MANIC STREET PREACHERS - WIRE APOLOGISES FOR GLASTONBURY COMMENT

MANIC STREET PREACHERS rocker NICKY WIRE has apologised for making a derogatory comment about England's legendary Glastonbury festival - and insists it was a joke. The Welsh rocker told the crowd at the event in 1994 the place was a "s**thole" and should be paved over to make way for a road. But Wire admits he made the statement in jest because his band was "teetering on the edge" at the time. He says, "It was supposed to be a joke. As I was saying it I thought 'This is going to be really funny'. Then this deathly silence descended on the place. "But back then it felt like we were aliens whizzed in from Wales with absolutely nothing in common with anyone else there. That's the stupid justification for what I said. We were absolutely 100 per cent alone and slightly teetering on the edge as a band. It was one of our greatest performances, even though it was deeply disturbing because of what was happening with the band. It was painful but glorious".