Stones concert interrupted while police search stage

The Rolling Stones interrupted their show at the University of Virginia’s Scott Stadium early today, as police officers and three bomb-sniffing dogs searched the stage.

The show resumed after about a 30-minute break last night. University, state and city police did not immediately return phone calls about the incident in Charlottesville and no announcements were made to the audience about the reason for the break.

About eight songs into the show, frontman Mick Jagger announced that authorities had told the band to take a 10-minute break. The stage and about the first 20 rows of spectators were cleared until police finished their work.

The Stones were making the first of only two campus stops on their tour, with the second coming tomorrow at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

The two shows are also the only ones on the A Bigger Bang tour featuring Trey Anastasio as the opening act. Anastasio, the former Phish front man known best for his live performances, has a reputation for drawing large college-age crowds.

Spectators lined the hills, streets and balconies around the 61,000-seat stadium.