Rolling Stones Postpone First Post-Altamont European Tour

London — The Rolling Stones, scheduled to start their first post-Altamont tour on May 8th with a sweep through Europe, have changed plans and are going to stay home until September.

"We're doing such a huge number," says a Rolling Stone spokesman, "that we couldn't get it together in time. When you have to move 20 tons of equipment, it's a question of very complex logistics."

On their American tour the group employed 12 equipment men. On the European gig now scheduled to begin in early September, it's anticipated there will be 15 equipment men, a surrounding party of at least 15 people and in each city 15 people will have to be recruited locally to set up equipment.

"We're going to take eight or nine weeks," says the spokesman, "we're not going to kill ourselves rushing through."

Still on the Fall agenda are stops in the Hague, Rotterdam, Vienna, Munich, Zurich, Berlin, Hamburg, Essen, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stockholm and Helsinki.

Also holding the Stones to home ground for the while is work that began on a new album of new songs just before Easter. The need to negotiate with a record company to distribute that album and those that follow it was an added factor in the group's decision to stay put.

This is a story from the April 30, 1970 issue of Rolling Stone.