Zagreb Mayor Denies Stones Bid

Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic has denied a newspaper report that he bid US$4 million for The Rolling Stones to play the city this summer, as part of the act’s rescheduled Bigger Bang tour.

The city’s publicly funded concert management company (Koncertna Direkcija Zagreb – KDZ) was still in negotiation with John Giddings of London-based Solo, the band’s European tour promoter, after the 2007 shows were announced. But it’s unlikely the offer is as high as the one reported in the March 24 edition of national daily Vecernji List.

Mayor Bandic told Nova TV’s "Red Carpet" show, a Sunday morning magazine-style programme, that he has had nothing to do with the concert – although he’s known to have discussed it with KDZ chief Davor Zagar and city cultural minister Duško Ljuština.

A last-ditch offer thought to be a little more than half of the figure Vecernji List reported, and therefore more in line with the fees being paid by Croatia’s Balkan neighbours in Serbia, Romania and Montenegro, is likely to have been pitched a little to late in the day.

It was a while coming because KDZ had refused to deal through Austrian promoter Wolfgang Klinger and locally based Marijan Crnaric, who’d helped arrange last year’s canceled show.

Zagar has only held the KDZ post for a couple of months, having been drafted to sort out the mess left by former chief Sasa Britvic. Britvic is currently under investigation for misuse of public money, including some of the euro 300,000-plus the city lost on the July 2006 date.

The new chief is sifting through all the paperwork related to the show but a fuller investigation is being thwarted by the fact Britvic emptied his e-mail boxes and wiped his computer hard drive before leaving office.

Zagar is looking to recover some of the losses, although that looks to be a lost cause as the city had no insurance cover in the event of the artist not appearing.

Croatian TV and radio news has also been reporting that Crnaric was arrested at 8:40 p.m. March 27, while trying to cross the Slovenian border.

The stories quoted a police spokesman saying Crnaric was held overnight for questioning regarding some business dealings, although he also pointed out that the matter had no connection with last year’s canceled Stones show.

At press time, Crnaric wasn’t available for comment.