Keith Richards' Collarbone Break and the Stones' Pragmatic Reschedule

In April 2015, Keith Richards fell off a bookshelf at his Connecticut home while reaching for a book, fracturing his collarbone. The injury hit just weeks before the band’s “Zip Code” tour was set to kick off in Europe, a tour already delayed from 2014 due to other health issues.

Rather than cancel, the Stones pushed the European leg to late May/June, giving Keith about six weeks to heal. At 71, his recovery window mattered, but the band’s calculus was simple: canceling would lose millions in sunk costs and disappoint fans who’d already rescheduled from the previous year. They also had a North American run immediately after Europe, so a full cancellation would have collapsed the entire 2015 schedule. The reschedule kept the money flowing and the goodwill intact—classic Stones pragmatism.