Rolling Stones Gig Delayed to 2007

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: June 2, 2006 (Issue # 1174)

The Rolling Stones will not perform in St. Petersburg this year, the concert’s promoters said Wednesday.

Previously scheduled for the Kirov Stadium on June 13, Russia’s one-off concert, which was to be part of the European leg of the band’s A Bigger Bang World Tour, will be postponed until next year, the promoter PMI Corporation said in a statement.

“The medical commission that examined Keith Richards, who had received a head injury, ruled out any performances by the musician for the next six weeks,” PMI said.

“Therefore, the band will postpone several European concerts of its 2006 tour until next year.” According to PMI, the new St. Petersburg date and venue for the show may not be announced until the end of July.

“Tickets bought in St. Petersburg should be returned between June 13 and Sept. 1,” said PMI’s press officer Yulia Kolomiitseva on Thursday.

Money for tickets will be refunded at the box office of the Ice Palace, rather than at the concert’s originally scheduled venue, the Kirov Stadium, she said.

Last week, the veteran rockers postponed the first 15 dates of the European leg of their current tour due to Richards’ health problem; the guitarist reportedly fell out of a coconut tree while on holiday in Fiji on April 27. Richards, 62, underwent brain surgery on May 8.