"No-one saw this coming," said Keith Richards. "Mick's always been my soul brother and we love him�we're thick as thieves and we're all feeling for the man�we really hate to disappoint our fans but we'll see everyone really soon."

"Needless to say we are all completely shocked," added Charlie Watts, "but our first thought is to support Mick at this awful time. We intend to come back to Australia and New Zealand as soon as it proves possible."

Guitarist Ronnie Wood said, "This is such terrible news and right now the important thing is that we are all pulling together to offer Mick our support and help him through this sad time. Without a doubt we intend to be back out on that stage as soon as we can."