Unseen Spike Island gig footage to be used for Stone Roses documentary

Martin Cornell made handheld recordings of the seminal concert in Widnes in 1990, which is seen as a landmark event in British musical history.

More than 29,000 fans crammed onto the man-made island on the River Mersey, which was better known as the site of a disused chemical plant.

It was described by NME magazine as a celebration of their success and ‘an entire youth culture’, and it came at the height of the 'Madchester' music scene.

The footage includes shots of the crowd filling up, support acts taking to the stage and the Manchester music legends' full performance.

After he was introduced to film-maker Paul Crompton, plans are afoot for it to be used as part of a tell-all documentary about the Widnes show.

Martin, 63, said: "It sat in my attic for 10 years, then we moved house and I found this box of tapes.

"I'd been recording all day.  I got the whole day from the build-up to the finale.

"It's been a bit of a burden really having this footage. Fans would describe it as the Holy Grail and I kind of feel responsible for it."

Camera crews had been scheduled to record the concert, but plans fell through after a row with the band's record company.

The gig has since reached mythological status among music fans as it was believed only 10 minutes’ worth of video footage existed.

But Martin, who worked for the staging company, spent the day perched on a scaffolding tower above the sound deck with his Sony CCD-V8AF-E.

He and his brother digitized the footage and uploaded brief clips of it to YouTube, where it 'sat in a dusty corner of the internet' for more than 10 years.

But it has never been shown in its entirety, despite efforts to reach out to the band.

The Stone Roses legendary Spike Island gig (Image: SWNS)

Martin added: "It was my day off, so I had two options – sit in my hotel room on my own or go down to the concert.

"I thought I'd go along, and I always take photos for prosperity, but I thought I'd take some video in case there were some health and safety concerns, so we had evidence that everything was adhered to.

"I was sat about the sound deck, which might be why the sound I've got is so much better than everybody says it was because they were on the floor.

"It wasn't until I dug it out ages later that I realised what I had, but by then the band had split up.

"We tried to garner interest and I reached out to the band's management, but I didn't hear anything back. It was never followed up by anyone.

"My brother got a YouTube channel set up and uploaded a few clips, but it has sat in a dusty corner of the internet for 10 years."

Paul, who was at the gig, said he was excited by the prospect of showing the event in all its glory.

He was introduced to Martin by Matt Mead, a freelance journalist who is working on a book about the show, and who runs a social media account dedicated to the band's drummer Alan 'Reni' Wren.

Nothing is set in stone yet as the documentary project is still unfunded and at an early stage, but he hopes to use new AI technology to enhance the original footage.

Paul, 56, said: "I believe this footage is absolute gold dust, and this is a legendary story that deserves to be told.

"It's incredible from a documentary point of view, you have all the ingredients for a great story.

"AI is the saviour of this stuff. It can make it better and really bring it to life.

"Things like this come across your lap once in a blue moon. It's just incredible. The next stage is to get it motoring and off the ground.

"We need to have conversations with the band and the record company. There's some big decisions to be had yet."