Heaton Park - A Month On

Heaton Park - A Month On

 

I wanted to wait a while before i put my thoughts down on here about The Stone Roses playing their three comeback gigs at Heaton Park in Manchester. Not because i couldn't think of anything to write, but because i wanted to let the dust settle in my mind about just how good it really was. 

My initial reaction as i walked out of Heaton Park on the Sunday evening was that i had just witnessed probably the finest live performance in my lifetime. As i got back to the hotel in Manchester city centre i felt the same way. As i carried on drinking until 3am i felt the same. When i woke up bleary eyed and with the fucker of all hangovers on Monday morning i still felt the same. Would i still feel the same as the weeks passed by though? Would i still feel like it was a monumental moment when the effects of the booze and chemicals wore off and i had slipped idly back into the mundane and grey world of work?

Well, exactly a month has passed and I'm still absolutely convinced that it was magical and that The Roses are still the most important band of my generation. I can't think of a single other act out there who could gather together 75,000 people from all four corners of these isles for three nights running and create a vibe where everyone was buzzing and getting off on the music without the merest hint of moodiness - see Oasis / Beady Eye / Kasabian live for details of this - or the feeling you'd wasted your money. The closest vibe to it that i'd experinced at a gig previously was Paul Weller at Finsbury Park in 1996, but i put that down to too many beers and being off my tits on Ecstacy, but that's a different blog for a different day. 

Having opted to cram in more valuable drinking time, it was decided to give the support acts a miss. Which was a bit of a shame really because i fancied seeing The Wailers but hey-ho when the beers are going down nicely not even the prospect of Marley's mates could tempt us away. After getting out of the taxi -shared with an old Portsmouth 657 Crew fella, his teenage daughter and her very odd, pilled up older mate - and making our way into Heaton Park it was a relief I'd left my desert boots back at the hotel and opted for a knackered old pair of Adidas Rekord, because the place was ankle deep in mud. Never mind though, more beers were consumed - the queueing system appeared to have sorted itself out from the Friday when people snapped at the waiting time and stormed the bar - and the sun started to dip down behind the trees. We found ourselves a spot to the right hand side of the stage, supped up our beer (but didn't collect our fags) and waited for the strains of Stoned Love by The Supremes to come wafting out of the PA. As it did so the atmosphere changed and you could see and feel people start bobbing up and down in anticipation of seeing Brown, Squire, Mani & Reni come onstage and smash out the tunes we loved so much in our youth. As a footnote to this can i just say that trying to Northern Soul dance in ankle deep mud is not really advisable and you will get mud on your favourite Harrington jacket as a result. 

I won't labour the point or bore you with a song-by-song review because lets face it, we all know that the set list runs something like this and if you don't know any of these songs then I'm not sure why you've read this far...

'I Wanna Be Adored'
'Mersey Paradise'
'(Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister'
'Sally Cinnamon'
'Where Angels Play'
'Shoot You Down'
'Bye Bye Badman'
'Ten Storey Love Song'
'Standing Here'
'Fools Gold'
'Something's Burning'
'Waterfall'
'Don't Stop'
'Love Spreads'
'Made Of Stone'
'This Is The One'
'She Bangs The Drums'
'Elizabeth My Dear'
'I Am The Resurrection'

... which lets face it - apart from missing out Elephant Stone - is as good a greatest hits set as you'll get from any band. The stand out moments for me were a beautiful rendition of (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister, the absolutely nuts Don't Stop & The psychedelic outro of I Am The Resurrection. All topped off with an Olympic opening ceremony sized firework display to a soundtrack of Redemption Song by Bob Marley. You know it's been a good day when you manage to grab a cab back into town within 5 minutes of walking out of the gates for the knock-down price of twenty quid!

To all the know-it-alls and the 'i was there the first time round maaaaaan and they won't be the same' doom merchants, you were wrong. You were very, very wrong. They pulled it off in a way that will be talked about for years to come. In a way that made me look at the music industry today and wonder where another band like them is going to come from? A band with a front man as charismatic as Brown? A band with a guitarist as mind bendingly loud and brilliant as Squire? A band with a rhythm section of Mani & Reni that The Meters would be proud of? Let's face it, they are a complete one-off and for my money we'll never, ever see a band that can do what they do again. So a month later with the dust settled and my thoughts straight i am absolutely 100% certain it was by a country mile the greatest gig I'd ever seen.

