Rihanna's 777 tour descends into 'anarchy' and 'chaos' as naked journalist streaks on plane
Monday 19 November 2012
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Rihanna is less than halfway through her ambitious seven-day tour taking in seven countries for new album Unapologetic, but things have already descended into “chaos” and “anarchy”.
Aboard a specially chartered 777 (geddit?) Boeing plane transporting Rihanna, 150 journalists and members of her fanclub tensions are reaching cruising level of 30,000ft.
The weeklong trek began in Mexico City and is making its way around the world so far stopping in Toronto, Stockholm and Paris with arrivals in Berlin today, London tomorrow and New York on Wednesday.
But despite the gruelling travel schedule the “Psycho” singer has reportedly refused any interviews, leaving hacks chanting “Just one quote, just one quote” and culminating in a “revolt”, as she hid from attention in a special “panic room” on board.
Frustration reached such a pitch this weekend that an Australian journalist (believed to be from Melbourne’s Fox FM) streaked through the plane completely naked as the crowd chanted “I need a headline” and “Just one quote!”
Conditions are reportedly uncomfortable as the unhappy retinue is dragged from one late-night after show to the next, with wake up calls for the following day’s travel arrangements arriving just a couple of hours after the star rocks up at her after show parties.
Rolling Stone writer, Jeff Rosenthal said: "[Rihanna] had after-parties in Stockholm and Paris, both times showing up mere hours before wake-up call... The hotels are beautiful, but we’re only sleeping two or three hours in them - four, tops.”
Luckily for the sleep-deprived journos the plane contains “an extravagant amount of champagne” and the inflight food has been described as “strange”.
MTV’s Mary HK Choi reported being fed “German meat chips” at 4am, complaining “it now smells like a movie theatre concession stand on the Rihanna plane and the people next to us just rolled up to their seats with tumblers filled with whiskey and then one of them promptly spilled it into his seat back pocket.”
Rosenthal added: "We haven’t seen Rihanna offstage since the first day, unless you count her popping up at baggage claim for a few moments on the morning of the second."
Fuse News reporter said: "We were looking for a story but we turned out to be the story."
Journalists have been tweeting about their experiences on #777
@choitotheworld: The Australian with the harmonica STREAKED the plane as the press corp chanted.
@Jasonrnewman: Crowd chanted "Just one quote!," "I need a headline!" and "Occupy 777" while Aussie journo stripped naked and ran around the plane.
@Rihanna on the intercom: "Theres an emergency. Code 777. Everybody buckle up your seat belts! LETS GET DRUUUNK!"#777Tour
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