Rolling Stones ready for Spain after 2006 cancellations

MADRID - After having had to cancel several concerts in Spain during last year's tour, the Rolling Stones return this month to play several dates, with the Barcelona Olympic Stadium gig on Thursday.

The band's lead singer Mick Jagger released a televised message Wednesday to greet fans ahead of the Barcelona concert.

"Sorry we had to cancel our concert last year. This time we're ready," was how Jagger, in passable Catalan, urged fans to come along to their opening "Bigger Bang" tour date, in the message broadcast on Catalan-language TV3 television.

Last year the band cancelled several shows after guitarist Keith Richards was injured after falling out of a coconut tree in Fiji in April and frontman Jagger then suffered a bout of laryngitis in August.

Their "Satanic Majesties" will play further Spanish dates in the Basque city of San Sebastian on Saturday, Madrid on June 28 and El Ejido on June 30 in the south.

This European leg of the Stones current tour began in Belgium on June 5 and is scheduled to end in London on August 26.