As Mani said to the audience on the Friday night  "not bad for a bunch of old cunts!"

Rob H - Aug 2012 - dedicated to the memory of Chris Brahney. RIP kiddo - One love.

Stone Roses Inspired Art

Stone Roses Inspired Art 

by Carl Stanley 

 

 

Three very talented Stone Roses fans have each used their know-how and skills in creating their own very unique and beautiful pieces of 'Roses' inspired art. From mosaics and stone carvings to pin badges and t-shirts each one has caught the eye of many a Stone Roses fan on the net, and in some cases the band themselves.
'Stone Icon', 'Mosaink' and 'Minty' give some background on their art work.

Working under the name of 'Stone Icon' this Stone Roses fan's talent for carving stone has produced probably some of the most unique pieces of 'Roses' art-work with a wonderful collection of carved images and portraits of the band

'When I was in my mid twenties I was taken under the wing by an Italian sculptor ( Marcelo Nardi) who taught me a great deal but also encouraged my own style which is paramount to a carver. When I am carving you can guarantee that I will have some Roses tunes on...inspiration ey?...The buzz comes from when you know it is going to work, I only have one crack at it so when I see the form I want I have to admit I get a tad excited!. I never reproduce a carving twice so in turn each one is an original along with the stars that I like to add to them as they can have a magical quality. Before I begin a carving, off my own back or a commission I will always try and to get the photographers permission before beginning."

 Made of Stone

'It can take me months of deliberation/composition thought and basically headaches on how I want a carving to look. The recent Tilton Spike Island carving had been sat around for half a year before I touched it with a chisel. Just kept changing my mind. I just love to carve and if someone wants a commission then great. They know that they will own a unique piece of art that will last forever. I would say that my recent Spike Island carving which was featured in Ian Tilton's exhibition in Bedford, has proved to be the most popular to date.
The sizes will vary from the very small to a general increase in height and width. There is no small/medium or large, it just depends on the material that is available to me, which is usually Welsh or Italian slate. I would love to carve a huge image of Reni, he's the business ain't he?....and try and capture his fluidity....with some stars thrown in!. The price can vary from £50 to £400 and above......not that many £400 and above get sold though, especially these days.'

 

 

 

Return of the Roses

'Heaton Park meant the world to me, I was also lucky enough to be at Warrington and that was phenomenal, men crying, singing the chords and the feeling of happiness in that room was tangible, then I headed to Barcelona for 2 dates and that just pissed all over Warrington. Unbelievably superb!! And of course The Heaton Park gigs. A communal gathering of slightly older dudes having the best time - Great...still not come down from it I think!?!. As for a way to commemorate Heaton Park, I am not sure. Someone had suggested doing the poster as a stone one, like a big plaque, but it seems a bit final to me...like a memorial rather than a celebration and lets face it, The Stone Roses coming back has made a lot of people happy.'

A stunning piece of art I think most Stone Roses fans would love to see hung in their own homes is the beautifully detailed mosaic style portrait of Ian Brown, from his 'Un-finished Monkey Business' album its one of a kind and created by the artist Joel Turner aka 'Mosaink'.

'I produce art under the name ‘Mosaink’; a term I coined to describe my style, which is hand drawn mosaic patterns in ink. The Ian Brown ‘Unfinished Monkey Business’ piece was drawn with a 0.05mm technical pen on 8” X 10” heavy weight paper, anything much larger than an A4 would feel like a bit of a daunting task to embark on! I originally started it in April 2011. With the mosaic I kept doing little bits and then leaving it, so it wasn't completed until February 2012. All my pieces are one off originals. I usually post them to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, but I’ve not actually shown any of my work in an exhibition, yet!'

 

Monkey Business

'Unfinished Monkey Business- Ian Brown's debut album as a solo artist has always felt like a very special piece of work to me. I love its raw lo-fi feel, I always look for images with plenty of contrast and distinct features that will look great in the finished work. I do like drawing Ian Brown because he has an interesting face with sharp prominent features that I can easily pick out, he’s instantly recognisable to a lot of people, especially in Manchester where I've lived and worked for most of my life. I’ve always been a massive Stone Roses fan and have loved all Ian’s solo work, so they have featured in quite a few pieces over the years. I think it’s my way of expressing my love and respect for them and their art, a piece like the Ian Brown mosaic from start to finish can take around 15 to 20 hours or more to complete.

