It’s 30 years since The Stone Roses performed their legendary gig on Spike Island. Gayle Ritchie looks back at the era-defining concert and explores the indie rock band’s legacy.
The date was May 27 1990. The venue was a man-made island in the middle of an industrial wasteland in Cheshire.
It was here, on Spike Island, that The Stone Roses headlined a gig that would go down in music history.
Around 28,000 Roses fans made the pilgrimage to the reclaimed chemical waste ground in Widnes to see the lads in action.
The band had just released their era-defining anthem Fool’s Gold and were pioneers of the Madchester baggy scene.
Formed in Manchester in 1983, the band’s classic lineup consisted of singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield and drummer Alan “Reni” Wren.
Spike Island
Many considered the Spike Island gig to be a hit-and-miss affair due to sound problems but the Bank Holiday Sunday event has become legendary over the decades with some describing it as “Woodstock for the baggy generation”.
The crowd went bonkers when the Roses opened with I Wanna Be Adored.
But the dry weather and thousands of feet dancing triggered a massive dust cloud to rise…with some folk worried it might be toxic!
The Roses took the opportunity to play their new single, One Love, at the show.
Other fan favourites included Sally Cinnamon, She Bangs The Drums, Made Of Stone. Where Angels Play and Standing Here.
Inevitably, the show ended with I Am The Resurrection.
In 2012, Spike Island became the subject of a feature film – Spike Island – starring Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke and Hollyoaks’ Nico Mirallegro.
“I was there”
Former music journalist Roddy Isles was 20 when he travelled from Dundee to watch the Roses headline Spike Island.
Roddy, who is now head of corporate communications at Dundee University, had seen the band play The Venue in Edinburgh on midsummer’s day the year before – on June 21 1989.
“My pal Paul Kiddie and I had fallen for the Roses in a big way in 1988, around the time Elephant Stone came out,” says Roddy.
“Of the hundreds of gigs I’ve been to, the Edinburgh Venue gig remains my favourite.
“That was the tour just after the album had come about and they had a magical glow about them.”
When the Roses announced they were headlining Spike Island, there was no doubt in Roddy and Paul’s minds that they would be going.
The lads got tickets via Groucho’s without difficulty – this was before the era of big gigs selling out months in advance.
“The coach to Spike Island was leaving from Edinburgh very early on the morning of May 27,” says Roddy.
“We persuaded a friend to give us a lift but only after we’d been to Fat Sams, our regular Saturday night out.”
Roddy recalls Spike Island as being a mixed experience.
“It wasn’t in idyllic countryside pasture – it was a scraggy, dusty strip of land right next to a chemical plant,” he reflects.
“The sun shone most of the day, making it dustier.
“There was no star-studded support bill – the other bands were Gary Clail’s Sound System and Thomas Mapfumo, a brilliant Zimbabwean musician totally unsuited to the crowd facing him.
“They had also famously mistakenly booked a DJ called Frankie Bones, instead of Frankie Knuckles, who spent hours reminding the crowd he was from `Brooklyn, New York’. By the time the Roses came on, it was a sense of relief as much as anything.”
While Roddy recalls the sound was ropey, especially in the first half of the set, the highlight for him was the final stretch of the anthemic I Am The Resurrection.
“That alone probably saved the day, as the whole thing had never really lived up to the ambition of what they were trying to pull off.
“Myth has overtaken the reality of Spike Island but it marked a point in time that felt important.
“Indie bands up to that point didn’t do things like stage massive open-air gigs.”
Roddy saw the Roses as being a “splash of psychedelic colour” into what was then an indie scene dominated by black and grey clothing.
“It was a combination of tunes, looks and attitude. And we were in that age range, between 17 and about 23, where you’re hit by the sense that this is ‘your’ band or scene. The Roses in particular were ‘our’ band.”
As well as Spike Island, Roddy has been to multiple Roses gigs, including at Glasgow Green, Aberdeen’s Music Hall, Glasgow Barrowlands, Manchester’s Heaton Park and T in the Park.
“I wore flares, Chipie T-shirts and Kickers. But I could have done with a Reni hat at Spike Island to save me from sunburn!”
Band history
In early 1989, the Roses released the singles Elephant Stone and Made of Stone.
They released their debut album, The Stone Roses, in May 1989. The album was a breakthrough success, many regarding it as one of the greatest British albums ever recorded.
This was followed with the single She Bangs the Drums, which gave them a top 40 UK hit, and a number one on the UK Independent Chart, and by that point they were selling out shows across the country.
The band gained widespread notoriety when, one minute into a live 1989 TV performance on the BBC’s The Late Show, the power failed, prompting Ian Brown to go mental and repeatedly shout “Amateurs!” at presenter Tracey MacLeod.
