Guns N' Roses Blast Reading and Leeds Festival OrganisersPosted on Aug 31st 2010 6:00AM by Julian Marszalek Comments (1)
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A furious war of words has erupted between Guns N'Roses singer Axl Rose and the promoters of last weekend's Reading and Leeds festivals following the band's two disastrous performances on Friday and Sunday nights (Aug. 27 and 29) respectively.

As reported on Spinner, Guns N'Roses had the plug pulled on them at the Reading Festival after taking to the stage an hour later than scheduled, thus potentially breaking strict curfew laws, while their performance at Leeds saw the band arrive a half hour late.

Posting on Twitter, Rose claimed that his understanding was that Guns N'Roses could play 23 minutes beyond the 11.30pm curfew, a claim strongly denied by festival boss Melvin Benn. He fumed, "So u know, we allegedly had a deal in place pre show w/the city at least at Leeds to do a bit longer performance that was either miscommunication, someone wasn't informed, changed their mind, didn't care or [it] was a con."

The claim has been strenuously denied by Benn. Speaking to NME.com, the promoter dismissed Rose's claims saying "bands often say things like that when they are curtailed."

He added, "There are rules we have to abide by here in the UK, they're very clear rules. It's not personal, I think the band are great."

It's doubtful that the feeling is mutual. Leaving the stage at Leeds, Rose said, "Be safe getting out of here. And for the problems with the cops and the promoters, f--- you."