Clapton cancels Red Square concert

Monday, July 31, 2006

Moscow (Reuters): Rock guitar legend Eric Clapton has cancelled a concert in Moscow after officials withdrew his permit to perform on the city's landmark Red Square, he said on his Web site. Clapton had been due to play before 20,000 Russian fans on Thursday, rounding off the European leg of his world tour, but the show fell through at the weekend.

''Eric Clapton is extremely sorry to disappoint his numerous Russian fans but the circumstances of the cancellation are completely beyond his control,'' Clapton, 61, said in a statement. Clapton is the second big rock act to cancel in Russia this year. The Rolling Stones called off a June concert in St Petersburg to let guitarist Keith Richards recover from a head injury suffered when he fell out of a palm tree in Fiji.