Melvyn Benn, the organiser of the Reading / Leeds festivals, has ruled out an emotional return to the event for The Stone Roses next year, but has left the door open for the band to headline at a future date.
In 1996, the Reading Festival was the sight of the final curtain for the first chapter of The Stone Roses. With John Squire and Reni already departed, the messy demise of the Manchester legends received its very public last blow with a hugely disappointing headline performance that year.
And until last October, it seemed that show would forever be the unsatisfactory conclusion to the Roses story, before the unlikeliest of reunions was confirmed to a packed London press conference that month.
However, when speaking to NME, Melvyn Benn has said the possibility of The Stone Roses making a reconciliatory trip to Reading at the first possible opportunity has not been discussed, but admitted it could happen in the future.
“The Stone Roses are one of the seminal bands for people of a certain generation here in the UK, ” he said. “They’re as important to people in the UK as Nirvana in a way and of course we’d consider having the band.”
“It wasn’t even something they considered or we considered this year, but of course we’d consider having them back in the future.”
The Stone Roses have been confirmed for the 2012 T In The Park festival, and are also strongly tipped to headline next year’s V Festival.