Title: Rolling Stones hire Rome's Circus Maximus for a bargain €8,000
Post by mojoman on Jun 22nd, 2014 at 11:42am
Rome officials criticised for hiring out 2,000-year-old Circus Maximus for a €6 million Rolling Stones concert - for just €8,000
Rome has been accused of underselling itself after hiring out the 2,000-year-old Circus Maximus arena to the Rolling Stones for just €8,000 (£6,400) for a concert tonight which is expected to gross more than €6 million.
The modest cost is dwarfed by the estimated €60,000 per night that the British band is paying to stay in one of the Italian capital’s most expensive hotels, where suites cost up to €14,000.
More than 70,000 people have bought tickets for Sunday night’s concert, at €90 each.
It will be held in the Circus Maximus, which was once the Roman Empire’s biggest stadium and had a capacity of 250,000 – about a quarter of the ancient city’s entire population.
“We’ve been giving away the use of ancient monuments at cut-price costs for years,” said Codacons, Italy’s consumer association, in a statement.
the council needs to set more appropriate prices for the use of Rome’s prestigious cultural heritage.”
Alessandro Onorato, an opposition city councillor, said the veteran British band should have been charged not only for the day of the concert, but for several days leading up to it, given that the construction of a stage and seating started earlier this month.
“They should have been charged from June 11 onwards, when work started on preparing the area,” he told Il Messagero, a Rome daily.
The Italian press were quick to point out that the modest cost of hiring out the Circus Maximus, where chariots once raced in front of Roman emperors and senators, was a fraction of the money spent by the band on the Hotel St Regis, which offers suites with Jacuzzis and a 24-hour butler service.
Fans of the Rolling Stones arrive prior to the concert of British band The Rolling Stones at the Circo Massimo venue in Rome, Italy (EPA)
The city council pointed out that the cost of the Circus Maximus was a fixed price laid down by law, and that the band had paid an additional €176,000 for extra police to provide security for the event as well as rubbish collection and other logistical costs.
Even so, the council said it was looking at the possibility of increasing the cost of hiring the arena substantially – by as much as 250 per cent.
The Stones booked 48 rooms at the St Regis Hotel for their roadies and staff, Il Messagero said.
Hundreds of fans gathered outside the hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of the band.
Keith Richards duly obliged, waving at them from the window of his hotel room.
His appearance prompted one fan to write on Twitter: “He’s got more wrinkles than the Colosseum.”
Notable for her absence was Sir Mick Jagger’s new girlfriend, Melanie Hamrick, 27, with whom he is reported to have struck up a relationship shortly after the suicide of his long-time companion, L’Wren Scott, in March.
The ballerina was spotted on the balcony of his hotel in Zurich earlier this month during a Stones concert in the Swiss city.
The Rolling Stones first performed in Italy in 1967.
Sunday’s concert is part of their “14 on Fire” world tour to mark their 50th anniversary.
Tickets to the event sold out within hours.
Once a venue for spectacular chariot races, and with Egyptian obelisks marking the two ends of the track, the Circus Maximus is now a pale shadow of its former self – a dusty, windswept hollow near the River Tiber where Romans walk their dogs and come to jog.
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