I am the resurrection

January 27, 2012 6:21 PM

After announcing their reunion, all 220,000 tickets for the first three shows of the Stone Roses 2012 world tour sold out in just 68 minutes.

New dates are being posted on their facebook page as they become available, mostly appearances at festivals around the world. Previous rumored efforts to reform the seminal 90s britpop band from Manchester never got off the ground, but this time it's actually happening.

The Roses in the blue previously.

posted by ancillary (77 comments total)

I somehow managed to read Stone Roses as Rolling Stones and got really confused by "90s britpop band".
posted by kmz at 6:26 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

Bah, never again. Never. Again. Back in 1995 (in an era before social media) I bought tickets to see them in Nagoya, and I took time off work to bus and train and subway in from the countryside to see them at the Nagoya Dome. And when I got to the venue there was a big sign saying "canceled". One of the fuckers had broken his wrist mountain biking outside of SF. Of course, Second Coming didn't help much.
posted by KokuRyu at 6:33 PM on January 27

I somehow managed to read Stone Roses as Stone Roses and got really confused by "90s britpop band".
posted by tapesonthefloor at 6:37 PM on January 27 [24 favorites]

alt-rock? groove funk? dark blues? I never know what the kids call it these days.
posted by ancillary at 6:50 PM on January 27

That first album was really great and was certainly a soundtrack to my life in that specific part of the 1989-'90's, but they are probably one of the most overhyped bands ever and I can't imagine how this won't be a bit disappointing. I hope they prove me wrong though, that would be nice.
Also I'm sure I won't be able to afford tickets if they ever come to Toronto.
posted by chococat at 6:52 PM on January 27 [3 favorites]

I thought perhaps this was a mashup of Rolling Stones and Guns and Roses...

these guys......never heard of them....
posted by HuronBob at 7:02 PM on January 27 [2 favorites]

I've never heard of the Rolling Stones or Guns and Roses.
posted by anazgnos at 7:09 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

I always preferred Rolling Guns.
posted by kmz at 7:11 PM on January 27

I thought it was "Rolling Thunder"
posted by HuronBob at 7:12 PM on January 27

That's $19M in just over an hour. And then they'll take it on the road. I'm impressed.
posted by Anitanola at 7:13 PM on January 27

I saw the Stone Roses at Davis & Elkins College back in '95. There were only about a hundred people at the entire event. It was the most Dionysian bacchanal I'd ever enjoyed. From what I've heard (from a brilliant and beloved English teacher), small, sweet, unpoliced concerts are a tradition there.

If you love your kids send them to D & E. They'll probably see the next Stone Roses before they go big. And grow old with wonderful memories.
posted by clarknova at 7:15 PM on January 27 [3 favorites]

I saw them at their (somewhat famous) Blackpool Empress Ballroom gig back in... '89 I guess. Back then as a student in the "Madchester" scene they really were huge.

Saw them later again in Rome at the Palladium (1995?) for their Second Coming tour. Gotta concede that Brown really is pretty weak live singer--although I've heard he's improved. Would love to see them if they make over to the US.
posted by NailsTheCat at 7:16 PM on January 27

Saw them at Spike Island in '90 and outside Chicago at a festival in '95. Ian Brown is one of the world's worst singers and the whole band was pretty shambolic at best (and there was that bit where he and John Squire nearly got into a fistfight at the '95 show, prompting Ian to storm offstage, thus leaving Mani to take on singing duties for a song and a half), and I for one CANNOT WAIT to see them again.

In the meantime, I luckily managed to score tickets this morning to Pulp's reunion show in San Francisco before it sold out, so this feels like Official Britpop Revival Day at Casa Scody. What's the under/over on Blur touring again?
posted by scody at 7:25 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

Scody I too am one of the lucky few that got Pulp SF tix before the scalper rampage this morning.

I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY

I would be mad psyched for Stone Roses if they hadnt had such a reputation as a terrible live act when they were in their prime.

After seeing what become of Happy Mondays at Coachella 2007, I just don't know if I could take that kind of disappointment again.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 7:33 PM on January 27 [2 favorites]

Fuck that. I never saw the Roses, but I saw Ian Brown doing support or at a festival or summat. The guitarist had laser pointers strapped to his fingers for some reason, and I think they only actually managed to complete 3 of the songs in one go. Utter, utter gash.
posted by howfar at 7:36 PM on January 27

Gotta be the most overhyped band ever, at least since I've been alive. I mean, they're OK, but I never got the adulation for these guys.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:37 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

I never got the adulation for these guys.

