The Rolling Stones Australian Tour 2014 Rescheduled Plans Revealed

While Mick Jagger is presumably jetting back to New York following the postponement of the Rolling Stones Australian Tour following the sudden death of his long-term girlfriend L’Wren Scott, his bandmates have offered statements of support to their frontman.

“No-one saw this coming. Mick’s always been my soul brother and we love him… we’re thick as thieves and we’re feeling for the man,” said Keith Richards in a statement yesterday, adding “we really hate to disappoint our fans.”

“Our first thought is to support Mick at this awful time,” said Drummer Charlie Watts who contests that the Rolling Stones “intend to come back to Australia and New Zealand as soon as it proves possible.” While guitarist Ronnie Wood said “we are all pulling together to offer Mick our support and help him through this sad time. Without a doubt we intend to be back out on that stage as soon as we can.”

Promoters Frontier Touring however have given a more accurate timeline as for the return of the Stones Down Under to play rescheduled dates, their first Australian shows since the 2006 A Bigger Bang world tour.

“At this very sad time we would like to reassure Rolling Stones fans and ticket holders that every effort is currently being made to reschedule the postponed Australia and New Zealand dates for October/November 2014,” reads a Frontier statement issued on social media. “…every effort is currently being made to reschedule the postponed Australia and New Zealand dates for October/November 2014.”

“Rescheduled dates are being presently worked on for The Rolling Stones ’14 On Fire’ Tour of Australia & New Zealand and will be announced as soon as possible. If the new dates are not suitable, rest assured you will be able to secure a refund.”

The promoters have encouraged ticketholders to hold onto their passes until the new dates are finalised and be issued with a new ticket, though fans are being given the option of a refund.

But as previously reported, those who splurged for scalped tickets to the Stones first Aussie shows in nearly a decade may not be so lucky.

“Consumers must be able to show proof of purchase of tickets in order to be eligible for a refund,” warned Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey recently; “If you bought your tickets through a third party, such as through eBay or a ticket scalper, this may be difficult to get.”

Particularly given Frontier’s negative view of the practice of re-selling and up-selling tickets to begin with. In the lead-up to Bruce Springsteen’s recent Australian Tour, Frontier and Mushroom boss Michael Gudinski damned “unscrupulous scalpers” and warned fans over being “duped” by online scammers for tickets to The Boss’ February dates, which eventually grossed $26.7 million.

Come time for Rolling Stones promo for the ’14 On Fire dates, Gudinski reminded patrons to purchase tickets from authorised ticket vendors and to be wary of resell platforms such as eBay, Gumtree, and Viagogo, for running the risk of being burned by scammers.

“Despite claims from many of these unauthorised sellers that they will guarantee tickets, evidence from numerous tours would suggest this is not the case, with many fans being defrauded or left standing outside a venue without legitimate tickets. I cannot stress the importance of buying tickets from authorised outlets only,” said Gudinski at the time.

The ‘14 On Fire Tour was scheduled to see the legendary rock institution playing five ‘one night only’ concerts across capital cities including a sold-out headline performance to an audience of 70,000 to open the refurbished Adelaide Oval, the band’s first performance in the SA capital in two decades.

In addition to the capital cities, the Stones were scheduled to perform a special outdoor concert at Hanging Rock in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.

Fans looking to get a refund for the postponed Rolling Stones dates can do so by contacting the following vendors: