14/9/2007 | Clone Roses | Review and Photo by Barry Martin |
All the right ingredients were there: a swaying, seething, sell-out crowd and four cocky Mancunians with a set of belting tunes to back them up.
With more front than Harrods and Blackpool Pleasure Beach combined, these swaggering ‘aving it’ Northern boys magically transformed downtown Derby into rainy Manchester for one marvellous evening.
Beenie-hatted drummer Phil Bennett as Alan ‘Reni’ Wren and bassist Mike Bagshaw as Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield provided that distinctive Roses rhythm.
Tony Scott put in a superb set as the statuesque John Squire on lead guitar, switching from hypnotic finger-picking pop to soaring, swooping, psychedelic, pedal-powered, special fx stuff with nonchalant ease.
Orchestrating the sweaty, all night sing-a-longathon was the restless, simianesque Gavin Scott as the North’s No.1 favourite son, vocalist Ian Brown.
The C.R.s superbly recreated one of those hazy Hacienda Club happenings as they cruised their way through such classics as ‘I wanna be adored,’ ‘She bangs the drums’ and ‘Waterfall’ finishing with a fist-pumping, floorboard-bouncing, full-length ‘I am the Resurrection’ encore.
Top tunes. Top band. Top night.