GUNS N' ROSES Warned Not To Be Late For U.K.'s READING And LEEDS Festivals

According to BBC News, the boss of the U.K.'s Reading and Leeds festival has made it clear that if this year's headliners GUNS N' ROSES arrive on stage late, as they did in 2002, he'll pull the plug on their set.

Eight years ago the Axl Rose-fronted band was over two hours late at Leeds, and it landed the festival in hot water with the local council.

"If GUNS N' ROSES decide to take to stage as late as they did in Leeds some years ago then the performance just won't happen," Melvin Benn told BBC News.

"I've had a very heavy warning from the local councils. There is a curfew — it's a very strict curfew."

As previously reported, GN'R's late start at the Rock 'N Rev Festival in Sturgis, South Dakota on August 13 — where the band came on at around 1:00 a.m., nearly two hours after previous act ALICE IN CHAINS — was apparently due to a technical issue and not Axl Rose's well-known tendency to start shows hours behind schedule.

According to the Rapid City Journal, festival official Dan Catullo said that a switchover from festival sound equipment to GUNS' own gear took longer than anticipated and also caused complications with the festival's video crew, who were filming the event.

Catullo said that Rose, who is notorious for showing up late or not at all for concerts, was "the most insanely professional gentleman that I ever met. He came and did his job exactly as contracted."

The long delay led to a large portion of the crowd leaving before GUNS came on, while others hurled beer cans and other objects at the stage.

The Rock 'N Rev Festival, part of the 70th annual Sturgis Bike Rally, was the first U.S. concert appearance by GUNS N' ROSES in four years and only official U.S. show of 2010.