuse and a head doctor” and a personal trainer than purveyors of illicit substances.

“There was one particular Bon Jovi tour where they had a week in Port Douglas after the tour at the Mirage which was the flasho hotel for Australia in those days,” Chugg said.

“When the band got to Port Douglas, for the next four days it was on. People paying a fortune to stay at the Mirage and here’s these babes in the briefest bikinis on rollerblades and skateboards zooming around all the footpath — there was a lot of shit went down.”

Of course Chugg did not escape his hellraising days without paying the price. In Good Chat he shares how he landed in a notorious Los Angeles jail for a week after a drink-driving accident and somehow managed to de-escalate tensions between rival gangs in a crowded cell.

Listen to Good Chat with Matty Johns.

Originally published as Promoter Michael Chugg reveals his most debauched tours in new Matty Johns Good Chat podcast