The monkeys in the image are because they are my favourite animals and they do pop up in my work quite a bit, either as the image or as part of the image. The chimp in Ian’s eye has featured in an earlier piece I produced; a wedding gift for my monkey loving sister. The pattern usually contains hidden images which are camouflaged within the detail; stars and hearts regularly appear alongside images associated with the subject I’m drawing. In other drawings of Ian I have hidden things like his astrological sign, dolphins and monkeys, the Adidas Trefoil; things which would be considered a part of his public profile.'

 

Spreading the Love
'I sent the finished ‘Unfinished Monkey Business’ piece to Dave Atkins (Stone Icon) after seeing the video of him producing the same piece in stone; I thought it would look nice above his fire place, and I can’t keep them all - it’s nice to spread the love around!. I've no idea if Ian has seen this piece but I would imagine he’s probably seen some of my other works; I did a collaboration t shirt with a clothing label called ‘Retreat’ and some of the players in Ian’s solo band have them (I've also seen a picture of Gruff Rhys- ex-'Super Furry Animals' wearing one). Earlier this year I ran into Maxi (the drummer from Ian's solo band) on Oldham Street in Manchester and he referred to me as the 'man who does the patterns'.

I was lucky enough to be at both the Friday and Saturday nights at Heaton Park, and from where I was stood the Roses were mind blowing. The atmosphere was electric; they were without a shadow of doubt the best gigs I have ever been to. The reunion has already inspired a drawing of the four of them together; I always love drawing the Roses and I'm sure they will be the focus of many a mosaink to come. '
Mosaink website; http://www.mosaink.co.uk/

Known as 'aguycalledminty' this fellas artwork has become quite popular on line with a collection of prints,
T-shirts and some pretty cool pin badges, again the work of another big 'Roses' fan Minty's work has caught the attention of many Stone Roses fans with his trademark colourful cartoon-ish style of Stone Roses images.

'I've been drawing and painting since I was old enough to pick up a pencil. Loved Music since day 1, I always remember my first LP when I was 7 which was "The Beach Boys greatest hits" never looked back. If I wasn't an artist I would love to been in a band. As for the roses work...I've basically been painting different images of Ian Brown for about 8 years now, beginning of last year I started to sketch and paint the roses on brown paper and it seemed to get a good response and then one magical day they announced they'd reform after yrs of speculation around it all, but it was happening and the Stone Roses commissions started coming in. '

 Style

'I think I've kinda got my own style, though I don't set out automatically thinking I'm gonna paint it this way...it just happens from an early sketch to a finished design / painting. A lot of my work I do commission wise comes from word of mouth. I usually hear how people have asked others where they got a piece of mine from, their reply "aguycalledminty" so this name stuck. Been using it for about four years ...even my kids call me it.
Studied art GCSE A level, even went to art college. But probably my biggest regret is not getting a degree for my passion. Cut a long story short at that age Id rather of earned crap money in an office job and going on the lash with the boys, what lad wouldn't at that age. It wasn't till I bought my first house at 25 I decided to get back into I. creating pieces from around the house. But I can honestly say that everything Ive done or created from then until now has all been from being self taught, I have a few pointers here and there in school- so that's probably the proudest achievement' in how I've created my work.

 

Limited

'The hardest piece I've took on would be the recent 'Stone Roses' in Japan and trying to colour a painting from a B&W photo. Most popular Id say are easily the Cartoon Roses. My Jaw dropped to see the pin badges sell out in hours and then again on the rerun. The 'roses' pin badges were originally limited to 100 pieces and I was adamant that they'd stay like that, but I've had countless emails and tweets to do a rerun,..so I buckled. But 200 sets out there now and that's me done, there may be other roses idea's in the future though.

I wasn't aware the roses knew about my work until I received an email from Mani one morning, my jaw dropped and my hangover soon disappeared. It means everything...and it means I'll just keep keeping on....and yeah, I was at Heaton on the Sunday. The place was rammed as you'd expect and full of mud. Didn't see or meet anyone with my tee's on though,.. though I wasn't looking because the atmosphere was buzzing and the roses were immense, I'd love to see one of their gigs in an arena.'

aguycalledminty website; http://aguycalledminty.bigcartel.com/

  © Carl Stanley / Casual Musings From Suburbia July 2012