Stone Roses to headline T in the Park in 2016

INDIE legends The Stone Roses have confirmed a surprise appearance at Scotland’s biggest musical festival in 2016.
Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown. Picture: Robert PerryStone Roses frontman Ian Brown. Picture: Robert Perry
Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown. Picture: Robert Perry

The Manchester icons will be topping the bill at T in the Park next summer - four years after making their only other appearance at the event.

It was only confirmed last month that the 85,000 capacity festival would definitely be returning to Strathallan after the first event at the new site was dogged by problems in July.

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However a return for The Stone Roses is likely to spark a scramble for tickets for the 85,000 capacity event when they go on sale on Friday.

It is one of just three concerts in the UK confirmed by the group, who will also play two concerts at Manchester City’s football ground in June.

No other acts have been confirmed for next year’s T in the Park yet. The Stone Roses will be headlining the Friday night of the festival, which will be held from 8-10 July.

The Stone Roses were one of the pioneers of the “Madchester” movement which emerged from Manchester in the late 1980s and their debut is regarded as one of the best British albums of all time.

Despite being cited as a major influence on the likes of Oasis and Primal Scream, The Stone Roses split in 1996 after just two albums, but made a triumphant comeback in 2012, having announced in 2011 that they were reforming.

Rumours of another comeback for the band began after mystery posters showing their lemon logo began popping up in shop windows around their home city. Eagle-eyed Roses fans spotted that there were 16 lemons used in the poster campaign.

T in the Park announced the group’s appearance on Twitter with the message: “When life gives you lemons, we give you The Stone Roses.”

The NME was also reporting that The Stone Roses had registered a new touring company days before the posters started to appear.

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Last month DF Concerts, the promoters of T in the Park, said they were “genuinely sorry” about problems experienced by fans at the event this July and pledged wholescale changes will be made in time for next year.

They also apologised to the local community for the level of disruption caused by the staging of T in the Park at the Strathallan Estate. It was relocated there from Balado, in Kinross-shire, after long-standing concerns about the safety of an underground pipeline.

The festival, which is said to be worth £15 million to the local economy, was inundated with hundreds of complaints over traffic chaos, the festival’s shuttle bus services, levels of congestion inside the arena and poor security at the campsite.

Lengthy queues were reported getting to and from the new festival site, as well as entering the main arena, while there were complaints that festival-goers were left waiting in the dark for hours to get picked up.

Organisers admitted this year’s festival, which was hit by heavy rain, was affected by “challenges that we know impacted upon the weekend for some of our loyal fans.”

Promised changes include a revamped site for the festival itself, new “pick up and drop off” points, better communication with public transport operators and new hub closer to the arena, the introduction of “volunteer help teams” at the campsite, and an overhaul of entry points to the festival.