The Rolling Stones have again failed in their decades-long quest to bring their rock’n’roll circus to China, announcing that efforts to arrange two shows there next month had proved “far more complicated and difficult than expected.”
The veteran British rock act was originally scheduled to play Beijing and Shanghai in April, but was forced to cancel those and two shows in Hong Kong because of the SARS crisis that was sweeping through the region.
The Hong Kong shows — their first ever in the territory — have been rescheduled for Nov. 7 and 9, but their hopes of then playing the mainland have come to nothing.
“The band looks forward to playing concerts in these cities in the future,” read a statement issued by their New York publicist, who was unavailable for further comment.
In other news, Canadian retailers HMV Canada, Pindoff Record Sales and Sunrise Records are pulling all Stones product — including CDs, DVDs, videotapes and accessories — from their stores for an indefinite period of time, effective today (Oct. 28), Billboard Bulletin reports. The companies say the move is a response to the recent announcement that the veteran rock band’s four-disc DVD set “Four Flicks,” due Nov. 11 from TGA Entertainment, will be available exclusively through retailer Best Buy.
“Four Flicks” will be available in Canada only via Minneapolis-based Best Buy’s 14 Canadian stores and the 105 outlets of its Future Shop subsidiary.
HMV Canada operates 100 stores. Pindoff Record Sales operates the 102-store Music World chain, and Sunrise has 32 stores in Ontario. HMV Canada president Humphrey Kadaner warns that a similar policy will be in effect for any act that allows its products to be sold exclusively elsewhere. “If we’re not good enough to sell some of their product, we’re probably not good enough to sell any of their product,” he says.
Longtime Rolling Stones tour promoter Michael Cohl, who represented the Stones in the “Four Flicks”/Best Buy deal, declined to comment.
