Ok, this isn’t exactly hot off the press, but we simply have to report on this one. Just in case any of you 8Ballers missed the news yesterday, a press conference confirmed that The Stone Roses will reform next year to play two homecoming shows at Manchester’s Heaton Park before heading off on a world tour.

There’s been a whole load of speculation in the press over the past few months about the possibility of this happening, but many thought it extremely doubtful. Yesterday’s news will certainly have made thousands of Roses fans around the world incredibly happy.

The band, fronted by monkey man Ian Brown, formed in Manchester back in 1983 and they were at the forefront of the legendary ‘Madchester’ scene in the late 80s, early 90s. They introduced their own unique blend of bass-heavy alternative rock and house-influenced, psychedelic pop into the mainstream, and people absolutely love loved it!

The band only produced two albums in their 13-year span, yet their self-titled debut album was widely regarded as a ground breaking, shaping much of the British music that followed.

The Roses disbanded in 1996 after members of the band failed to see eye to eye, in particular vocalist Ian Brown and guitarist John Squires. Since the news of the reunion, bass player ‘Mani’ has voiced his concerns about the two still not being completely over any issues they’ve had in the past. Let’s hope they can hold it together – at least for the duration of the tour!

If you want to grab yourself tickets for either of the Manchester dates, tickets go on sale this Friday (Oct 21st) at 9.30am. Something tells us these are going to sell out pretty darn quick. There’s also rumours that they’ll be making appearances at UK festivals next summer and there may even be a new album on the way. Watch this space….

Oh and if anyone’s interested, Steps recently reformed.

Pledge your allegiance to The Stone Roses and bag yourself one of our awesome Stone Roses tshirts here at 8Ball.