Virgin Radio Special: Madchester and the 30th Anniversary of the Stone Roses' Spike Island Gig

Virgin Radio

31 May 2020, 21:00

On the 27th May 1990, the Stone Roses headlined their own festival at Spike Island, a reclaimed toxic waste site near Widnes.

The gig itself was shambolic with poor sound quality, overzealous security and terrible facilities - but for the 27,000 people who went it represented the pinnacle of the Madchester scene. 

In this Virgin Radio special, Tim Cocker presents a celebration of the gig and the music of the Madchester scene with contributions from Ian Brown from the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder, Clint Boon from Inspiral Carpets, and Mat Whitecross, the director of the British movie Spike Island based on the event.

Listen to the full Virgin Radio special with Tim Cocker above.

The Spike Island movie follows the story of five teenage boys who dream of giving their demo tape to the Stone Roses at this iconic gig, but face quite a few challenges when they fail to get tickets...  It stars Nico Mirallegro, Emilia Clarke and Kaya Scodelario and is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

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