The 27th of May 2010 will be the 20th anniversary of The Stone Roses landmark gig at Spike Island. To celebrate the anniversary we’ll be publishing a series of special commemorative articles.
Look out out for historical magazine articles and reviews, some classic photos, the odd download and maybe some surprises.
Of course a big part of the atmosphere was down to the fans. Please share your memories via our comments and if you have photos or anything else you’d like to share then get in touch.
As darkness descends, The Roses come further out of their shells, Squire’s guitar getting far heavier than the Manc rule book allows. Brown holds an inflatable glove aloft during ‘What The World Needs Now’, then boots it into the audience, and the huge disco balls above the stage reflect a spinning constellation of light points around the crowd. In the silence between ‘Made Of Stone’s power pop and ‘Elizabeth My Dear’s eerie rhyme, Brown carries on dancing like a mesmerised clubber caught unawares by the houselights. By now they have got it right. Arrogance and magic fuse.
NME 9 June 1990
Any news from ePaxB on the film footage?
By the time Spike Island came around i was fully hooked on the Roses. Evrything they did i wanted to hear and see. Unfortunately, i was 15 around the time of 1989/90 so money was scarce and getting to Spike Isand was impossible. I do remember the small advert in the NME for the gig, and really wished i could get to see them (the only gig i ended up seeing of them was Wembley 1995, drums weren’t the same as Reni). However, with the footage that was shown recently on Youtube, the reports of a lame gig looks flawed. The crowd looked mad for it, even more so than Blackpool. I’m hoping it will get a full release at some stage and that the actions of the individual concerned in releasing the footage on Youtube have not damaged any plans to do so….
All I know is that amateur footage does exist and something seems to be in the works.
Its time to re-assess Spike Island; it WAS an amazing gig, the crowd went mad for it and the band were totally phenomenal on the day, i know cos i was there; the next day when everyone came down from whatever they were on, there was a myth started that it wasnt a good gig; IT WAS AN AMAZING GIG…
i also was at spike island, when the roses actualy came on it was good but the hrs of crap we had to endure before that spoilt the day, thank goodnes for aceeeeeeeeed!!!!!.
if anyone one has the pics from face magazine of spike island, im the guy with denim shorts and blue tshirt with long hair, id love to get hold of those pics as my mum threw away the mag grrrr.
MLA design quotation : Sadkhin, john p “battling continual Pelvic ache issues using acupuncture.” dealing with persistent Pelvic pain issues using kinesiology.
im in the spike island edition of id mag n have a copy if u want it scanned in x