Me neither Decemberboy, and I'm glad someone else said so because I always kinda feel like I'm missing something when it comes to the Stone Roses. I always assumed they must be tremendous live, but I'm reading upthread that they're not known for their live shows.

(not trying to say "your fave band sucks" here folks, but I'd be interested if you'd point me in the direction of their best stuff)
posted by Hoopo at 7:42 PM on January 27

It's the first album, Hoopo. That's it.
posted by howfar at 7:44 PM on January 27

> I would be mad psyched for Stone Roses if they hadnt had such a reputation as a terrible live act when they were in their prime.

One of my best friends drove from Kingston, Ontario to New York City to see them in 1995...and came back real disappointed. Like, Phantom Menace disappointed.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:45 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

This is a perfect opportunity for a band to do one of those newfangled concerts where they just play their most famous early album uninterrupted and then leave.
posted by nev at 7:47 PM on January 27 [2 favorites]

The first album is great, and Second Coming has "Love Spreads" and "Begging You"...
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:48 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

I would have paid to see all 220,000 tickets announce the reunion. Did anyone get that for You Tube?

PS to Decemberboy and Hoopo. It's a generational thing. The generation of anyone who has been a fan of rock since the 60s, that is. That, and the transcendant experience of being among a packed stadium crowd when an utterly deafening explosion of crowd noise and sound system combine as the opening notes -- and the crowd reaction to them -- of "Start Me Up!" smash into your ears. The simultaneous physical sensation of a solid concrete stadium seat section floor rising and falling several inches in time to the music rounds out the source of the adulation. A pre-concert warm-up of a couple margaritas with a double Cuervo boost doesn't hurt either.
posted by Mike D at 7:52 PM on January 27

Mike D you just reminded me of this: "Tonight Indieclub brings you Colon".
posted by howfar at 7:55 PM on January 27

Oh... best album: Hot Rocks. Best Hollywood use of their music: 1. Opening scene of "The Big Chill" and 2. Whoopi trying to figure the computer access code by listening to Jagger sing "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in the movie of hte same name.
posted by Mike D at 7:57 PM on January 27

And you're also talking about the Rolling Stones.
posted by howfar at 7:58 PM on January 27

Oh man. I sae them before any of them were born in four separate living rooms.

Seriously tho. This really could go either way, huh? Jeez.
posted by nevercalm at 7:58 PM on January 27

Oh wow, yeah--watched 3 videos on youtube just now from the first album, and I have to say the guy that lent me a copy of "Second Coming" didn't do me any favours.


2. Whoopi trying to figure the computer access code by listening to Jagger sing "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in the movie of hte same name.

No you're wrong, the best use of Jumpin Jack Flash is a coked up Michael Keaton singing it badly and incessantly in Night Shift
posted by Hoopo at 8:00 PM on January 27

I still to this day think of "She Bangs the Drum" as one of the most perfect guitar pop songs ever
posted by kgasmart at 8:04 PM on January 27 [2 favorites]

OK... screen blur just cleared. Apologies for the interruption. Back to your track, folks, and sorry for thowing the locomotive onto a siding.
posted by Mike D at 8:04 PM on January 27

Who wants to see any act in a 70000+ seat stadium?
posted by octothorpe at 8:05 PM on January 27 [4 favorites]

Who wants to see any act in a 70000+ seat stadium?

Pubescent girls, hippies, and hippies who were once pubescent girls.
posted by swift at 8:15 PM on January 27

If they just play the instrumental portion of I Am The Resurrection for two hours, I'll be perfectly happy.
posted by schoolgirl report at 8:19 PM on January 27 [7 favorites]

Turn turn, I wish you'd burn...
posted by goethean at 8:23 PM on January 27 [3 favorites]

All you people complaining that you don't get why the Stone Roses are supposed to be so great are making me oddly nostalgic for what it was like to talk about music with girls at my university in 1990. So thanks, I guess.
posted by The World Famous at 8:35 PM on January 27

I like the Stone Roses OK, because somebody put "Beast of Burden" on a mixtape for me in high school. Never understood the hype, but my mom loves them. Like, LOVES.
posted by zvs at 8:38 PM on January 27

Oops, by "Beast of Burden" I meant "Shoot You Down" and by "my mom" I meant "nobody I know personally."
posted by zvs at 8:39 PM on January 27

Dear Stone Roses,

You had a fantastic start. Really, really awesome. Unbelievable. But then you fucked it up. I mean, you fucked it up royal.

