The Stone Roses played MSG, their first NYC show in 20 years (pics, video, setlist)
photos by PSquared
Kicking off with “I Wanna Be Adored” and finishing with “I Am the Resurection,” The Stone Roses were well aware of their debut album’s impact, not mention what the audience wanted to hear, at their first NYC show in over 20 years. We got every single song from that 1989 album and the crowd (not sold-out but I’d call MSG pretty full) was singing along to every note.
Admission: following The Stone Roses’ Coachella performance in 2013, where frontman Ian Brown was disastrously off-key, I was expecting very little, but the night ended up pretty great. The second half, around “Waterfall” was a giant singalong with North American fans from all over the continent who didn’t get a chance to see them at one of their 12 previous shows over here, a lot of expats (I heard David Beckham was there), and other fans. It continued through a terrific end run of “Made of Stone” (maybe the highlight of the evening), “She Bangs the Drums” and the the finale of “This Is the One” and jam-out “I Am the Resurrection.” The only song I really wanted them to play, which they didn’t, was “What the World is Waiting For.”
MVP of the night was indispensable drummer Reni whose lithe, funky touch is the band’s heart, and whose never-ending supply of floppy hats changed like Madonna costumes. John Squire, shaggy, bearded and looking the youngest of the bunch, laid down the licks with minimal flash (but lots of skill) and Ian Brown (mostly close enough to where the notes should be) seemed glad to be playing such a big room, but clashed with security — spitting on them, in fact — who rushed out a crowd-surfer toppled over the front barrier. Bassist Mani, meanwhile, laid down the grooves, no muss, no fuss.
I even enjoyed new song “All for One” which did nothing for me on the studio version. The whole show was a pleasant surprise (I did miss opener Rodrigo Y Gabriela entirely, though). Very glad I went. More pictures, a few Instagrams, and the MSG setlist, are below.
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SETLIST: The Stone Roses @ Madison Square Garden 6/30/2016
I Wanna Be Adored
Elephant Stone
Sally Cinnamon
Mersey Paradise
(Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister
Bye Bye Badman
Shoot You Down
Begging You
Waterfall
Don’t Stop
Elizabeth My Dear
Fools Gold
All for One
Love Spreads
Made of Stone
She Bangs the Drums
Breaking into Heaven
This Is the One
I Am the Resurrection
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