Øya 2012: The Stone Roses

Gaze drifting into a pink-tinted Norwegian sky, the opening riffs of ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ sneak up on an excited Oslo crowd. Unfortunately, you know it’s unlikely to be a great gig when after five minutes you’ve spent more time admiring the graphics on the surrounding screens than the action on stage.

In the centre of all this the group has gathered, looking like four factory workers that have just clocked onto their shifts. Ian Brown, where to begin? He could be an extra from Planet Of The Apes, dressed head to toe in denim, frantically shaking electronic maracas that don’t really give off any sound. As they head into a big chunk of lesser-known songs, the band slowly lose the crowd; of the 70,000 strong audience you can count the raving hands on two.

Something to be said of the drummer Reni and guitarist John Squire’s performances, they’re rock solid, tight and under control. Reni looks like he’s having the most fun; Squire looks a bit bored. His solos come and go, though don’t disappoint. But the group as a whole? There’s not much sense of them actually being a group on stage.

Suddenly Ian Brown asks, ‘Norway are you ready to put on your dancing shoes?’ The audience, half asleep, seem a bit apprehensive, but then the rhythmic drums and that all-familiar bass kick in and things start picking up. ‘Fools Gold’. What a song. Although Ian’s vocals are a tad too low, it’s definitely the high point of the gig. From here it’s all downhill again, and we leave, amongst many others, 15 minutes early. All in all, it’s quite a sad affair. Maybe The Stone Roses are back because they miss playing live, or because they need the cash; sadly I reckon it’s the latter. Whatever happened to all the heroes?