In November 1989 the band released a double A-side single, Fool’s Gold/What the World Is Waiting For”, which reached number eight in the UK singles chart.
Originally intended as a B-side, Fool’s Gold quickly became the Roses’ most famous song.
It gave them their first top ten hit and the album rose to number 19 in the chart early the following year.
In the December 1989 edition of NME, Ian Brown exhibited an extreme display of cocksuredness, stating: “We’re the most important group in the world, because we’ve got the best songs and we haven’t even begun to show our potential yet.”
Following the Spike Island gig on May 27 1990, the band released One Love, which reached number four in the UK singles chart, their highest placing yet.
In March 1995, two weeks before a tour in support of their album Second Coming, drummer Reni left the band, having fallen out with Ian Brown.
A replacement drummer was found in Robbie Maddox who had previously worked with Rebel MC.
John Squire announced his departure in April 1996, releasing a statement saying it was: “the inevitable conclusion to the gradual social and musical separation that we have undergone in the past few years”.
Simply Red’s tour guitarist Aziz Ibrahim was recruited as a replacement.
The band limped on for another six months, but the quality of their performances deteriorated, and Brown’s voice was described at two festivals as “so off-key it was excruciating to have to listen”.
The music press was united in its criticism, the NME describing “I am the Resurrection” as “more like the eternal crucifixion”.
Brown and Mani dissolved the group in October 1996.
Rock resurrection
When The Stone Roses announced they were reuniting for three comeback gigs in 2012, all 220,000 tickets sold out in less than an hour.
More gigs followed, including Glasgow Green in June 2013, plus they headlined T in the Park at Strathallan Castle in July 2016.
On 12 May 2016, the band released All for One, their first new single in more than 20 years.
A second single, titled Beautiful Thing, was released on June 9 that year.
When the Roses played Glasgow’s Hampden Park on June 24 2017, Brown addressed the crowd with the statement: “Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened,” leading many to speculate the performance would be their final concert.
On September 16 last year, Squire confirmed the band had dissolved.
Best buddies with Brown
For years, Tayport-raised music industry veteran Paul Smernicki worked with Ian Brown and describes the singer as a friend.
Paul, 48, relocated from London to Dundee in 2018 after leaving Universal Music – 17 years after joining the company and working his way up to become director of digital.
When he first saw The Stone Roses on Snub TV in 1989, he was 17.
“I was immediately smitten with their swagger and mystery which was balanced with the fact they all looked like a normal gang of lads,” he says.
“I had a big poster of Ian Brown above my bed and could never have imagined I’d be working with him in future.”
Paul describes the arrival of the Roses on the music scene as being like a “cultural hand grenade going off”.
“They were so relatable to so many people, especially guys, and filled with an ambition that was inspiring.
“They were so confident of themselves – some of the TV performances and interviews are cultural moments in themselves.
“The Roses and The Happy Mondays were definitely the Clash and The Pistols for that generation.”
Paul worked with Ian Brown since joining Universal Music in 1999 and says the singer is one of his favourite people.
“He’s funny, generous and down to earth – I absolutely love Ian.
“He’s one of the very few artists I’ve worked with I could call a friend. He was the only one that called me when I had my first kid.
“And one call I’ll never forget was about the Warrington Parr Hall gig in 2012 (the Roses’ first gig in 16 years).
“Ian called me the week before and said he wanted me to be one of the first to know and hear it from him.
“I went up to that with my Fiction Records compadres and we were like three wee boys, laughing our heads off at the craziness and brilliance of it all. That is a gig I’ll never forget.
“Even driving into Warrington that afternoon you could tell there was something important happening – a real vibe, almost like a big European football night. Pure electricity,
“And when the first notes of Adored started, the place exploded.”
Madchester
Madchester was the name given to the cultural movement prominent in Manchester in the late 80s and 90s.
The movement originally manifested itself as a youth music and clubbing scene, but later defined a whole era of sounds, fashions and attitudes.
It was around this time that Tony Wilson, owner of Factory Records, signed Joy Division, and used the money generated to open the Hacienda Nightclub. It instantly became a mecca for the Madchester music scene.
Clothes were loose, bright and designed to make a statement – think baggy jeans, tie-dye tops. bucket hats and in-your-face logo T-shirts.
Singles like Kinky Afro by The Happy Mondays, I Wanna be Adored by The Stone Roses and Sit Down by James flew to the top 10 of the singles charts and became nationwide anthems.
The “baggy” movement was short lived, peaking and dispersing within 18 months between 1989 and 1991.
Other new genres of guitar music were bursting onto the scene – Britpop, shoegaze and grunge – and Madchester was all but forgotten.
The Stone Roses slipped away, their subsequent work failing to match their critically acclaimed debut album, still regarded as one of the best British releases of all time. However their cultural and sartorial legacy continues to inspire.
