No Stones In The Park

Live Nation chief ops officer John Probyn was so clearly unhappy about an inaccurate story claiming the Rolling Stones will play Hyde Park that he received an apology from the reporter who wrote it.

The piece, which appeared in London’s Evening Standard Feb. 10, said the Stones would play the royal park Aug. 12, headlining a “Best Of British” bill that would also include Adele and Blur.

LD Communications chief Bernard Doherty, who handles the band’s PR, and Live Nation were both quick to respond that the story isn’t true.

“Contrary to a totally inaccurate report in the London Evening Standard, the Rolling Stones wish to point out that they are not performing at any concerts tied to the 2012 Olympic Games in Hyde Park or The Olympic Park,” Doherty explained.

LN said the lineup for the London Live 2012 Celebration Concerts as reported in the Evening Standard is “not what we at Live Nation will be announcing soon and is based on unsubstantiated speculation.”

“It doesn’t do us any favours because it makes us look daft,” Probyn told Pollstar, saying he thinks the story was due to inaccurate reporting of a meeting concerning the Olympics and the live entertainment being staged in London during the summer.

“I told them what I thought of them,” Probyn said. “I got an apology from the reporter, who said he’d been misinformed.
“It’s a sensitive time for us because we’re in the middle of confirming acts for the summer and it doesn’t help when there are stories like this.

“The acts we’ve booked and the ones that we’re still trying to book will want to know why we didn’t mention that we’ve got The Stones.”

He said Rihanna, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Drake are the main acts to have been confirmed and that he hopes to announce more within a month.

The London paper’s report also suggested that there will be 14 days of free events in Hyde Park to coincide with the Olympics, with two paid-for, 80,000-capacity concerts taking place on the night of the opening and closing ceremonies.

There are 17 free to access days at Victoria Park and 15 days in Hyde Park.

The opening and closing ceremonies will be announced when the artists are confirmed.