The Diary: Star spotters on alert as the Stones roll into town

Keith Richards and Mick Jagger perform in Sydney last week. Photo / Getty Images

They're the highest-grossing band in the world who have just settled a potentially embarrassing lawsuit out of court, so how will the Rolling Stones celebrate when they jet into Auckland ahead of their concert on Saturday?

If their Aussie tour is anything to go by, expect septuagenarian shirtless rockers hitting the high seas and paps following in their wake, literally.

Last night they played the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, their last gig on a long Australian tour. But it was in Sydney where bandmates Keith Richards, 70, and Ronnie Wood, 67, made headlines with their superyacht shenanigans.

Richards is travelling with his wife, Patty Hansen, and Wood has his 36-year-old wife, Sally Humphreys, and his son with him. They stripped down to their boardshorts and soaked up the sun in style, cruising around Sydney Harbour on a luxury yacht. Onlookers likened them to two pale prunes. The weather is likely to dampen any boating pursuits in Auckland with more rain forecast this week. Pity.

Last week, Mariah Carey and her 3-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, and her 20-strong entourage, braved the rain for a brief excursion from her plush penthouse suite at The Langham for a slice of Auckland culture. No, not the Auckland Museum or Art Gallery, but a trip to the Louis Vuitton store where she guzzled champagne and splurged on a $5000 jewellery box. The diva's three limousines then travelled in convoy up Queen St where they headed to video parlour Timeout Gamezone for 45 minutes of arcade fun.

The Stones, however, are unlikely to be found at a gaming centre.

Insiders say organisers of the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards had hoped to get the band to the glittering ceremony tomorrow night at Vector Arena, where they could hobnob with Lorde, Supergroove and Ladi6.

But they are more likely to be dining at an inner-city restaurant and getting an early night in preparation for the only Auckland gig at Mt Smart Stadium.

They are said to be relieved that their legal battle is over with the insurers for cancelled tour dates last year, following the death of Sir Mick Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott. The insurers were refusing to pay the costs of the Stones' decision to postpone the Australia and New Zealand legs.

The Stones settled the $15.6 million claim on Friday but said they were "deeply upset" about confidential details entering the public domain, including court documents containing sensitive medical details about band members.