Stones rolling into Halifax: reports

A year after leaving Moncton, N.B. black and blue, the Rolling Stones appear ready to return to the Maritimes.

Two Halifax newspapers are reporting that the legendary rock group will receive approval from the city's regional council on Tuesday to stage an outdoor show in Halifax in September.

A site hasn't been determined, but one possibility is the Halifax Commons, a large park in the middle of the city that hosted Pope John Paul II and 80,000 Catholics in 1984.

According to the Halifax Daily News, sources say the concert could cost the city between $100,000 and $150,000 in security, traffic control and site costs.

That would seem a bargain compared with the $671,477 tab Moncton ended up footing when it hosted the Stones' first concert in Atlantic Canada last September.

City officials blamed the hefty price tag on spiralling costs connected to security, medical care and improvements made to the Magnetic Hill concert site, but said the concert succeeded in attracting thousands of tourists to Moncton.

The Stones are also rumoured to be playing Regina, Vancouver and Windsor, Ont.this fall.

With files from Canadian Press