Stage wheelchair access bit premature for Stones

Ageing they may be, but the Rolling Stones drew the line at an Auckland City Council demand for wheelchair access and a safety rail for their concert at Western Springs tomorrow night.

Production manager Robbie Barclay was taken aback when council officers demanded last month that the stage should have all the safety features normally required of a permanent building.

Admittedly, it's a big stage - 24m high, 63m wide and about 32m deep.

"It's the biggest touring stage in the world," Mr Barclay said.

But in Wellington, where the stage "just squeezes in" to the Westpac Stadium, it took only a day to get a resource consent for next Tuesday's concert. In Auckland it took a week.

"I think it's nervousness about Western Springs. It wasn't an easy or normal process," Mr Barclay said.

"No one ever asked for a disabled toilet. But they wanted a rail around the stage and a disabled ramp and steps and all that sort of stuff, as if we were building a permanent structure.

"The guys are very old, but none of them needs a wheelchair ramp."

In the end, the council relented. The resource consent, granted on March 31, merely requires "adequate toilet facilities for a proposed crowd limit of 55,000 persons", imposes a noise limit of 90 decibels at the residential boundary of the stadium and a closing time of 11pm.

"I'm not going to make a big thing of it," Mr Barclay said. "We got it in the end."

Tickets on the hill still available

The Rolling Stones are scheduled to land in Auckland today for the band's two-concert tour and tickets are still available from the official seller.

The band will play at Western Springs tomorrow night and at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Tuesday.

"There are still some tickets left up on the hill in Auckland," the tour's New Zealand publicist said last night.

Bidding for ticket re-sales on the Trade Me website was less than brisk last night.

A "general admission" ticket offered for $80 was struggling to attract interest.

Another ticket, offered for immediate sale at $100, had earned just one bid, for $50.