Kings of Leon pull festival gig

Kings Of Leon tried to move their slot to the next day

US band Kings Of Leon were forced to cancel their headline performance at the Benicassim festival in Spain because of bad weather.

In a statement the group's publicist said that due to "high winds and the subsequent unsafe conditions" they made the decision to pull their Friday slot.

Maximo Park also pulled out, but sang on Saturday night instead and Lily Allen cancelled because of illness.

Friday ticket holders were allowed to exchange their tickets for another day.

'Logistically impossible'

Organisers attempted to reschedule the Kings Of Leon performance, but the band had to travel to Switzerland for the Gurten festival.

"They tried unsuccessfully with the Benicassim organisers to work out a way to make a performance work yesterday, exploring every possible avenue available to them," the band's publicist said.

"But unfortunately it proved logistically impossible. This is a very big disappointment to the band who were looking forward to performing in Spain at Benicassim as one of the big highlights of their summer of live activity."

Many festival-goers had their tents destroyed in the winds

A statement posted on Allen's MySpace page said: "Lily has been diagnosed today as having gastroenteritis by her doctor and has been told she is not fit to fly to Spain.

"She is very sorry to let fans down and hopes to be back to full strength as soon as possible."

Gastroenteritis is also referred to as gastric flu or a stomach bug.

A fire also broke out next to the festival site, but no injuries were reported and the blaze did not spread.

In recent years the Spanish festival has grown more popular with UK music fans as weather is normally hot and dry, unlike Glastonbury and other events which are usually hit by rain.