Unearthed footage of The Stone Roses' 1990 Spike Island gig to be used in new documentary

3 June 2024, 12:27

The Stone Roses at Spike Island in 1990
The Stone Roses at Spike Island in 1990. Picture: Andre Csillag/Shutterstock

By Jenny Mensah

According to reports, the 1990 gig is set to be turned onto a documentary, showing the concert in full for the first time ever.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

A full video recording of The Stone Roses at Spike Island has been unearthed.

The legendary gig saw the Manchester band play the man-made park in Widnes, Cheshire, which overlooked the Mersey, on 27th May 1990.

A camera crew from Central Music TV were said to be present at the gig, but were told to stand down at the last minute.

However, according to NME, it has been reported that up to three hours of footage, including show prep and the soundcheck, which was shot by a crew member, is set to be used for a forthcoming documentary about the gig.

Very little of the live show has been seen before, with only 10 minutes of footage previously being used in Shane Meadows' 2013 documentary The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone.

Martin Cornell, who was a crew member at the time of the show and filmed the whole set from a scaffolding tower, said to BBC News: "I didn’t know that they’d pulled their cameras. I didn’t know that they weren’t videoing it. I was just there as an independent, working for my boss, basically, on a health and safety tip on my day off, and I had a camera. Nobody else did".

He went on: "I tucked it away with all my home videos and stuff like that. It went into a box. It got put away – not for future reference, it just got put away, as you do. I came across it again probably 10 years later and thought, oh that’s quite interesting, I’ll see if I can take this somewhere."

According to the outlet, the documentary, which will be directed and produced by Paul Crompton, will include the footage alongside interviews, 300 unseen photos and unheard audio of the band's pre-show press conference.

Watch this grainy fan-shot footage of the event shared by Emiliano Livelli on YouTube.

Stone Roses Spike Island 1990 Fan Footage Highlights

See The Stone Roses at Spike Island setlist on 27th May 1990:

  • I Wanna Be Adored
  • Elephant Stone
  • She Bangs The Drums
  • Shoot You Down
  • One Love
  • Sally Cinnamon
  • (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister
  • Standing Here
  • Fools Gold
  • Where Angels Play
  • Waterfall
  • Don’t Stop
  • Something’s Burning
  • Made Of Stone
  • Elizabeth My dear
  • I Am The Resurrection