"So this is the Third Coming. Their first was at the much-mythologised tail-end of the 80s, when indie and dance music swaggered together, and the Stone Roses' debut album became the baggy-trouser-wearer's bible. Second Coming – their December 1994 follow-up – came at Britpop's high-water mark. Singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren had been away just long enough to be greeted like returning heroes. But after a disastrous meltdown 18 months later, the Third was never meant to happen – at least, if you believed Squire in 2009. "I have no desire whatsoever to desecrate the grave of seminal Manchester pop group the Stone Roses," he said then. Now, things are different. But are they really?"