You had your chance, and you fucked it up. No other way to put it, really. Sorry, but you're done. Fate in all her fickle aim pointed her finger at you, and you brushed it aside. And for what?

You can never go back. Thanks anyway, though -- that first album was great.

Best of luck in your future endeavours.

Yours very truly,
Capt. Renault.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:51 PM on January 27

Why don't you wankers shut up about the bleedin' Rolling Stones and listen to the long version of Fools Gold?
posted by Burhanistan at 9:04 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

Goddamit Pulp is coming to SF? I looked all over for actual tour info after they were announced for Coachella but saw nothing.
posted by Blue Meanie at 9:06 PM on January 27

You really, really have to give Second Coming a second chance. Really. I didn't get it into it until years after I bought it. It's on my phone (I don't iPod ) permanently and I love it.

And Pulp?!! Holy crap--why do I always find out after the fact. Although they're arseholes for only playing three dates in the US.
posted by NailsTheCat at 9:29 PM on January 27

Waterfall is just a killer track.

Yay heroin!
posted by roboton666 at 10:16 PM on January 27

After announcing their reunion, all 220,000 tickets for the first three shows of the Stone Roses 2012 world tour sold out in just 68 minutes.

As a side note, do ticket sales per-second have any relevance at all these days? Weren't most of these purchased by scalp... Er, secondary sellers whose lifeblood is speculation on concert tickets?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:21 PM on January 27

Watched several songs from the first album on YouTube .... Hmm, a poppier REM? Is that fair?
posted by msalt at 10:34 PM on January 27

It's only fair if you want a bunch of drugged out Mancunians to assault you.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:37 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

a poppier REM? Is that fair?

Nah. I'd have to back the drugged out Mancs. What part of "jangly" guitar isn't coming across?
posted by NailsTheCat at 10:41 PM on January 27

I don't blame anybody for confusing the Stone Roses with the Rolling Stones at this point.
posted by anazgnos at 10:52 PM on January 27 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty sure REM is the second most famous jangly guitar pop band ever, after the Byrds. Certainly in the Chronic Town/Murmur/Reckoning/Fables era.
posted by msalt at 10:54 PM on January 27

And... lamer piece of history:

Not that long after the Empress Ballroom gig (so '89/90) I saw a bootleg VHS of the gig available for sale. It was £14 (I think) at a time when my term's grant was probably £630. I bought in nonetheless.

It was appalling quality: shot from the balcony. The first five minutes consisted of the cameraman and his mates screaming "Get that fucking light out" when one of the spotlights on the stage for some reason was glaring into the camera. Utterly unwatchable.
posted by NailsTheCat at 10:56 PM on January 27

I'm pretty sure REM is the second most famous jangly guitar pop band ever...

Oh yeah? Well why does the Wikipedia Jangle Pop article read "Between 1983 and 1987, the description "jangle pop" was in the US used to describe bands like R.E.M., Let's Active and Tom Petty..."?

Oh wait. Hmmm. Let me recollect my thoughts and bake some humble pie.

(Although that article also describes the AWESOME Big Star as jangly and that just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe my jangle calibration is off.)
posted by NailsTheCat at 11:02 PM on January 27

Just read the REM wiki article, and the band says they were influenced a lot by the Byrds but more by Byrds-influenced bands including Big Star and the Soft Boys. I don't know Big Star that well to say but I can hear it in Robyn Hitchcock, who is friends with REM.
posted by msalt at 11:12 PM on January 27

Saw Ian Brown at a show in Hong Kong. He could not sing even a single note in tune. To this day I still don't really understand how he sang so well on first album.
posted by awfurby at 11:16 PM on January 27

That first album was really great and was certainly a soundtrack to my life in that specific part of

That's enough for me, thanks. Reunions almost always fail to measure up.
posted by philip-random at 11:16 PM on January 27

> I don't blame anybody for confusing the Stone Roses with the Rolling Stones at this point.

