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THEIR 
songs have stood the test of time, cemented around the world’s pubs and clubs; The Stone Roses are embedded into British culture in more ways than one. What The Stone Roses achieved during their relatively fleeting time together is staggering; producing many of the greatest songs of their time. Creating anthems for The Roses was second nature.

There’s a romance to hearing one of the band’s seminal tracks whilst shoulder to shoulder with other like-minded individuals, all capable of bellowing back every single note and coda of ‘I Am The Resurrection’ as though it were holy scripture. That’s precisely what will happen next summer; not only in their native Manchester but at our very own T in the Park, the first time the band will make their way north of the border since their swaggering return to Glasgow Green in 2013.

While we can all agree that the prospect of hearing everything from ‘Where Angels Play’ and ‘Shoot You Down’ to all 14 hedonistic minutes of ‘Fool’s Gold’ once again is entirely appealing, will the experience be complete without the unveiling of the regularly speculated upon new material that has their fans simultaneously fretful yet unashamedly allured?

Their reconciliation was orchestrated perfectly, allowing the band to spend the better part of two years joyfully commemorating their landmark material in front of a captivated crowd; with those who had the privilege of seeing them the first time round and the plucky youths that had adopted the band as their own coming together in the name of their mutual adoration for one of the nation’s most beloved bands.

With the announcement of these new dates comes the realisation that it’s now or never for The Stone Roses to produce the new music that their audience clamours for; either out of morbid curiosity or belief that the band have retained every ounce of that intangible magic that once catapulted them out of Manchester’s dingy venues and toward the promised land.

Time has been kind to Second Coming, the band’s sophomore full length LP that was five long years in the making and initially left many of those who’d once pledged their allegiance to the band, disenchanted with their generation’s most iconic group.

In 2015 it is widely accepted that; while nowhere near as astounding as their universally loved debut, it’s an album which has its merits and exhibits some of the qualities that once made them the cultural phenomenon that they became at the height of their fame. Arguably hampered by John Squire’s departure from the genre defining playing style that was one of the strongest attributes of their debut and into the realm of pompous classic rock at its most virile, tracks such as ‘Tightrope’, ‘Love Spreads’, ‘Breaking Into Heaven’ and ‘Driving South’ are songs that a lesser band could only strive in vain to produce.

This fact no doubt weighs heavy on the band’s mind, the overwhelming burden of expectation that initially left Second Coming feeling like a damp squib as opposed to the deeply enjoyable record that it is and the possibility that they may be chastised in such a manner once again by press and fans alike.

However, a moment of clarity would show The Roses that they have nothing to be afraid of, their legacy as one of the great British rock ‘n’ roll bands is all but cemented and there’s no way in which an album that is as ingrained into the nation’s membrane as their eponymous classic is could ever be tarnished by any subsequent releases.

With Noel Gallagher proclaiming on a recent episode of Soccer AM that the band’s new tracks were blooming, any apprehensiveness that lies within the recesses of their mind should be dispelled by the fact that the audience that will travel in their thousands to see them perform this summer have such strong feelings about their output that a valiant attempt to re-capture the magic would be enough to pacify them.

It’s commendable that the band have been protective of their legacy until this point, but if they are to avoid being lambasted and relegated to the status of a ‘nostalgia act’, then it’s vital that we hear something never-before-heard blasting from the massive PA’s in June and July.