Review of The Complete Stone Roses: Live at Glasgow Carling Academy

Introduction

The Stone Roses were one of the mainstays of the British Rock scene in the 1980s and their self-titled debut album still appears in top 10 greatest album lists. They disbanded in 1996 after bombing on stage at the Reading Festival, but their impact on British music and influence remains, spawning numerous tribute bands, the best of which is The Complete Stone Roses. They are: Scott Cowie on drums, David `Nelly` Nelson on bass, Andy Connor on guitar and Brian McGhee on vocals. During their winter tour, they returned to their native Glasgow for a sell out gig on December 1st 2006, with the following set list:

I Wanna Be Adored
She Bangs The Drums
Waterfall
Elephant Stone
Mersey Paradise
One Love
Sally Cinnamon
Fools Gold
Love Like a Fountain
Love Spreads
My Star
Ten Storey Love Song
Daybreak/Can`t See Me
Love Will Tear Us Apart (featuring Peter Hook)
Made Of Stone
This Is The One
FEAR
I Am The Resurrection

The 85 minute gig was filmed and is presented here on DVD.

Video

On a region 0 NTSC disc, the 1.78:1 anamorphic picture is standard quality for a live concert. With good camera placement, the footage is edited to give shots of the stage, band members and the whole venue.

Audio

The PCM stereo soundtrack is perfectly fine, though not outstanding, presenting the music well. At times the vocals are indistinct, but whether this is due to the soundtrack, the sound recording, or Brian McGhee`s singing, is impossible to tell.

Features

The 15 minutes of `Interviews with fans after the show` immediately follows the gig as the fans have left the building and give their adrenaline-fuelled `thumbs-up` at what they`ve just seen and heard.

The pre-gig `Hooky Interview` runs for 24 minutes, during which he talks about The Stone Roses, New Order and his own career. The volume is low and there are no subtitles to help out.

There is a 7-page biography which tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the band.

Conclusion

Tribute bands like The Bootleg Beatles, The Australian Pink Floyd Show and Björn Again have been around for years and, given their devotion to the music they are playing, they generally play their instruments as well as the genuine articles, only needing to emulate the vocals and stage presence to be indistinguishable from the real thing. The Complete Stone Roses know every chord and lyric off pat and, just listening to the music, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this concert and a recording of The Stone Roses performing live, thanks to McGhee`s creditable impersonation of Ian Brown.

The inclusion of Peter Hook playing bass and providing backing vocals on Love Will Tear Us Apart is good to see, but the fact that the song was so personal to Ian Curtis makes it a hard one to cover, but is clearly a fan favourite and went down well with the audience.

There is no DVD of The Stone Roses performing live, so this is as close as you`ll get and fans of their music will no doubt enjoy it for what it is, with imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.