2010.08.23 - 98.5 WNCX/Rock Radio - GN'R's Stinson On Cancel Hack Hell

GN'R's Stinson On Cancel Hack Hell

Guns n'Roses bassist Tommy Stinson has revealed the other side of the drama after frontman Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked.

On August 13 a false post stated that all GnR shows had been cancelled with immediate effect. That wasn't true – but even though Rock Radio very quickly established the real situation and was the first news outlet to confirm the announcement was untrue, many other news services continued to insist that Rose had indeed pulled the shows.

Even band members were left in limbo. Stinson tells Cleveland's 98.5 WNCX: "It's startling and it's stressful.

"You're thinking, 'I've got to get my life in order because I'm leaving in five days' – then you hear something like that coming down the pike.

"It's Sunday night and you're like, 'How am I supposed to deal with that?' Everyone's trying to figure out what's happening with it.

"Then I finally get the call that everything's fine. It's crazy shit."

Meanwhile, Reading and Leeds twin festival organisers have confirmed that GnR will be forced to finish their set at the agreed time, even if they hit the stage late.

Rose has a habit of keeping fans waiting, and when he played Leeds in 2002 he appeared two hours late, commencing the performance at the moment he was supposed to have finished it.

That meant the festival was in breach of its licence, and although local authorities and police agreed to overlook the incident, event boss Melvin Benn says GnR can't get away with it again.

He tells the BBC: "It's threatening the viability of the festival – it's really quite important. If they decide to take to the stage as late as they did in 2002, the performance just won't happen.

"I've had a very heavy warning from the council. There's a very strict curfew. We won't get away with it a second time."

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