Review: The Stone Roses at Heaton Park
Roses Recap: The Stone Roses at Heaton Park
The resurrection had begun its process long before Mani had even begun to play the symbolic opening bass line of ‘I Wanna Be Adored’. With three dates at Heaton Park selling out faster than you could say ‘bucket hat’, it’d be fair to say the anticipation surrounding the Roses’ return was massive.
They’d played a select few European dates (which sparked ‘cuntgate’) and a last minute homecoming gig in Warrington, (to which fans were allowed free entry with a piece of Roses memorabilia, which was a nice touch); but this would be their real test, playing to over 225,000 fans in the space of three days. And they didn’t disappoint.
Although rain was predicted it didn’t really show up and with support across the weekend came from a varied bunch including The Wailers, Plan B, The Vaccines Beady Eye and Professor Green to name a few, everything was in place for the atmosphere to be a spectacular one.
And from the moment they came on stage, they had the crowd in the palm of their hand. They played a set compromising of nineteen songs, including the entire debut album with crowd pleasers such as ‘She Bangs The Drums’, ‘Fools Gold’, ‘Sally Cinnamon’ and ‘Waterfall’ ringing out triumphantly across Heaton Park.
The crowd, young and old, entwined seamlessly and the finale to the gig was one to savour. Started with a cheeky dig at the Queen, Brown sank into the only acoustic number of the night “Elizabeth My Dear”, before the real ending came. Or maybe calling it the beginning would be more fitting, for the climatic ‘I Am The Resurrection’ followed by a simply beautiful firework display set to ‘The Redemption Song’ by Bob Marley, represents a deeper sentiment.
It’d been sixteen years since they’d played together last and the band had stated all along that the real motivation had come from the promise of song-writing again. And after a performances like the ones they had given across the weekend, who’s to say they can’t pull it off all over again?
