Oblivious to the rising waters threatening the site, the crowd settled in to enjoy the DJs, who also included Dave Booth and Paul Oakenfold. We joked that it was from the chemicals underground because the site was an old chemical dump. Eventually, at around 9pm, the Stone Roses took the stage with the familiar bass intro of I Wanna Be Adored spurring the crowd into life. Ian Brown held a huge inflatable globe giving the gig its definitive image but it immediately became clear there were issues with the PA as the wind blew around the exposed island.
At the end of the day, we were on a peninsula in the River Mersey. The locals do refer to it with some pride to this day. For Jones , there was immense satisfaction, but his problems were still not over just yet.
I rushed over to where the ambulance was and there were guys there with oxygen masks resuscitating him and all four of them put their thumbs up. He came round and the next day the Roses went to see him in hospital and gave him loads of stuff. Despite the issues, the problems and the subsequent mixed reviews, Spike Island has gone down in history as a seminal event, forever mentioned on documentaries as the apex or even climax of what became known as the Second Summer of Love.
Even the Roses themselves tried to recapture the magic with their enormous Heaton Park comeback gigs in Four years later they would finally release their audience-splitting second album by which time the world had caught up with their vision and turned it into a money-spinning renaissance for guitar bands, many of whom had been inspired to pick up their instruments by Ian, John, Reni and Mani.
I went with a close friend who subsequently passed away in very sad circumstances, so I have very fond memories of our time at the gig, and I feel privileged to have been there. I often cycle down on the anniversary and it is tempting to go this year, but Covid says we should all stay away. For better or worse, the festival scene we have now is partly built on that event.
The Stone Roses at Spike Island. Spike Island pictured in May Spike Island. Stone Roses. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Here were 27, people crammed into a field surrounded by the chemical factories of Widnes to watch one of the most all-advised, badly organised and shambolic gigs ever held.
My memory tells me something different. I was 20 in , and had been working for a year as a trainee reporter at the Chorley Guardian in Lancashire. My relationship with the Stone Roses had begun the year before, when I found a loose cassette tape of their self-titled album under the seat of a train from Manchester to Wigan.
The Stone Roses fed my hunger for that, but also opened the door to the Madchester scene that saw the exhilarating collision of indie pop and house music. When the Roses announced a massive outdoor gig — after shows in Blackpool and at Alexandra Palace that had become the stuff of legend — there was no way I going to miss it. I think we said we were going to cover a flower show, or maybe a non-league football game. We loaded up with mates and booze and set off for Cheshire.
Spike Island was like Glastonbury, had it been organised on the back of a fag packet by half a dozen stoners in a beer garden. High metal fences gave it the feel of a high-security prison this was 12 years before Glastonbury installed theirs. As former The Face editor Sheryl Garratt told originals a couple of years back, the Spike Island gig was a core part of the euphoria and optimism of the times — a coming together of like-minded souls, dancing to a unified beat.
Came here from Irish bloggers FB. Great post. Love the Roses. Their first album was the first I ever bought. Skip to content. Like this: Like Loading Tags: Spike Island , Stone Roses.
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