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Stone Roses play surprise comeback gig
Seminal indie band The Stone Roses made their live comeback at a surprise gig in Warrington last night (23 May), with PA from SSE Hire
The show at Warrington Parr Hall was be their first live performance for 16 years. Their first comeback show had been scheduled for Barcelona on 8 June.
But they announced the Warrington show just hours before the gig on Wednesday.
Admission wristbands for the free gig were made available to fans who turned up at the venue with a Stone Roses CD, LP or T-shirt. They were all snapped up within an hour of the announcement on the radio.
SSE Hire provided the PA for this one off event (L'Acoustics KARA) and are providing a Control and Monitors package for the complete tour.
SSE provided Stone Roses with their gear in the early days including the legendary Spike Island show, and as a lifelong fan, SSE MD John Penn was keen to be there.
"The emotional surge when they struck up the first bars of Adored shared by the expectant crowd was uplifting and joyous, a spine tingling sensation with a warm inner glow. If you were a Chelsea fan on Saturday when Drogba hit the winning penalty you would have been about half way to what it felt like!"
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View from FOH with the Midas Pro6 prior to the gig
Robbie McGrath, FOH engineer, adjusts the delay time in his custom built oak racks (built to order by SSE)
Monitor World with Digico SD7 mixer
SSE system tech, Pete Hughes (left), talks to Mark (Magic) Ellis-Cope, monitor engineer
Chris Courtney, SSE stage tech
The band ends their set at Parr Hall
The Manchester band recorded just two albums before they split up in 1996.
The reformed four-piece were not due to perform in the UK until the end of June, when 225,000 people will watch three shows at Heaton Park in Manchester.
They will also before perform at a number of UK festivals and embark on an extensive world tour.
Their best-known songs on the set list included I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs the Drums and Love Spreads - their biggest single, reaching number two in 1994.
SSE Audio Group MD John Penn commented on Facebook:
"We've just returned from witnessing the Third Coming. I've been to a few of these gig things over the years and that was pretty special. The great trick about rock n roll is it doesn't have to be perfect. That's not the point. The point is to share the joy and emotional exuberance of a magical musical moment. And that was a whole setlist of them."
Links:
Stone Roses Official Website
Released on 24th May 2012 (Ref. GP/YS)
