Ash to decide on festival gigs this Saturday

Ash will decide whether they can go ahead with their Leeds and Reading festival gigs after appearing on CD:UK on Saturday morning.

Drummer Rick McMurray is recovering from broken ribs sustained when the band's tour bus was in a crash in the US.

Rick thinks he can manage short appearances on CD:UK and on Top Of The Pops tonight, but he's not sure yet whether he will be able to play a full, hour-long set.

Ash are due to play the main stages at Reading on Saturday and Leeds on Sunday.

The band's manager Tav says a final decision may have to wait until the day of the shows, NME.COM reports.

Tav told www.ash-official.com: "Yesterday, I flew to Belfast to visit Rick. He is still worried about playing Reading. The band are due to pre-record Top Of The Pops tonight, he said he thought he could manage that and CD:UK this weekend because it's only one song.

"A full gig is a different matter of course and his doctor has told him that he could cause more damage to his ribs if he was to play for longer that 10 minutes (aside from the excruciating pain).

"So, the official word is that we are going to asses the situation after CD:UK on Saturday afternoon. Everyone else is fine apart from Mark, who does have whiplash and has been told by his doctor to wear a neck brace."