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To: stone roses list <roses-list@blob.best.net>
From: Peter Kirk <gm48@dial.pipex.com>
Date: Tue, 02 Jan 96 20:51:59 GMT
Subject: Wembley Review
stone roses wembley.
this was the best concert that i have ever been to. the atmosphere was fantastic,the group wonderful and well words escape me.tim burgess was sited by a friend of mine and we met up with about 12 people from my village by sheer fluke.the songs played were fantastic in mythical proportions:sweeping rhymic wonderful guitartastic virual poems were leaping from john squires guitar as he played like a guitar deity, john squire not sounding shit, fantastic drumming but with one beat missed on one song!!!!!!.the crowd was amazing except i seemed to be a magnet from people with entertaining drugs problems. the sort of same as normal live set was played and as an encore the stone roses roadies crew played purple haze, fantastic.
the manics were awesome too but there was a lack of available merchendise.
may the roses live forever
(as long as they can be bothered to produce new material)
Peter Kirk
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 05:42:10 -0800
From: rhall@uk.ac.bbsrc (Robin Hall) of St Albans, UK
Subject: Wembley Review
Apparently-To: roses-review@freestyle.com
Not a bad concert, I've seen them play better and enjoy it a whole lot more. I think the crowd in the standing area were a bunch of idiots, why did'nt they dance between bands and enjoy the funk? I was overwhelmed by a C86 (NME Crap Indie Compilation) feeling that things (Changed by 89) had gone back rather than forward. This was not due to the Roses but due to the fact that it was a trendy "media drugged" crowd in the Standing Area. I will see them again at a better venue and City.
P.S. (Non Concert Related) I met a English Lady working in Hong Kong who refused to come back to Britain, because she thought that British public opinion was controlled by the media! Does anyone agree?
From: Sujay Jhaveri <foolsgld@tribeca.ios.com>
Subject: MANCHESTER - LATE REVIEW
To: roses-list@blob.best.net
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 12:30:35 -0500 (EST)
Hey all list members,
I just got back from England a couple of days ago, some 10 days after both epochal Manchester gigs so here goes.....
Firstly, those of you who saw the Roses in the States have NOT seen the band as they are now. They are phenomenally better than before.
To see the band make a triumphant return to their capital city was an experience not to be challenged.
Everyone has posted their reviews. Everyone says they are magic. Everyone points to John as the master. There are no disagreements but I think I am the only one who can be remotely qualified (apart from the band and crew) to make a judgment on the difference between the US (saw three gigs) and UK shows (saw 4 gigs).
Firstly, they are just plain better musically now. It's clear that they know how to play their set and play it backwards it they like. Ian's voice is more commanding than ever and he even picks up a harp once in a while. That was very amusing. However, the two big keys in this equation are the crowd and Robbie.
You cannot even possibly imagine watching a hometown partisan patriotic posse of 5,000 strong Manc mayhem makers jump up an down incessantly. If there are no words to be sung, they'll sing the guitar lines..."da de da de da de dee de da de da de dah dahhhhhh" ("adored" isn't it obvious?). Then, manic chants of "Manchester ra ra ra Manchester ra ra ra" in between all the songs with arms raised in the air. What a fucking vibe!!!
Resurrection was clearly the high point with 5000 pairs of arms shooting into the air as the truly uplifting chorus rings across the venue. White light shining into the crowd and white confetti falling from the ceiling. It cannot possibly be described......and my attempt here does not do justice.
In terms of specific songs, Good Times is finally the bluesy, picker upper it was meant to be as Robbie has figured out that speeding the song up continuously is the key to its success. Love Spreads has left its "drag-slowly-as-if-puking-into-a-bucket" sound it had in the US and now John has mastered it BEYOND perfection. Tears was not showcased in the US and it was not the highlight in my opinion although watching John change guitars and whack into that glorious Jimmy Page-esque solo was a sight.
Apart from all that, the true key to this band right now, apart from the clear Squire magnificence and Mani's mastery of a groove is Robbie Maddix. He has become the drummer the Roses always wanted. He was uncertain and unfamiliar with the Roses thing when he was in the States and it showed in the way he played. Tentative. Little or no groove. Pure straightforward 8 or 16-beats where nothing short of a pure funk jam would do. HOWEVER, he is all that and more now. He's seen the bloody light!!! I can safely say, without a shadow of a doubt that Robbie is on a par with Reni. Sure he may not be able to do Shoot You Down or Fools Gold like Reni but he is BRILLIANT!! BIG DIFFERENCE between May and December.
There's so much more I can say. The surreal nature of the four/five of them walking up onto the stage at Wembley. From my vantage point, just watching them walk from being mere lads, to climbing the stairs onto the stage, into superstars was just weird, for lasck of a better word.
Here's my rank of the shows:
1= Manchester Apollo 22/23
1= Manchester Apollo 22/23
3 Wembley Arena
4 Sheffield Arena
5 Webster Hall, New York
6 Manhattan City Ballroom, New York
7 Trocadero, PhiladelphiaMake no mistake. The Roses are the best live act in the world. They are the best studio band in the world and given some level of productivity in the coming months, Great Britain will once again see the Stone Roses as the best band in the last twenty years.
Melodramatic? Damn right. I was there.
For those of you inclined, I delivered Altemessar, the tape we put together, to Simon Dawson, producer of Second Coming. Top man.
Feel free to mail me!!!
Cheers,
Sujay.