The Stone Roses are a legendary British rock band from Manchester. While they only released two albums over 20 years and never had a number 1 single, their influence is immense. In 2011, they announced a highly anticipated reunion tour that became the fastest selling tour in history. Over three sold out dates in Manchester, the band proved the critics wrong by delivering incredible performances. With new books, films, and rumors of a new album being made, the legacy and influence of the Stone Roses continues to inspire new generations of fans.

1. VIVA’s TRIBUTE TO THE
GREATEST BAND IN THE WORLD
THE STONE ROSES
MANCHESTER and the rest of the world
have been going STONE ROSES mad this
summer. We catch up with some FAMILIAR
FACES who have been there from the BEGINNING
of this band’s INCREDIBLE JOURNEY...
photo: IanTilton

2. T
hey have only ever released two albums, taking an average of 5
years to make each one; they have never had a number 1 single or
album and despite rumours circulating for years following the split,
they hadn’t really spoken to each other properly until last year. Yet on the
18th October 2011 Ian Brown, Reni, John Squire and Mani sat together at
London’s Soho Hotel to announce that a reunion tour will take place. It is
believed that whilst Reni and Mani had made attempts to reform previ-
ously, it was at the funeral of Mani’s mother that Brown and Squire finally
put their differences aside and agreed to tour together.
The “homecoming dates” were originally 2 days at Heaton Park but when
both of those dates sold out within a matter of minutes a third day was
added making it the fastest selling music gig of all time. 220,000 tickets in
68 minutes to be exact! So why did they sell out so fast? Since their split
they had all individually had successes; Ian Brown with his solo career and
Mani with Primal Scream for example but as a united band they were a
formidable force.
The 8 months between announcing the tour and the Heaton Park Week-
end were certainly excitable with critics claiming that the dates will end up
being cancelled, that Brown’s voice isn’t what it used to be and that some
band members will change their mind at the last minute and not turn up.
But luckily none of those rumours were true - lucky for Mani too, who, after
checking his bank account to make sure he had enough money for milk and
bread discovered someone had put close to £2million in his account...the
Stone Roses are believed to have made a collective £12million over those 3
days – and on June 29th all four members stepped out on their home turf
and delivered a show that wowed the crowd and silenced critics. Fans sang
along to I Wanna Be Adored and I Am The Resurrection whilst Rock’n’roll
royalty such as Jarvis Cocker, Liam Gallagher and The Happy Mondays
and stylish celebrities Lily Allen, Holly Willoughby and Rio Ferdinand
rocked out in back stage and V.I.P area.
Photographer Ian Tilton was there from the beginning and was actually the
first to photograph the band with Mani (see the photo sequence on the top
of this page). Ironically enough, Tilton tells us, Mani’s face wasn’t actually
seen on the last photo because the band burst into fits of giggles after Reni
blew Ian a kiss... there are many of these kinds of stories that Tilton shared
with us having been the Stone Roses official photographer for the duration
of their career.
We ask Tilton to chose one of his favourite unpublished shots he ever took
of the band, he chose the one on page 82 which was taken outside Victoria
Station and has (until now in VIVA magazine) never been published: “this
is a really rare print as Reni didn’t turn up for the interview and photo
shoot as he couldn’t be assed and so we only shot with the other 3 Ian,
Mani and John, it was a notoriously hard photoshoot because none of them
really wanted to be there. I shot on inferred colour film, hence the psych-
edelic colour, pale and waxy.” says Tilton.
Tilton first met the boys in 1987 at a studio in Chorlton for their first ma-
jor music magazine interview and claims that their appeal comes from the
very individual characters that each band member has. “They are all lead-
ers, very northern and musically brilliant. But they are also human and by
no means perfect which makes them easy to relate to.” That could explain
why their audiences are made up of die-hard fans that saw them the first
time round and younger generations that grew up listening to their music
but never getting a chance to see them.
Over July Tilton held a photographic exhibition at the iconic Manchester
Photographic gallery in the Northern Quarter called ‘Set In Stone – The
Stone Roses’. The success of, Manchester Photographic keeps growing and
has seen some outstanding exhibitions come to the gallery including ‘The
Hacienda’s Thirtieth Anniversary’ as well as John Robbs book launch, ‘The
Stone Roses’. >
For biographer John Robb, his connection with the Stone Roses started
before they had even played any gigs; “I met their original bass player Pete
Garner first. He used to work in Paperchase records in the early eighties.
Pete was always really nice and loved music and we would chat. He told
me he was in this band. When I moved over to Manchester with my band
the Membranes we started rehearsing in Spirit studios and the Roses were
next door, we thought they looked pretty hard and they thought we looked
pretty psychotic! I saw Pete with them and asked to borrow some guitar
strings off them and they were really friendly and I’ve know them ever
since.”
His new biography The Stone Roses: The Reunion Edition is an 80,000
word update on his original book released in 1996 and includes all the new
stuff that the band have been up to as well as interviews (which no other
Stone Roses book has). Robb believes that the Roses may be the best musi-
cians that he has ever met with “a charismatic front man who captured the
baggy cool of the times perfectly.”
Ian Brown has confirmed this to be the best of them all with the catchy
quote “Brother John Robb knows. He was there.”
It isn’t just biographies and photo exhibitions that have been created in
their name; Spike Island is a film based on the Roses’ infamous gig in 1990
and follows a new up and coming band as they try to get tickets. The gig
that was later dubbed “Woodstock for the baggy generation” was consid-
ered a failure due to poor organisation and technical difficulties but writer
Chris Coghill believes that because of the sheer amount of people that
turned up (nearly 30,000) to support the Stone Roses it was great success
for the time.
Born and raised in Manchester, Coghill has been a fan of the Stone Roses
from day one claiming that “there is something romantic about them, that
they arrived at a time where society was changing and they pretty much
stuck two fingers up to it”. Although they don’t have an exact release date
yet, Coghill is confident that the film will be out in cinemas before the year
ends.
And a love of the Stone Roses isn’t all Tilton, Robb and Coghill have in
common. They have also hinted that the Roses are definitely releasing an-
other album very soon with Coghill confirming that a record contract has
been signed and Tilton mentioning that a few tracks have already been
recorded.
But for now, the Stone Roses are taking their reunion tour around Europe
and Asia before returning for a couple more UK dates at the end of summer
and after Mani’s constant comments that a reunion would never happen,
a new album certainly doesn’t seem like a silly idea considering what they
are currently up to.
Whilst the Stone Roses reformation has bought a lot of people a lot of hap-
piness, our thoughts and condolences go out to the family of 22 year Chris-
topher Brahney, who lost his life after he attended the Friday night set. ■
The Stone Roses official photographer Ian Tilton
The cast of Spike Island
Chris Coghill, writer of Spike Island
Above is the first shoot with MANI IN THE BAND. Photographer
IAN TILTON explains: “Mani’s face wasn’t actually seen on the
last photo because the band burst into FITS OF GIGGLES after
RENI BLEW IAN A KISS”
John & Ian at The Stone Roses book launch, Manchester Photographic
VIVA 83

3. Never been published before: Ian Tilton’s choice of photo to run in VIVA’s Stone Roses tribute Famously known photo of The Stone Roses at Spike Island
photo: IanTilton photo: IanTilton