Emotional rescue: Stones play here June 9.
Rolling Stones coming to Bell Centre for Grand Prix weekend. Start saving now
Confirming both the hottest rumour and the most poorly kept secret on the local concert scene, promoter Evenko has announced that the Rolling Stones will perform at the Bell Centre on June 9, which is also the closing day of Grand Prix weekend.
Fans who were disappointed when Montreal was not among the first concert dates announced April 3 will be delighted. But if you can, at least in this case, get what you want, it comes at quite a price: the most expensive tickets will be sold for an eyebrow-raising $635.
“I’m very, very happy we were able to pull it off,” an exuberant Jacques Aubé, Evenko’s executive vicepresident, said during a telephone interview.
The slight delay in getting Montreal on the tour schedule had nothing to do with glitches or challenges, Aubé said. “They wanted to see what was going on in Toronto,” he said. (The Stones added a second show at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre shortly after the first dates were announced.) “But it didn’t matter what leg (of the confirmed concerts) we were going to be on, as long as we had one coming our way.”
The promoter’s partner, AEG Live, was confident in the market, Aubé said, citing the Evenko-AEG relationship as one of the success factors in putting together the deal.
Aubé said the timing of the show was excellent. “The focus will be on Montreal — like every Grand Prix,” he said. “And on top of that, we’ll be offering the Stones at the Bell Centre. (Grand Prix promoter) François Dumontier is very happy about that. If we could, hopefully we’d be able to get them in early and put Mick Jagger or Keith Richards in a pace car. I’m sure they’re fans of Grand Prix. And the other way around also: Maybe some of the drivers or the teams that have won will want to be at the show and come and party.”
The Stones began to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a band with some shows in London and New York last year. Enthusiasm for the experience from Jagger and Richards, the group’s two leaders, made the 50 and Counting tour all but inevitable.
Apart from the standard lineup of Jagger, Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, former guitarist Mick Taylor, a member between 1969 and 1974, will make a guest appearance on the tour stops. The extent of Taylor’s involvement is not yet known, but his work on two of the band’s best-loved albums, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St., will add excitement to the event for many.
The iconic band’s last Montreal concert was at the same venue Jan. 10, 2006.
Tickets go on sale Saturday at noon. Prices range between $85 and $635. Phone 514-790-2525 or go to www. evenko.ca.