The Rolling Stones postpone tour due to coronavirus

FILE: The Rolling Stones performing in Hyde Park, London on 13 July 2013 (Photo by Gorup de Besanez/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

NEW YORK — The Rolling Stones are postponing its 15-city North American tour because of the growing coronavirus outbreak.

The band announced Tuesday that its No Filter Tour, originally expected to kick off in San Diego on May 8, is postponed. They were to make a stop in Vancouver on May 12.

The band’s tour planned to visit other U.S. cities they haven’t played in years, including Cleveland, St. Louis, Austin, Texas, Louisville, Kentucky, Charlotte, North Carolina and Tampa, Florida.

“We’re hugely disappointed to have to postpone the tour. We are sorry to all the fans who were looking forward to it as much as we were, but the health and safety of everyone has to take priority. We will all get through this together — and we’ll see you very soon,” the Stones said in a statement.

Tour promoter AEG is advising concertgoers to hold onto their original tickets and wait for more information.

The Stones’ tour through North America last year was postponed after Mick Jagger had heart surgery, but the band rescheduled those dates and returned triumphantly to the road with a show in Chicago. Another of the rescheduled shows featured the announcement that NASA had named a tiny tumbling stone spotted on the Martian surface after the band.

The vast majority of people recover from the new virus, but for some, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.