Stones Reschedule 15 Shows

To give Keith Richards time to fully recover from the head injuries he received when he fell out of a tree during a family holiday, Rolling Stones European tour producer John Giddings is shifting the first 15 of the act’s summer dates.

World tour promoter The Next Adventure is asking fans to hang on to their tickets because they’ll be valid for the rescheduled shows.

There’s been no final decision about when the postponed shows will eventually happen. The act is also looking to do another U.S. run later in the year.

Another difficulty with the European dates is that many of the venues, including Milan’s San Siro Stadium and Paris Stade de France, are primarily soccer or rugby grounds and availability becomes a problem when the new seasons start mid-August.

Giddings said he doesn’t want to comment further until the new dates are announced “in a few days’ time,” but felt it was important to let it be known that the June shows and the July 2nd and 5th shows in Paris and Zagreb won’t be happening on the original dates.

The tour will now kick off July 8th at a venue and city to be announced. It will then continue on the original schedule in Nurnberg July 10th, Leipzig July 12th and on through Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France, Portugal and Spain, finishing with the five U.K. shows August 20th, 22nd, 25th, 27th and 29th.

The full list of the shows that need to be rescheduled (with original dates) is Barcelona May 27th, Madrid May 29th, Brussels June 1st, Paris June 3rd and July 2nd, Bergen June 6th, Horsens June 8th, Gothenburg June10th, St. Petersburg June 13th, Brno June 16th, Warsaw June 18th, Vienna June 20th, Milan June 22nd, Athens June 25th and Zagreb July 5th.

– John Gammon