Ian Brown : Manchester Apollo, 18th October 2004

There are a handful of groups that will always be remembered for creating the Manchester sound, which arose during the late 80's and early nineties. The Stone Roses are one of those bands associated with that era- and from The Stone Roses came Ian Brown.

It didn't require a rocket science to realise that tickets for Ian Brown's Manchester performance were going to shift quickly. Sure enough, in no time at all, every last ticket had been snapped up for his Manchester show.

Luckily eFestivals/eGigs managed to obtain a ticket as well, and got to witness what all the fuss is about.

Looking around the venue there were plenty of the stereotypical Noel Gallagher imitators, and the dominance of Manchester phrases like 'alright, our kid'. The stage was covered with a huge red theatrical curtain, which was only lifted once Mr Ian Brown had finally got onto the stage.

Opening with 'Solarised', which funnily enough is also the name of his most recent album- the adoring fans just lapped up every flicker of movement from their Mancunian rock god. He strolled from each side of the stage with his cocky strut that only Ian Brown can pull off.



So as I waited in anticipation for the usual tricks of the trade- like performing mainly tracks from his latest album and plugging it to death- I was mightily surprised by the fact that this didn't happen. Not once did Mr Brown mention anything about his new album, and after playing 'Solarised' he jumped straight into a bunch of Stone Roses songs, which included 'Made Of Stone', 'Waterfall' and the classic 'Sugar Spun Spider'.

Obviously it was only a matter of time before he threw a few of his solo tracks in such as 'Dolphins Were Monkeys', and 'F.E.A.R'. Which are an absolute pleasure to listen to. To say these were crowd favourites would be an understatement.

Ian finished the set with 'Keep What Ya Got', accompanied with a special guest called Noel Gallagher (from some Manchester band called Oasis!!!). Ian then waved bye to the crowd, but there was no way the crowd were going to let him off that easily. So after a few minutes of hardcore chanting by the loyal fans- He happily returned to perform a storming version of the Stone Roses classic 'I Wanna Be Adored'.


What more could anyone ask for- a night full of Stone Roses tracks and special appearance from Noel Gallagher as well being in the same room as the incredible Ian Brown.

A superb gig, Ian Brown is at his absolute best, and who knows maybe a Stone Roses reunion isn't that far away!!

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