THE Clone Roses make their eagerly awaited homecoming return to St Helens this weekend with two sold out shows at the Citadel.
Friday and Saturday’s gigs have a dual purpose; acting as a warm-up for the band’s tour to Australia at the end of July and into August as well as being a fundraising initiative for St Helens Town AFC.
The band became co-owners of the football club in 2023 and will be selling club merchandise and season tickets at the venue.
Although used to playing huge venues across the country, the band’s lead singer Gavin Scott was looking forward to the gigs but admitted to being a touch nervous ahead of this special one.
He said: “We are quite fortunate that we get to play big venues up and down the country, but we are looking forward to this one.
“It is more intimate but has a nice big stage and is a beautiful theatre with the people right on top of you.
“It is such a special venue that we don’t know how lucky we are to have the Citadel on our doorstep.”
The intimate Citadel show is in stark contrast to the band’s last hometown appearance in 2018, when they performed to more than 4,000 fans at Sherdley Park.
Formed in St Helens 28 years ago by a group of schoolmates, The Clone Roses have grown to become one of the UK’s most in-demand tribute acts, performing across the country and internationally.
In 2021, the band headlined one of their biggest shows to date, playing to a crowd of 15,000 at the iconic Spike Island site, further cementing their reputation as one of the most established tribute bands on the circuit.
The gigs are timely, with the Down Under tour imminent for the four-piece Stone Roses tribute band.
“Our setlist will be our full and usual set with our minds on what we will be playing in Australia.
“It is really good timing for us to do these shows to blow off the cobwebs before we go to Australia at the end of the month.
“But it also allows to thank the people of St Helens for putting us on our way because without them it would not have snowballed into what we have become.
"We are incredibly grateful of our local crowd,” he said.
