August 18, 2010 16:46

Reading And Leeds Festivals boss 'absolutely confident' of Guns N' Roses playing

Melvin Benn reiterates that Axl Rose and co are still on their way

Photo: PA

Reading And Leeds Festivals boss Melvin Benn has told NME he is "absolutely confident" that Guns N' Roses will play the events, following Axl Rose's Twitter account suggesting otherwise earlier this week (August 16).

Following a festival spokesperson's confirmation that the band would play this year's festivals following the Tweet, Benn reiterated that Rose's Twitter page was hacked.

"I'm absolutely confident about them showing up," said Benn, before describing what action he took following the publication of the Tweet.

"There were probably four or five emails back and forth between 1am (BST) and 3am Monday morning," he said. "[Guns N' Roses'] agent was absolutely clear that it was false - it wasn't true. I think he was in the UK, but I think he'd spoken to Axl and he came back and said it was a false alarm."

Benn added: "Axl confirmed to the agent and the agent confirmed to us. When you look at the Twitter transactions, Axl's Twittering is pretty infrequent and has generally been from a mobile phone. This wasn't in Axl's style."

The festival organiser said his first reaction to the Tweet was one of "disbelief", before adding that he does not know why it is still visible on the site as of today (August 18).

"I didn't know it was still on," he said. "I don't know why it hasn't been deleted. It certainly is completely untrue."

The Reading And Leeds Festivals take place on August 27-29. Arcade Fire and Blink-182 are the other headliners.