Third miss for Stones devotee

Rolling Stones fan Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair, who has missed out on seeing the band in concert...
Rolling Stones fan Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair, who has missed out on seeing the band in concert three times. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.

Dunedin woman Michelle Chalklin-Sinclair was hoping it would be third time lucky when it came to seeing the Rolling Stones in concert.

But yesterday the veteran rock band postponed its April 5 concert in Auckland and concerts in Australia after the death of frontman Mick Jagger's girlfriend, L'Wren Scott.

Mrs Chalklin-Sinclair said the postponement was ''completely understandable''.

''I don't think there would be anyone that wouldn't understand why they rescheduled.

''It's a pretty tragic thing to have to deal with.''

She was philosophical about the show being postponed and said a Rolling Stones song summed it up best: ''You can't always get what you want''.

But she could not help but feel ''gutted'', as she missed out on her ''absolutely favourite'' band's previous two visits to New Zealand because of other commitments.

She could not attend the band's 1995 Voodoo Lounge tour Auckland shows because her wedding had already been scheduled for the previous day.

And when the Stones visited New Zealand on their Bigger Bang Tour in 2006, she was chief bridesmaid at a friend's wedding.

''I couldn't say I'm not going to be your bridesmaid because I'm going to the Rolling Stones' concert - but it did cross my mind,'' she admitted.

For the 1995 tour, she had considered rescheduling her wedding, but for her husband ''apparently that was a no go''.

She had waited for eight years for the band to play in New Zealand again.

The opportunity to see the latest tour was too good to pass up and her husband, Jimmy, had delayed knee replacement surgery so the pair could attend the Auckland show. The Stones are promising to reschedule their Auckland gig and Mrs Chalklin-Sinclair said nothing would stop her attending the Stones concert.

''I will go regardless. Even if Jimmy's in hospital getting a knee replacement, I'm there,'' she said, with a laugh.

The band released a statement yesterday which said it was ''deeply sorry and disappointed'' to postpone the 14 On Fire tour dates in Australia and New Zealand.

Almost all 30,000 tickets to the Auckland show had sold.

A spokeswoman for Air New Zealand said the company was being flexible with customers who booked flights to travel to the Auckland concert.

''Customers booked to travel to the concert who purchased their tickets on or before Tuesday,

March 18 are being offered the option of deferring their travel to a later date or changing their domestic travel destination on their ticket,'' she said.

Customers should contact Air New Zealand on 0800 737-000 for further information.

Jetstar spokesman Phil Boeyen said all concert-goers with air tickets would be provided with a voucher equivalent to the value of their fare to be used to rebook travel at a future date.

Affected passengers were advised to phone the Jetstar Call Centre.

Promoters told ticket-holders to retain their tickets until further notice.

A spokeswoman for touring company Frontier said it could not say at present when the Auckland concert would take place. However, those who could not attend on a new date would get a refund on their tickets.

- Additional reporting APNZ

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