August 20, 2006 17:29

Ordinary Boys forced to pull V Festival slot

The band have to take bassist to hospital

The Ordinary Boys have been forced to cancel their V Festival appearance in Stafford today (August 20) due to illness.

The band, who had never cancelled a gig previously, pulled out of their slot on the second stage after bassist James Gregory became unable to play.

Gregory was ill during yesterday’s Chelmsford slot, but became worse after the band arrived at Weston Park.

Speaking exclusively to NME.COM frontman Preston apologised to fans.

“We’ve never cancelled a gig before and yesterday when we played James soldiered on with flu,” he said. “But he’s been shitting and vomiting all night and his skin is nearly translucent so we have to take him to hospital.”

The singer added he was gutted to miss today’s show as he wanted to play fans material from their forthcoming third album.

“This is a genuine apology, we were going to play three new songs today which I was really looking forward to,” said Preston. “We want to make it up to the fans, so go to our website and suggest covers for us to play – the sillier the better – and we’ll do it the next time we play Manchester.”

A statement from the V Festival said that an unnamed DJ will play The Ordinary Boys’ slot.