So leathery.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:20 PM on January 27

Leathery and wizened.
posted by anazgnos at 11:23 PM on January 27

I remember a long time ago (late '80s) reading about one of REM's influences being Big Star. It was a recurring theme. All these bands being influenced by a band I had never heard of. A friend splashed out on #1 Record/Radio City and we were blown away. (And then we saw them, well two of them with The Posies filling in for the missing members, at the Reading Festival in... '96 I guess. Alex Chilton was phenomenal.)

msalt, check out Big Star, do it.
posted by NailsTheCat at 11:25 PM on January 27

It must be the air up North. And the punishing amounts of booze.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:25 PM on January 27

It must be the air-ah up North-ah. FTFY.
posted by NailsTheCat at 11:31 PM on January 27

Fantastic they're getting back together. I was there in '87 rockin' out in the front row to Paradise City. Kids, you'd have to have been there to understand. Axl, we forgive you for Chinese Democracy.
posted by dydecker at 11:34 PM on January 27

From Pitchfork's review of the 2009 remastered first album:

The demos also officially confirm that, left to his own devices, Brown sings about as well as you do on a shit-faced midnight karaoke dare. But hey, he cleans up nicely. In fact, Brown's brooding, beautiful self-harmonies on the album may be one of producer John Leckie's finest achievements.
posted by pjm at 12:40 AM on January 28 [2 favorites]

I love me the Stone Roses. The first album is genuinely iconic. But going to see them live now? No way. Sorry.

Made that mistake with the Pogues in the late nineties when Shane MacGowan took to the stage so battered he could barely mumble his name. And then with Cat Power, who, despite her best efforts doesn't do live, apparently.

John Leckie rarely gets the credit for what he did on that album. I'm not going to let Ian Brown ruin my love of the Stone Roses goddammit.

Or something like that
posted by MuffinMan at 1:00 AM on January 28

bah yet another pointless re-union show. Loved the first album but I have absolutley no interest in these absurd re-union shows.
posted by mary8nne at 2:23 AM on January 28

(And then we saw them, well two of them with The Posies filling in for the missing members, at the Reading Festival in... '96 I guess. Alex Chilton was phenomenal.)

Not 96. The Posies were there - as I remember, it wasn't a terribly appreciative Sunday afternoon audience - but not Big Star.

Back on topic....

Stone Roses were the headline act at Reading that year, and it's gone into legend as possibly the most woeful performance ever by a major band. It was utterly shambolic - Ian Brown managed to sing in every possible key except for the one the band was playing. I saw people leaving in tears, and didn't stay too long myself. To this day, it's their last ever gig. (Big mistake on my part, should have gone to see Underworld instead. I've been kicking myself ever since.)

Won't be seeing the Stone Roses this time round either. No problem with bands getting back on the pension tour - saw the Specials a few months back and they were mightily awesome - and I'd like to see the band get a good payday, but been there, done that.
posted by daveje at 3:40 AM on January 28 [1 favorite]

My flatmate has tickets to one of the Stone Roses gigs and he's absolutely thrilled about it, but honestly there are a lot of bands I'd rather see.

I saw Pulp a couple of times last year and they were utterly utterly awesome. The atmosphere was just electric. And Jarvis Cocker dancing is a thing of wonder - all squirmy with five elbows. So if you can get tickets, go for it!
posted by badmoonrising at 4:47 AM on January 28

She was into the Stones when
I was into the Roses
She was breaking my bones when
I was bursting their noses
She would tell me a secret
I would lose it the next day
Young love pleases you easy
Makes you sick in a bad way
posted by chavenet at 5:41 AM on January 28 [1 favorite]

Sally Cinnamon, the first album, Fools Gold, One Love - all first rate. Everything after that, utterly disposable.
posted by stinkycheese at 6:22 AM on January 28

I would be mad psyched for Stone Roses if they hadnt had such a reputation as a terrible live act when they were in their prime.

Maybe this is sacrilege, but a lot of bands who were bad live acts when they were producing new music are great when they're on their reunion tour. I never saw a Pavement show in the '90s as good as the one I saw last year. And the Jesus and Mary Chain show in New York in 2007 was a spectacular contrast to the bored-seeming sets I saw them do in the early '90s (which, to be fair, was not exactly their prime.)

Anyway, with this tour happening, am I right that the last remaining "it'll never happen but nobody's dead and I hope it happens" reunion is Talking Heads?
posted by escabeche at 6:53 AM on January 28

am I right that the last remaining "it'll never happen but nobody's dead and I hope it happens" reunion is Talking Heads?

Nah. The Smiths? Husker Du? Abba?

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned that the original line-up of the Happy Mondays has reformed...
posted by daveje at 8:17 AM on January 28 [1 favorite]

am I right that the last remaining "it'll never happen but nobody's dead and I hope it happens" reunion is Talking Heads?

Nah. The Smiths? Husker Du? Abba?

The Osmonds clearly. Especially if Mitt gets the nomination.

Inaugural ball, here we come.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:07 AM on January 28

Everyone in Uncle Tupelo is still alive but a reunion is probably less likely than a Talking Heads one.
posted by octothorpe at 11:02 AM on January 28

Nah. The Smiths?

