Stone Roses Reunion: The Second Coming

As a music nerd of a certain age, I have fond memories of listening to the Stone Roses' eponymous debut album, it was the soundtrack to my summer as a 17 year old.

After several years of legal wrangling with original record label Silvertone, they emerged from the musical wilderness with a very hit and miss follow up in the form of Second Coming, the band continued to tour, but the stress fractures were beginning to show.

Drummer Reni was the first to leave, followed by guitarist John Squire which caused this once lauded band to implode.

Fast forward fifteen years and the four original band members call a press conference to announce their forthcoming comeback tour. The cynic in me thinks it's all about the money, but the romantic in me wants to believe that they might make the most of this second chance.

They have been rehearsing since April according to press reports, their initial live dates sold out in 14 minutes, with reports of touts snapping up masses of tickets and offering them for thousands of pounds, is there any way of clamping down on these greedy morons who want to make easy money out of genuine fans who just want to see their heroes?

Past evidence shows that such reunions can cover the gamut between the sublime (Pixies Sell Out Tour) to the frankly ridiculous (Sex Pistols Filthy Lucre Tour).

If they can manage to recapture a fraction of the beauty found in their early material, particularly some of the finest b sides recorded in pop history, then this 30 something will be a very happy man.