Reading and Leeds Boss Insists Guns N' Roses Will Play

The Reading and Leeds festivals boss has insisted Gun's N' Roses will be playing the festivals after speculation on Twitter suggested the band might pull out of their headlining slots.

Melvin Benn has made the move after singer Axl Rose's Twitter account had apparently been hacked, reports NME.

A message was posted from Rose's account on Aug. 15 saying all upcoming tour dates had been cancelled -- prompting a festival spokesman to rubbish the 'hacked' Tweet, as previously reported by Spinner.

Now Benn has moved to put minds at rest, stating his belief that the band will indeed play. He said, "I'm absolutely confident about them showing up. There were probably four or five emails back and forth between 1AM (BST) and 3AM Monday morning. [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."

He 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 band play the Reading and Leeds festivals on Aug. 27 and 29 and also have a European tour scheduled for September and October.