“F*** Oasis. F*** Man City. It’s all about The Stone Roses”
07:11, 22 Nov 2025Updated 09:35, 22 Nov 2025
John Squire, Mani, Ian Brown and Reni of The Stone Roses (Image: Manchester Evening News)
The death of Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield has prompted a renewed look at the band’s iconic 2011-2013 reunion – a comeback documented in Shane Meadows’ film ‘The Stone Roses: Made of Stone’.
Tributes have been flooding in across the music world after the announcement of Mani’s death, aged 63, was made on Thursday (November 20).
Mounfield, from Crumpsall, rose to fame in the Stone Roses in the 1980s. He joined the band back in 1987 and played on both of the band’s studio albums, and remained in the group until they disbanded in 1996.
He later joined Primal Scream, until 2011, when he left to rejoin the Stone Roses as part of a reunion with them announcing their huge return after 15 years. The following year, the band played three spectacular homecoming shows in Heaton Park.
Mounfield was part of The Stone Roses’ classic line-up alongside singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren. Issuing a statement after his death, a post shared by Stone Roses read: “RIP our wonderful brother Mani. The greatest bass player and friend we could ever have wished for.”
Bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield in the Stone Roses film(Image: The Stone Roses: Made of Stone)
Released in 2013, Meadows’ documentary offered rare access into the internal mechanics of the reunion, showcasing Mani’s role as both a core musical presence and a source of humour.
The shock reunion
The Stone Roses formally announced their return in October 2011 at a press concurrence in London, ending 15 years apart. “This is a live resurrection,” frontman Ian Brown said, reported NME. “And you’re invited, so you better be there.”
The singer confirmed two homecoming shows at Manchester’s Heaton Park for summer 2012. Record deals with Universal and Columbia followed, prompting expectations for new material.
In ‘Made of Stone’, Meadows captures the tense build-up to their return, including a surprise “warm-up” gig on May 22, 2021, when the Roses played an unannounced, free show at Warrington’s 1,100-capacity Parr Hall – their first gig since 1996.
The film shows hundreds gathering outside the venue after a short-notice Radio 1 announcement. Inside, the band prepares to go on stage. Mani turns to the camera, flashes a peace sign and says: “It’s on.”
The set opened with ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ in a show described by one fan in the film as “the best thing I’ve witnessed in all my 20 years”.
“F*** Oasis. F*** Man City. It’s all about The Stone Roses,” he added. Liam Gallagher also told the documentary that the reunion was “too much”.
“I’m s****** my pants mate. City winning the league. Stone Roses getting back together. It’s all too much,” he told the camera. “They’re the best band ever to come out of Manchester.”
When Mani joined the band
Earlier parts of the documentary discuss Mani’s arrival in the band after bassist Peter Garner left the Roses in June 1987. Mani reflects on joining in October of that year. He said: “I met ’em via the scooter scene in the early 80s.
“I kinda always had an inkling that I’d end up in ’em somehow. I don’t know how but I just knew, you know? It was just a matter of biding my time.”
Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, from Crumpsall, made a name for himself with The Stone Roses and Primal Scream(Image: PA)
Discussing the song ‘Elephant Stone’, Brown said Mani’s was an “important part” of the sound. He said Mani and Reni “locked in together and gave us a groove”.
A volatile comeback
During preparations for warm-up shows in Barcelona, the film shows Mani discussing the complexities of putting together a setlist.
“You feel like a Premier League manager when he’s trying to pick a setlist and find out who he’s got to leave on the bench. You’re gonna upset a few of the songs,” he joked.
But the Stone Roses reunion wasn’t without disruption. During a June 2012 Amsterdam show, Reni reportedly walked off stage before the encore.
“The drummer’s gone home,” Brown told the booing crowd. “I’m not joking… What can I say, the drummer’s a c***.”
Speaking in the documentary the day after the incident, Meadows said: “From what I can gather there were quite a few monitor problems on stage and Reni was really struggling in his earpiece. So when he came off I think he didn’t want to put the thing back in his ear because he was getting loads of distortion.”
“It wasn’t pretty,” he added, explaining that he was cancelling upcoming filming days. “The last thing anyone wants is a camera in their face. Things are tricky.”
Heaton Park homecoming
Despite concerns from fans that the reunion tour could be in jeopardy and that future dates, including highly anticipated homecoming gigs in Manchester, might be canceled, the documentary ends with the Heaton Park shows from June 29 to July 30, 2012.
In 2016, the Stone Roses released their first new material in two decades(Image: PA)
Supporting acts across the three shows included The Vaccines, Primal Scream and Liam Gallagher, who sang Oasis songs for the first time since 2009. Each night closed with fireworks to Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’.
The reunion momentum continued into 2013 with two major shows in Finsbury Park, London. Meadows publicly stated that new music was being developed, but none materialised.
In 2016, the Stone Roses released their first new material in two decades and continued to tour until June 2017.
Mani’s tragic death comes less than a week after he announced that he would be going on tour next year. The lengthy tour was set to span from September 2026 to June 2027. The show was to be a series of intimate conversations, titled ‘The Stone Roses, Primal Scream, and me: An intimate evening with Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield’.