Rolling Stones Are In Halifax, But Keith Richards Won't Be Stoned

Halifax drug dealers may be in for a disappointment this weekend when The Rolling Stones come to town, as guitarist Keith Richards says he's kicked his longtime habit because they just don't make them like they used to.

Richards said in a Q Magazine interview excerpted by the U.K.'s Sun newspaper that the power and quality of his favourite narcotics have gone down in recent years, and he doesn't enjoy more modern designer drugs like ecstasy because they "mess with the brain."

The 62-year-old had a well-documented heroin addiction and was busted for drugs in Toronto in 1977, but things have apparently changed since then.

"I really think the quality's gone down. All they do is try and take the high out of everything. I don't like the way they're working on the brain area instead of just through the blood system. That's why I don't take any of them anymore. And you're talking to a person who knows his drugs."

Richards made international headlines in April when he had to undergo brain surgery after falling out of a tree while vacationing with fellow Stones guitarist Ron Wood in Fiji. He said that Wood had "nicked" his hammock, which is why he was sitting in the tree.

"My feet were only two feet off the ground — then whoops-a-daisy."

Richards admitted that he asked for extra morphine while in the hospital after the accident. Old habits die hard.

The Stones play Nova Scotia's capital for the first time on Saturday, and ticket sales are slower than anticipated. After selling 35,000 the day they went on sale on July 31, organizers have only sold about 10,000 more since then. Halifax Commons, a large centrally located park where temporary VIP bleachers are put up, can accommodate 80,000 people. Police are planning for up to 60,000.

The Stones played Moncton, N.B. last year and drew 80,000. That, combined with high ticket prices, could be hurting the Halifax show. Ducats are $116.25 for general admission, $317.25 for the VIP bleacher seats and $517.25 for the right to stand in a skybox behind the band. Tickets for the concert were selling for below cost on eBay this week.

"Sometimes you make big, big revenues and profits, and sometimes you make reasonable revenues and margins," promoter Donald Tarlton told The Chronicle Herald newspaper.

The Stones were scheduled to arrive in Halifax on Friday and stay at an undisclosed hotel for the weekend. But Tarlton doesn't expect them to be hiding out in their rooms.

"They want to enjoy Halifax and they want to enjoy soaking up the energy and the positive vibe of everything," he said.

Sloan, Alice Cooper and Kanye West are the opening acts for the concert, for which the Halifax Regional Municipality is spending $240,000 on marketing, street closures, community safety, public transit and cleaning up. The event is expected to generate millions of dollars for businesses in the community, and 350 locals are on the payroll for it.