Since Im watching Made of Stone, my Stone Roses moment: I saw their (pre-reforming) final gig at Reading in 95. Hugely excited by the prospect of at last seeing the Stone Roses, and not at all put off by the fact they seemed to be disintegrating, I went to the legal high stall and bought some various substances to enhance the experience. Sceptical the promises on the highs were overstated, I took far more than the suggested amount. The buzz before the band came on was astounding. I used to go to festivals and gigs all the time back then, but this was something else. As was my head. Which appeared to be a head shaped Studio 54 combined with a seventies CBGBs with the Ramones live. I was smiling so hard when they came on my lips were at ripping point. They came on with I Wanna Be Adored, and although Ian Brown was incredibly off key, i was too happy to care. I got as close as I could, but then the crowd thickened. Worried that getting too much into a mosh might overheat me, I did something Id never done before. FInding a wide-shouldered big bloke: bouncer type, bald head, sturdy, tall, I asked if I could get on his shoulders for a bit. He obliged, possibly terrified at the grinning, sweating madman asking. I climbed atop: a great view, the sound around me, the crowd below, the music swirling and people bouncing, and in he warm August air I was at one with the universe, with the band that Id adored when I was 15 just metres away, lost in sound, lost in the intoxicating magic of the moment, a planetary conjunction of wonder, heavenly joy....what life, what is is to be alive, what it is to be... Got to let you down, mate big baldy guy said slipping me off his shoulders Just Im getting a bit sore. You just drummed the whole of I Am The Resurrection on my head
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:55:03 +0000