August 23, 2009 12:37

Oasis cancel V festival Chelmsford headline slot

Liam Gallagher forced out of tonight's (Aug 23) festival-closing set due to illness

Photo Gallery: Oasis
Photo: pic: Richard Johnson

Oasis have cancelled their headline slot at the Chelmsford leg of the V Festival tonight (August 23) due to singer Liam Gallagher falling ill.

The frontman is suffering from viral laryngitis.

The Manchester band performed last night (August 22) at the Staffordshire leg of the festival, although after that set Noel Gallagher blogged that he too felt unwell, writing: "Don't feel too clever. Outrageous stomach ache. Feel like I'm coming down with summat (sic)".

Tonight's show was due to be Oasis' final UK date of their 'Dig Out Your Soul' world tour.

An Oasis spokesperson explained that the V Festival slot was the first European gig to be cancelled on the year-long trek.

"After a year of being on the road this is the first performance to be lost to a band member's illness, so naturally we are all completely gutted. Liam is resting up and should be fine to resume the tour next Friday (August 28) in Paris," they explained.

Ironically V Festival has proved unlucky for the band as it was during Oasis' performance at V Toronto that Noel Gallagher was assaulted by a stage invaded forcing them to postpone several North American dates last year.

Snow Patrol will now headline the V Stage at Chelmsford tonight.

NME.COM will be coming live from both the V Festival sites this weekend (August 22-23). Stay tuned to NME.COM/festivals/v-festival for news reports, blogs, video interviews and photos from the event. Plus get next Wednesday's (August 26) issue of NME for the ultimate V Festival review.