1998 was the year in which Britney Spears released her debut single 'Baby One More Time', Google was founded, Frank Sinatra died, the first ever MP3 player was available in the UK, France won the World Cup, if you wanted to watch a movie at home, you'd rent it on a video from Blockbuster as the DVD still hadn't been invented, and it was also the year the Spice Girls had the Christmas number one for the third year in a row.
1998 was also the year four lads from St Helens formed a tribute to legendary Manchester band The Stone Roses. Playing all the band's huge anthems such as 'I Am The Resurrection', 'She Bangs The Drums', 'Waterfall', 'Sally Cinnamon', 'This Is The One', 'Made Of Stone' and so many more, they called themselves 'The Clone Roses', and little did they know that almost three decades on they would be one of the most popular, successful, and recognised tribute bands in the world, ever. Back then, the tribute scene was nowhere near as popular as it is now, but The Clone Roses quickly established themselves and became a brand of their own. They've followed in the footsteps of Ian Brown, John Squire, Mani and Reni and sold-out Blackpool Empress Ballroom and Spike Island in Cheshire, with Spike Island The Resurrection becoming one of the world's biggest ever tribute festivals. That event took place in July 2021 and was the first festival in the UK to take place after the Covid-19 pandemic, and took place a year later than originally planned because of the lockdowns. This year will be the 35th anniversary of the legendary Stone Roses concert which took place on Spike Island in 1990, and to celebrate the event, The Clone Roses will be reliving the Spike Island Resurrection show with a special night at Manchester's O2 Ritz on Saturday May 17th. Joining the lineup will be James tribute 'Born Of Frustration - The James Experience', Oasis tribute 'Definitely Mightbe', and Happy Mondays tribute 'Happy Mondaze'. I will be DJing the night which promises to be as big a celebration of Manchester Music as the Spike Island Resurrection show itself. I've been working with The Clone Roses for over almost all of those 27 years and to still be great friends with them and work on many of their gigs is something I'm really proud of, and of course it's amazing to see how huge the band have become in that time as The Clone Roses. Celebrating the 35th anniversary of Spike Island, one of the most iconic gigs of all time, is something I'm really looking forward to, especially as it's one of my favourite venues in the UK. Remaining tickets for 'The Clone Roses Spike Island Show' on May 17th at Manchester's O2 Ritz can be found at thecloneroses.co.uk. See you there!