Fashion
In 1989, Ian Brown represented an almost anti-fashion, with his dishevelled hair, oversized Adidas striped tracksuits, military jackets, Stone Island sweatshirts and iconic 1989 Paul Smith “Burning Money” T-shirt.
Meanwhile drummer Reni permanently sported his “Reni hat”, a kind of bucket headwear.
Other fashions of the time included stonewash Wrangler flares, bomber jackets, with brands endorsed including Gio-Gio, Ralph Lauren, Henri Lloyd and Fruit of the Loom.
The Roses in Aberdeen
Craig Turner was at a Stone Roses gig at Aberdeen’s Music Hall on December 17 1995.
The 41-year-old, who works as an engineer for a crane company, remembers the anticipation before the band came on stage.
“The atmosphere was like nothing I’ve seen or felt at a gig before or since,” he says. “The crowd was amazing.
“I remember Ian coming on and thanking us (Aberdeen) for giving them (Manchester Utd) their manager, Alex Ferguson.
“That sent the crowd even wilder.”
However, Craig – a talented drummer in his own right – says he was disappointed Reni wasn’t playing that night.
“The replacement drummer, Robbie Maddox, was a great drummer but it just didn’t feel or look right without Reni bobbing away behind the kit,” he says.
Craig’s not a huge fans of the Roses’ recent releases but he did go to see the band when they played T in the Park as part of their comeback.
“That was good to see from a nostalgia point of view but the magic had gone and it felt like a tribute act.
“I’m glad to have seen the ‘proper’ lineup. I just wish I’d been a little more sober but it’s all part of the experience I guess!”
“It didn’t matter if Ian Brown couldn’t hold a note”
Scott Elmslie, originally from Udny in Aberdeenshire, was another Roses fan at the 1995 Aberdeen Music Hall gig.
“It was my first time getting to see them,” says Scott, who now lives in Australia and works as an account director for a content marketing agency.
“I had hoped to see them at Glastonbury that summer but Squire broke his collar bone so Pulp headlined instead.
“As I recall, Aberdeen was quite late in the tour and there had been mixed reviews.
“Ian Brown was never known as the best singer and Reni was replaced by Robbie Maddox.
“I remember not knowing what we were going to get but not caring as I was finally seeing the Roses.
“Any concerns were blown away the moment they came on stage and started playing Adored.
“It didn’t matter if Ian Brown couldn’t hold a note as the whole place erupted and the crowd sang every word of every song. Good times!”
Brown’s antics
Ian Brown was jailed for four months in 1998 for air rage after a flight back from his live show in Paris.
While in Strangeways Prison, he wrote the lyrics for Free My Way, So Many Soldiers, and Set My Baby Free which were included on his second album Golden Greats, released in 1999.
Brown went on a UK tour following the release of the album including a concert at Glasgow Barrowlands that same November.
He initially refused to perform any Stone Roses songs on stage while a solo performer but still managed to fill his allocated stage time.
This often meant performing the same song twice during a set; throwing in some B-sides; or covering a song or two from Michael Jackson.
“The sight of Brown – shadow boxing around the stage in an Adidas tracksuit and black shades – singing Billie Jean or Thriller ensured those early gigs were far from dull, despite the lack of material,” says Roses fan and Courier writer Graeme Strachan.
He began including songs from the Roses back catalogue in his set lists in 2005, the same year he performed a headline set in a tent at T in the Park.
“Brown walked on drinking a pint of Tennent’s Lager before he threw the toys out of the pram,” recalls Graeme.
“He started play-fighting with a TV cameraman not long after taking to the stage and opening with I Wanna Be Adored.
“Things got steadily worse and he ended up throwing speakers off the stage before walking off when the monitor engineer refused to turn his sound up.”
Brown might have had four solo albums and a greatest hits album under his belt but that didn’t stop him from performing the same song twice on occasion.
Indeed, he played All Ablaze twice during his 2006 gig at the Rothes Hall in Fife.
“The lighting failed but the gig went ahead with what appeared to be an old air raid spotlight being used to illuminate the stage,” recalls Graeme.
A Bob Marley cover of Three Little Birds was also thrown in to the set list.
Spike Island 2020
Plans to host the first live concert in three decades on Spike Island on May 16 2020 – with a 30th anniversary tribute to the Stone Roses’ era-defining gig – were scuppered thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tribute band The Clone Roses were to have emulated the original set and dressed in early-90s baggy fashion.
The band would’ve been joined by other tribute acts paying homage to the Madchester years.
Support was to come from Oas-is, The Smiths Ltd, Happy Mondaze, The James Experience, and True Order.
Some familiar faces from the Madchester scene planned an appearance too, including Inspiral Carpets frontman Clint Boon, 808 State’s Andy Barker, Hacienda legend DJ Dave Booth, and Bez.
The concert was postponed until September 12.