No Suede labour

By James Bryce

A ROW has broken out over claims that authorities in Murcia have forked out 400,000 euros to get British band Suede to headline at a local rock festival.

The culture boss was forced to step into the row insisting they had paid “at least a third of that” to secure the services of the London group.

Local councillors claimed that the town hall should not have made the huge payout to get the group to play the Estrella Levante SOS 4.8 Festival in May.

It will be the only Spanish appearance this year for the band, famous for five top ten singles including Trash and Stay Together.

Their hit album Coming Up shot to number one in 1996, with lead singer Brett Anderson becoming an overnight star.

British bands The Kooks and Editors are also due to play, while American bands MGMT and 70s rocker Patti Smith are headlining.

The festival is expected to attract a crowd of 80,000 people and so far over 25,000 tickets have been sold.

Tickets cost 45 euros per day or 70 euros for the weekend.