GIG NUMBER EIGHTY
Who
The venue was quite busy and it was quite clear that this tribute band have a mighty reputation: they were playing the main Academy, whereas the other two only managed the small Hop And Grape! The show opened in bizarre fashion as a solo performer with unspectacular hair took to the stage and sung some fairly tedious songs. It wasn't offensive, but was typical support act material. I wasn't paying much attention until he launched into Staying Out For The Summer by Dodgy. "What an opportunistic cover version!" I thought. But then I looked closer, took a bit of note of the voice, and realised that I was watching the ex-singer from Dodgy! I was gob smacked that I was witnessing him on stage, and am now able to say I have seen all the members of Dodgy live! Obviously I suddenly had a lot more time for him, and tried to follow the rest of his set. His rendition of Staying Out For The Summer was nicely sung, but no other Dodgy tunes followed. Sons Of Now were the second support. My gig notes state "a bit dull but ok" and I am unable to add to that as I have no memory of them whatsoever!
The Complete Stone Roses, who were on promptly after the support, obeyed the golden rule of opening with I Wanna Be Adored and closing with I Am The Resurrection, and the crowd obeyed the Mancunian norm of bumping into everyone and throwing beer around. Although I was fairly drunk myself, I just didn't feel like moshing, so had to take a few steps back to avoid being pushed around. I usually find myself on the right side of the stage so for a change I was on the left and I wonder if this made me feel slightly disorientated. The crowd were jumping on each others shoulders and singing a song about Manchester being wonderful, and Sons Of Now were watching the show at the side of the stage. As for the band, the singer was particularly excellent, Reni had his stereotypical hat on, the sound quality was great and, perhaps on a less positive note, the tunes were delivered fairly tightly and were not extended as I had seen before. They opened embarrassingly strongly with I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drums, Waterfall, Mersey Paradise, Sally Cinnamon, Elephant Stone, Love Spreads and Fools Gold, plus a brief snippet of The Hardest Thing In The World. I'm not sure if they squeezed in a few b-sides as well, but they certainly were intent on getting the already insane crowd going, and highlighting the brilliance of The Stone Roses from 1987 to 1989.
The second half of the show was far less captivating, featuring lots of tunes I don't know so I must presume were from The Second Coming. They were also the only tribute act to attempt Ten Storey Love Song, which was a good thing as I really like that one. They just seemed more accomplished, confident and realistic than the other two tribute bands, and I could understand why they are the most successful of the lot. Their encore was especially strong, featuring Made Of Stone, This Is The One and, obviously, I Am The Resurrection. The end of the evening took an inconvenient twist as the one bus that could get me home sailed past without stopping, leading to a late homecoming. Although I was perhaps a bit silly not to let myself go and mosh like a mad man, this was an entertaining night and, in addition to British Sea Power the next day, made a memorable farewell to the land of Manchester and my excellent run of gigs there.
Mark: 7.5/10
The Complete Stone Roses
Support
Sons Of Now
Nigel Clark
Where
Manchester Academy
When
19th November 2005
Price
£11.00
Who with
No-one
Position
Towards the front
Comments
In the last week of my four year residence in Manchester, I was fortunate enough to complete The Stone Roses Tribute Band Trilogy. And this was definitely worth it, as The Complete Stone Roses were the best of the bunch! Before the show I saw the already-forgotten Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. It was a particularly cold time, compounded by the fact that the heating in my house had broke, making gig-going an opportunity to keep warm as much as to enjoy myself! I failed to persuade anyone to come along with me (it barely seems worth the effort anyway) and got tickets on the door. I had been thinking of going for quite a while, but didn't decide for sure until the last minute. I had undertook no preparation, and hadn't heard The Very Best Of The Stone Roses (their definitive purchase - much better than the dire compilation The Complete Stone Roses) for a long while. I looked in astonishment at the Maths Building of the University which had nearly been knocked fully down and passed the time waiting for the bands shooting off txts. They were also playing Everything Must Go by the Manics in its entirety, which may be lazy DJing, but it works better than what places usually play!
