GWENT band the Manic Street Preachers could headline a Live Aid-style concert for the tsunami disaster appeal.

The band, who are originally from the Blackwood area, are among the top UK acts tipped to perform at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, where the huge fundraising gig could be held on January 22.

The event would have to be held before January 24, when the pitch is due to be re-laid.

Irene Jones, mother of the band's bassist Nicky Wire, told the Argus : "They said they will be going to Japan on tour shortly after that, although I am not sure exactly when."

Band members - Nicky, vocalist James Dean Bradfield and drummer Sean Moore - are already well known for their generosity towards charitable causes.

Three years ago James played a gig at Blackwood Miners Institute in aid of Kosovo, with Nicky's brother Patrick Jones.

The band also gave several hundred pounds to an Argus appeal to help a former college friend who was suffering from breast cancer.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has welcomed the plan and called for a "Welsh Bob Geldof" to get involved.

Talks for the Millennium Stadium concert are being held with "A-list acts", and it is hoped they could raise more than 1 million for the disaster appeal.

Paul Sergeant, stadium manager, has said the deadline to organise the event will be tight - as the pitch will be laid in the stadium on January 24, and nothing could be staged after that until the summer.

"We would like to do something to help the disaster effort because we have got in Wales the biggest indoor venue in Europe," he said. "The response to the disaster has been incredible and we would very much like to put our weight behind those efforts and raise another 1 million or more."