"It's either us four or no four," claimed Ian Brown in 1989, and 26 years on from The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut, it seems he was right. This week, fans scrambled over themselves to get their hands on tickets for their latest batch of reunion shows. And this isn’t even the second coming, it’s the third. Jesus better watch out.
So just what is it that keeps us so infatuated with the motley crew of Brown, Alan 'Reni' Wren, John Squire and Gary 'Mani' Mansfield? The answer is far bigger than the band itself.
The Stone Roses were always more than the music - they soundtracked a social movement, dragging the "obscure, interesting" sound of house music, as Factory records boss Tony Wilson put it, from the bowels of the Hacienda to mainstream rock consciousness – guitars and ecstasy included.
Acid house found its partner in 60s psychedelica, and Madchester formed. The desolation of post punk obliterated with one big, happy smile. Warehouse gigs, communal spirit, music meaning something for the blossoming, chemically fuelled 90s generation. "It’s been quiet for 10 years, but now it’s 'appening" enthused Brown at the time.
The strength of the Roses’ debut LP in May 1989 catapulted them from Manchester’s bright young things to the musical saviours of the British Isles. Oasis’ Noel Gallagher remembers how "they opened the door for us and then we kicked it down and nailed it to the fucking wall."
But the instant success strained the band, who had shot for glory first time and hit the jackpot. Internal tensions saw them split by 1996, their Second Coming LP hastily shunned by critics caught up in the instantly accessible Britpop whirlwind the band ironically helped create.
And yet, the Roses remain symbolic of its birth. The forefathers of a period mythologised as fun loving, living free and optimistic, sharply contrasting our current age of austerity and Orwellian digital surveillance laws.
The band connects to the analogue generation that lived through it, and means as much to today’s digital youth precisely because they get a chance to inject real world reality into the videos and tracks streamed online. Today’s generation, currently devoid of true rock heroes, are forced to look to the past for any sense of mass social music movement. X Factor and Adele’s YouTube records are the main consumer currency.
This shift helps explain why poster bands like Blur and, more recently The Libertines, can return with such fervour. Like The Stone Roses, these bands split when still hugely popular. The sense of the incomplete taunts us, the allure of something too tempting to resist.
Most of all, however, the continuing hunger for shows reveals our desperation for bands that break the virtual world and unite us in reality, be it past or present.
The Stone Roses' upcoming gigs are below and tickets to the Manchester gigs are on sale now with T In The Park tickets also available.
Wednesday 15 June - Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Friday 17 June - Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Saturday 18 June - Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Sunday 19 June - Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Friday 8 July - T In The Park, Scotland
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