For anyone who’s ever seen them before, you’ll know The Clone Roses are no joke — they’re arguably the best tribute act on the planet — and for anyone who their massive headline show at Heaton Park is your chance.
Not just imitating much-loved Manc band The Stone Roses but faithfully recreating their tunes to thousands of people across the UK year-round, 2023 marks their 25th anniversary together as a band, so it’s only fitting that they celebrate the occasion with a big gig.
Admittedly, it doesn’t get much bigger than their now iconic ‘Spike Island – The Resurrection’ show in 2021, where they recreated The Stone Roses’ legendary open-air show (it might genuinely be just as famous as the original now), but they’ve managed it with a roughly 6,000 capacity Heaton Park.
If you’re struggling to picture exactly how mint this thing is going to be, this should give you an idea:
Returning to the scene of one of the UK’s most legendary gigs in its own right — Stone Roses’ ‘Second Coming back in 2012, which sold out 220,000 tickets in a record-breaking 68 minutes — their hugely popular tribute band will bring their 25th-anniversary tour to a close in a similarly epic fashion.
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The St Helen’s-based band were there for the 2012 reunion themselves and described it as the perfect setlist; taking up the mental themselves next month, frontman Gav Scott says they want to do the same and “celebrate their 25th Anniversary in the city that have been so loyal to us from day one”.
Moreover, the band promises “an absolute feast of Manchester music” as many other tribute bands will be playing on the day such as The Smiths Ltd, The Courtbetweeners and Happy Mondaze, not mention fellow legends Bez and Clint Boon in the flesh, and many more.
‘Heaton Park – The Resurrection’ arrives at the beautiful Manchester garden and gig venue on Saturday, 13 May, and is sure to be a sellout.
Its precursor event at Spike Island broke records by selling over 5,000 tickets on the first day of sale alone, making the biggest tribute-themed festival the world has ever seen, and with even more room to play with at Heaton Park, we expect another landmark musical event of near mythic proportions.
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Grab any remaining tickets for The Clone Roses at Heaton Park HERE whilst you still can.
Inspiring new 360° immersive David Bowie experience to open in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Music lovers will get a glimpse inside the mind of a creative genius when a new immersive experience opens later this year.
Factory International has this week announced its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season, and by far one of the stand-outs on the list has to be the return of Lightroom for a new 360° experience called David Bowie: You’re Not Alone – which is set to immerse audiences in the iconic performances and creative mind of one of the world’s most visionary and influential artists.
Bringing together a wealth of visual material from a wide range of sources, the experience combines rare performance footage, photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes, and audio recordings from the late Bowie himself.
You’re Not Alone will showcase some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mix of iconic, rarely seen, and even never-before-exhibited material.
Selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, you can expect to see everything from Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs, through to Heroes, Black Star, and more.
Each track has been newly reconfigured by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer, Gareth Fry, to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system.
The 360° experience is set to be both a multimedia spectacle and an intimate self-portrait in one, giving audiences a unique insight into Bowie’s perspective on the subjects that were most important to him, like theatricality, spirituality, songwriting, and the transformative power of creativity.
David Bowie: You’re Not Alone is being made in close collaboration with, and has been authorised by, the David Bowie Estate.
It’ll run at Aviva Studios from 8 December 2026 through to 10 January 2027.
Featured Image – Supplied
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Parklife has quietly added a major DJ set from Happy Mondays’ Bez
Daisy Jackson
Parklife has quietly added a DJ set from Bez this afternoon, joining an already stacked festival line-up.
Eagle-eyed users of the Parklife app (aka, us) have spotted that as the big weekend nears, a few new stages have popped up on the plans.
And that’s included a new Beatbox Stage, which on Saturday will host a mega set from the icon that is Bez, from Happy Mondays.
Bez isn’t the only nostalgic name who’s been added to the line-up for Saturday – the Beatbox Stage will also host a set from Artful Dodger.
The 2000s garage icons will be taking to the stage at 3pm for a set that will hopefully include their massive hits like Moving Too Fast, Re-Rewind (with Craig David), and Woman Trouble.
On Sunday, the newly-added Beatbox Stage will be hosting DJ Fat Tony, who you might know for getting stuck into the middle of the Beckham family feud – but he’s also one of the most in-demand A-list DJs, having spun for icons like Madonna, Prince, and Elton John.
Parklife has also quietly added a few secret sets to the bill, which we’ll be keeping a close eye on.
They join existing Parklife headliners including Calvin Harris, Zara Larsson, Chris Stussy, Sammy Virji, Skepta, and East End Dubs.
On Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June, thousands of music-lovers will be flocking to the fields of Heaton Park ready for this year’s instalment of Parklife.
Danny Jones -
18th April 2023 