Morrissey seems to be very slightly warming to Marr, but I can't see the other two being interested. Although if they were, they'd bank a small fortune. I'm sure I could spend 90 minutes a night playing music with someone I didn't like, if the money was good enough.

As for the Roses, they were my favourite band for most of the early 90s (the five year wait for the Second Coming probably killed that off). I'm dreading this reunion - I'll still go see 'em when they play London, but I can't see them being any good (though escabeshche is hopefully right). Then again, one of my favourite gigs in recent years was the Pogues: Shane can't sing anymore, but the crowd was a joyous mass: dancing, jumping, singing and grinning, and that more than made up for the shortcomings of the band.
posted by Infinite Jest at 2:49 PM on January 28

I saw them in DC in 95. As with a few others above, I was in line, at the show, posted start time creeping up, then passing, then the show was canceled. When they played a make-up show some months later, I thought it was pretty good, but I can't recall seeing a band that was that contemptuous and egotistical towards an audience while delivering kind of a B+ show. And no, Second Coming didn't help things.

As a number of people have said, if they do something for you, it's really that first album and the singles in its wake ("One Love" and "Something's Burning"). I always thought they were a testament to the mercurial nature of collaborative creative processes. Jay Reatard said (at some pont before offing himself in cliched fashion) that people always said you had a certain number of great songs or great albums in you, but he always thought it was so many great years. So you'd better squeeze every drop out of them. When what you do is such an unpredictable, improbably combination of relentless focus, boundless energy, and hitting just the right spot on so many details, it all goes wobbly in no time. (Preternatural craftsmen aside.) Every good thing the Stone Roses did, they really did within the space of a year and a half or so. Then through a combination of terrible business decisions and letting their inner children run their lives, they sat on their hands for much of that critical period and couldn't muster it up again a few years later. One of those artists where I wonder what they might have done if everyone hadn't done the dumbest thing possible at almost every point.
posted by el_lupino at 3:36 PM on January 28 [1 favorite]

el_lupino, thanks for bringing up the issue of the Roses' (insanely terrible) record contract with Silvertone. The long hiatus between the first and second albums is often thought of now as simply indicative of their flakiness or self-indulgence, when in fact the delay was due to the long legal battle they had to fight to get the contract declared invalid (during which they didn't know if anything they created would wind up belonging to Silvertone, so instead of taking that risk they simply declined to make music). And while I'm definitely in the camp that Second Coming isn't all that bad (and even has a couple very good tracks), it's true that the intervening years killed off the spark and magic and rapport they all seemed to have.

As for signing that contract in the first place... well, it wouldn't be the first time that a group of working-class kids with no business background (and no legal training or even competent legal representation at the time) got taken advantage of by a record company. At the height of Roses mania in '89-'90, they were each only being paid (if I recall this correctly) something like £200/week. It's a funny thing that for all the cockiness they exuded, they had actually been pretty naive.
posted by scody at 4:25 PM on January 28 [1 favorite]

it's really that first album and the singles in its wake ("One Love" and "Something's Burning"). I always thought they were a testament to the mercurial nature of collaborative creative processes. ...Every good thing the Stone Roses did, they really did within the space of a year and a half or so.

I think one has to give credit to 'Elephant Stone' and the early b-sides as well, but certainly you're right that the album and the two singles afterwards were their creative peak. I'd argue slightly differently to your second point, though: the Roses were going for years before they put out that album, they had recorded 'Adored' and 'This is the One' as long ago as 1985 - see Garage Flower. To my mind they needed a lot of time to produce great songs. I'd suggest, more, that the legal dispute stalled them and they never fully recovered.
posted by Infinite Jest at 2:33 AM on January 29

Oh, and no discussion of the Stone Roses is complete without OneLoveStory, in which the author averes that Reni is the messiah . Or, at the very least, that the Roses were perpetuating a hoax on the music business (including the Reading performance) and never actually broke up.
posted by Infinite Jest at 2:39 AM on January 29

guess I'm the only one who prefers their second album to the first. what I love about the band is the guitar work, not the singing. I also liked the Seahorses album and even bought Squire's solo stuff in spite of his singing. I would love him to make more music with a decent singer, he's a great song writer.
posted by sineater at 10:50 AM on January 29

The Happy Mondays announce a 1 month full reunion.
posted by NailsTheCat at 12:28 PM on January 29

Blech, the Mondays would've been so much better if they all died during the recording of "Yes, Please". Here's proof.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:46 PM on January 29