The Stone Roses and Support

[she bangs the drums]

Stone Roses better than I could have ever imagined, even Ian's voice sounded good, the venue was poor though, only allowing the first 20,000 in the front part, by the time I arrived at 6.30 the wrist bands had gone, 45 min wait for the bar, massive queues for the toilets, thank god the Roses were imense, venue 0/10, Roses 10/10, roll on Glastonbury 2013.

[fatyeti24]

i'd echo the above. i wasn't bothered about getting down the front, but the bar/toilet queues were big.

still, non of that comes close to impeding upon an amazing evening. Fools Gold will stay with me for a long time!

[ap3311]

Yep. The crowd segregation was the worst I've ever seen. I'm all in favour of a golden circle/VIP section but I've never known it to be so far back.

I paid £65 for a ticket and don't expect to be behind the sound tower just because I turned up a bit late. There was so much space in there too, they could have easily got another 4-5000 people in there.

Also disappointed with the lack of an encore. Sure, the fireworks were good but I think we'd all rather another song instead seeing as well... it's a gig after all.

Top performance though. Brown nailed it.

[ap3311]

And for everyone going tomorrow get there early if you want to have any chance of a decent view.

And wellies are probably a good shout. You could just about get away with trainers today but parts of it were very churned up by the end.

[Dan :D]

Managed to get a front pit wristband. When the Roses and Vaccines were on it was absolute chaos if it could have fitted more i'm glad it didn't the pushing forwards and to the sides was crazy but nothing you couldn't handle if you've been there before seen a few people freaking out like.

Thought the roses were top and Browns voice was decent. Would agree with the wellies my feet are throbbing like f**k after all the stamping on.

Oh and yeah beware for flying piss if today is anything to go by

All in all Squire is a legend.

[karlpowell]

Im off there today thanks for the reviews .....

[LOCHLAND5]

Gonna set off soon got a semi !

[stumabe]

Thought it was a great day in the main the wailers were great and stone roses were really really good fools gold was unbelievable!

Was in the front circle and don't understand how they could have done it differently really? First come first served seems fair enough to me!

BUT the bars need to sort themselves out!! Missed all of primal scream at the bar and when I finally got to the front they shut it for crowd safety, waiting another 20 mins for some security guy to tell us it won't reopen, because of this we left only for it to reopen 20 mins later JOKE!!

[fatyeti24]

the bars were a joke weren't they? i missed the wailers queueing for piss poor fosters at £4 a pint. and they had no trays so after all that waiting you could only take what you could carry.

in defence of scallies, they knocked the fence down at one point which shortened my wait and when i went back during the Roses there was no queue at all.

[FunkyChunkyMonkey]

There was a near riot erupted at bar to right of stage near gate 1. My friend got hit. Took her over an hour to get drinks in. Some of the security checked nearby pub was OK after the kick off as apparently some people had had enough and left. Not sure how true that is but security have said if repeat of that today, whole event could be pulled. Let's hope beer tents sort it out

[dannypal]

I'm staying at a hotel near Manchester airport. What would be the best way to get there and back? I'm going on Sunday Well excited!

[charley]

Anyone experience park and ride??

[Dougie Douglas]

Was nothing wrong with his voice, he can be quite ropey live a lot of the time, but was on top form last night. The Guardian review is just sniping for the sake of it, anyone who went there with the intent of enjoying the band got better than what they could hope for, great atmosphere, great show. Good luck getting a pint though. You get your front pit wristbands just to the side of the bars, only 12,000 available, but still managed to bag 5 half way through the Wailers, so not difficult to get if you know where to look. Hope everyone has a great couple of nights like we did.

[LOCHLAND5]

Hail stones in Heaton park. Immense !

[fcum]

Sorry for not posting this earlier as it's now too late for anyone tonight, but for tomorrow.

The toilets. Blokes, do not queue for the cubicles, there is a large urinal area behind the main toilet block. Isn't properly signposted. Ridiculous.

The pit. Me and my mate walked in just as the roses were starting, no wristband on. Even left to go to the toilet and came back in. Right at the front. It was rammed in there, my old legs are creaking today and I could hardly walk afterwards.

Getting back to Manchester. On the tram, don't go to Bowker Vale, walk to Prestwich which is north of Heaton park. This way there shouldn't be anyone already on. We got the first tram that came when we were waiting. Absolutely rammed though, to dangerous levels in my opinion.

Getting to Heaton Park. On the Tram, go to Piccadilly and get on there, no one was getting on at Victoria or Shudehill or Market St.

Booze - got a whole bottle of rum in a capri sun pack. Checks were poor.

Personally, had a great day out, The Wailers were great, Primal Scream did a good set, The Roses? Seriously I would only give 5 or 6 out of 10, but It was what I expected it to be. Although I do loads of festivals I don't do big outdoor gigs like this and for me the band lose quite a lot in a setting like that. I'll see them in two weeks at Benicassim, I'll report back if my opinion changes.

One other thing, pleasantly surprised at the demographic. I was expecting to be surrounded by old balding blokes (me) but there was a really good mix.

Enjoy it.

[Kite]

Went Friday and going again tomorrow. I know it was hard for some folk to get there early on a friday due to work. But we got up there when the gates opened, got our drink on without too much bother all day, and around 7 ish I'd had me fill anyhow. To be honest, if you're rocking up after 6 or around 7 ish, don't think you can complain too much about not getting front pit. Thinking tomorrow might be a bit more low key for me, although amazing, and I loved every minute of it, the whole of the Roses set is very hazy haha.

