The Rolling Stones have cancelled two shows in their 60th anniversary tour after frontman Mick Jagger tested positive for Covid-19.
The stadium-rocking tour had pulled into Amsterdam yesterday 13 June to play at the Johan Cruijff ArenA, when Jagger displayed symptoms and the gig was cancelled.
The following day, the band released a statement confirming that their 17 June date in Bern, Switzerland, would also be postponed, with the Sixty tour picking up on 21 June when the rock ’n’ roll institution play the San Siro in Milan.
“The Rolling Stones are deeply sorry for this postponement, but the safety of the audience, fellow musicians, and the touring crew has to take priority,” said the band, adding that all tickets remain valid and rescheduled dates would be announced as soon as possible.
pic.twitter.com/QAkS1mXjdyJune 14, 2022
“I’m so sorry that we’ve had to postpone the Amsterdam show with such short notice tonight,” Mick Jagger wrote on Twitter. “We aim to reschedule the date ASAP and get back as soon as we can. Thank you all for your patience and understanding.”
These cancellations show that Covid remains a disruptive influence on live music. But the Stones’ Sixty tour has up until now been a huge success, playing Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, and honouring the Beatles with a cover of I Wanna Be Your Man in the band’s first gig their in 50 years.
Last week, the Stones musical director and keys player Chuck Leavell spoke to MusicRadar about the tour, and revealed what goes into mapping out the setlist for the band.
“I keep a database of every setlist we played at every city on every tour,” he said. “And so here we are in Madrid. It was 2014 the last time we played here and I can see what the setlist was. And we played Barcelona in 2017 so I want to look at that to compare, just so we can make it a little different.”
Leavell promises there will be some deep cuts cropping up. But some Rolling Stones tracks are just too big to be left off the set.
“I won’t spill the beans but there’s one song now that the last time it was performed was in 1969,” he said. “So it’s fun to work on these and bring something fresh to the audience. It’s fun to be a part of making those decisions.
“That said, you know you’re gonna do Start Me Up. You know you’re gonna do Can’t Always Get What You Want. And you’re gonna do Tumbling Dice every night. And Street Fighting Man… Sixty-five per cent of the set you know what it’s gonna be, but you can fool around with the rest of it.”
See The Rolling Stones for remaining dates.