Hoping to remember things a bit more clearly come Monday.

[fatmess81]

just got back from last nights gig. wellies are a must, and if you can, smuggle a few cans down them as they dont check them. getting a beer is okay early on but does get busy as the night goes on...... waiting for a pee (for the ladies) go to the back of the arena as the queues are not as bad. For the people travelling by bus, beware of the park and ride situation as it is a nightmare. But the gig was immense!

[gazza_20]

so alot of people have said to take wellies?

[Guest manc_al]

so alot of people have said to take wellies?

[airds]

Went last night (saturday), went by coach, we arrived early, so went looking for a pub. Only one we could find was Heaton Park which had food stalls & a DJ, £3 to get in then when in it was £4.50 a pint and out side bar that ran out of all draught beers (at the same time?) and started selling cans at £4 a pop (which they opened), you should really avoid that pub.

We thought the supports were poor, beady eye had a couple of good songs, and everyone loved the oasis covers

IMHO the roses started strong, then it went a bit flat for a few songs, but fools gold was unbelievable, and for the rest of the set just blew me away, loved it

Bars were a joke but if you walked you could always get a beer without much queue (10 mins was the longest we queued), toilets had vast queues, but as fcum said there was un-signed posted urinal areas (the big red things next to the toilets), and there was a couple of toilets in the pit area

Food was the usual fare, except we all had 6 small spring rolls for £2 which we though was excellent value, but my lads mate threw up nearly straight after eating them, me & my lad was ok though, so you pay your money and take your chance

Mudwise, I had walking boots on, but my lad and his mate had trainers on, but it wasnt that bad. The pit had a mat down, and the only muddy bit was in the urinal areas, but the lads were ok.

Great day though

[The_Amazing_Oblong]

I went last night and used the Park & Ride. £10 per car, so with 4 of us it worked out at a nice cheap £2.50 each. We got there early, no traffic getting there, walked straight onto bus, no queue in or at the bar and then got front pit, centre stage. So it paid us to arrive at the start of the day.

Could have worn trainers as I didn't see any muddy parts and the pit has those metal boards like they use on festival walkways. The bar (I only used the one pit left as I was driver) got very busy later on. Wife managed to get out to toilets and back again in between support acts changing so I thought that was alright.

Except for the first band who I don't remember as we were socializing with our neighbours throughout were really very good. Professor Green isn't really my thing but it got people warmed up, Liam did well and got the crowd rocking with a couple Oasis tunes the highlight of which was Whats the Story. Highlight for me though was The Wailers who were skankingly righteous.

Roses were far, far better than I expected. I'm a bit of an Ian Brown fan anyway and have been to a few of his solo gigs over the years and have never denied his voice can be ropey at times. Last night I thought they pulled his vocals back into the band sound a little more and the sound was great. Sound tech wants a pat on the back. Mani was flawless although I've never seen a guy with more bass guitars seemingly using a different one for every tune. Reni drove them on in his very unique style and Squires guitar work looked effortless. I also was impressed with the way IB fronted by not taking focus from the others when it was instrumental.

Played everything I could have hoped for in the setlist. Every tune was a moment and just as you thought youd heard your favourite the intro chords to your next favourite started, truly an epic set with what seemed the entire crowd knowing every lyric and trying to outsing the guy/girl next to them. As the gig ended signalled by a big fireworks display I was touched to see the four of them getting into a group hug hopefully putting past animosity aside one of them shouting 'We're back!' right at the finish, and they are back.

Setlist ;

I Wanna Be Adored

Mersey Paradise

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 Drum

Elizabeth My Dear

I Am The Resurrection

Getting out was very busy as you would expect with 75,000 leaving at once. For the park and ride it's a 15 minute trek through the park and there were just thousands and thousands of people milling about. I saw one of the biggest queues ever and asked them what it was for and they said 'park and ride'. I decided to have a look and walked all the way down past the queue and carried on down the line of buses and simply walked straight onto one further down the line. Seems some had decided to form a queue and others simply walked down the road and got on the buses so it was a bit chaotic. Drove straight off the car park and hit no traffic at all on the way home to the midlands.

One memory I'll take away with me - Fools Gold

[bexj]

Fools gold was incredible - its never been up there with my favourites, but last night brought it well back into line. Awesome effort lads!

[LOCHLAND5]

Went last night twas amazing..............

I'd just like to says a big F off to greater Manchester police! Ha ha inches away from going in the van ! Tosser had me by the scruff of the neck !

[charley]

Nailed it last night, genius.

Pretty piss poor supports as far as i was concerned...

Dirty North - just a bunch of scallys, no talent on display

Justice Band - Excellent, just the best pub rock covers band

Plan B - Go back to plan A mate.

Wailers - Could have been anyone up there doing Bob Marley tunes, was alright i guess

Roses - ace from start to finish

Park & Ride - brilliant, got there early straight on a bus, got to venue got band for inner circle (who's idea was that? - why bother).

Coming back, best part of an hour to get out of the park then straight on a bus and out of car park in five mins. Result, cos i was kinda dreading it. £10 well spent.

[dannypal]

Strange night. Support wasn't great and food and drink was too expensive as usual. The stint roses were great but was kind of ruined by the fights, people pissing on other people and general twats. I've also not seen so many people do poppers! Have they only just got to Manchester? Because were I come from people stopped using poppers at the age of 14 lol

Any way was worth it to see the roses back together. Ian brown sounded good and they were all very tight.