First night: The Stone Roses, Warrington Parr Hall

It's a shrewd move, playing a quasi-secret small comeback gig, especially when you're a band who weren't always that good live in the first place. A sense of occasion, people who feel they're part of a chosen few - you're not going to get bad feedback from that, are you?

More importantly, while the Stone Roses' reputation for clunking live performances was a fair one, they've all got a lot more experience under their belt now, so it'd be worrying indeed if their Warrington Parr Hall date yesterday had picked up where the Reading 'mare left off.

Gordon Smart, of course, would never have had any doubts but did find a subtle way of pointing out that everyone has got older since the last time round:

One [fan] even held up a walking stick as Ian Brown played tambourine and did his trademark monkey-style dance.

The songs were, perhaps wisely, drawn from the first two albums, and mainly the first, but the Roses' ability to try out things that must have seemed a good idea at the time is still there, reports the NME:

There were no new songs, but there were a few surprises. At the end of 'Love Spreads', Brown broke into a rap, which appeared to feature the phrase, "Stone Roses up on the stage".

XFM see a band who have taken the car out of the garage, and are happy to see the engine still runs:

There was no encore, but the band members hugged with a palpable sense of relief.

There's also a reminder of what was most irritating about Roses fans the first time round:

Mani, meanwhile looked, in the words of one onlooker, "Mad for it".

Oh, God, "mad fer it" and the hats. I'd forgotten.

But - with a crowd who had to prove they were fans to get in (although the barrier was 'do you have a CD you can show us') and a few miles from the Roses' Camelot of Spike Island - this was mostly about laying that ghost of 'not being very good live'. It's probably a good sign that Brown could joke about it. The NME again:

Before 'She Bangs The Drums' he quipped: "Are we in tune yet?"

Gordon in the morning: George Sampson can never go home

Having slagged off Simon Cowell in the press, George Sampson has now turned his attention to his hometown, as Gordon reports this morning:

He told me: "I'm getting complaints at the moment about not getting back to my roots. I've not been back to Warrington in months.

"Why would I want to go there? It's boring, there's nothing to do. It's like a ghost town.

"All people do there is hang around outside shops."

Unlike elsewhere, where teenagers fly about on spacescooters having special-touching parties.

I guess that, compared with Skins, Warrington might look a little pedestrian. But Imperial Phase Rome looks a little pedestrian compared with Warrington.

But if Sampson thinks it's dull right now, he should have seen it before Eileen Bilton worked her magic.

So, how is George's ahem career coming on? Apparently, he's tiring of life on the stage:

George - in London to launch new toy Battle Strikers this week - has signed up for his first major role in 3D film Street Dance, due out in 2010.

Yes, yes, he was launching a toy. You can see why after attending the launch of some plastic kids toys, Warrington must seem so quiet.

Anyway, George, tell us about this film. Street Dance, eh? What's that about, then?

He said: "It's all about street dancers. I play a character called Eddie.

"I like acting. It's a real challenge. I'd like to do it full-time. I like film and TV more than stage."

Ah yes. Playing a dancing bloke. That must be a real stretch for your acting talents.

There doesn't seem to be any reason at all for the Michael Jackson and "his" children at home video. Surely, Gordon, there must be some reason for this invasion into the privacy of children at such a raw time in their lives - especially one which appears under your byline?

The intimate home video gives a moving insight into the King of Pop as a parent to son Prince Michael, 12, and daughter Paris, 11, at his Neverland Ranch in California.

Um... no, don't think that quite justifies the invasion of privacy. Do you want to try again?

The video, available exclusively here on The Sun website, is a reminder of how close the star was to his young family.

Again, Gordon, that doesn't seem to be a reason for publishing a private video of the kids. Perhaps the explanation of why it was okay to ignore the Press Complaints Commission rules on children fell off the article?

News of the World mocks Kerry, readers

The News of the World relishes sticking the boot into Katona this morning. Noting that OK! decided to "pass" on paying for one of Katona's kids' christenings, the paper carries a spoof report.

The problem is, why they clearly see it as a joke at the expense of Katona's slide down the social scale, it looks more like Metropolitan sophisticates scoffing at the provincial poor:

Despite the absence of a fat OK! cheque, gorgeous Kerry and her handsome husband Mark Croft handpicked a charming location—the Warrington suburb of Padgate.

It's arguable whether anyone should shed any tears for Katona, who has lived her life in a way that effectively means this is her job; but if I was editing a paper which relied for customers on the sort of people who have their family gatherings in places like the Bayleaf Restaurant, I'd think twice before adopting a condescending tone:

This smart eaterie— possibly more familiar to the cognescenti under its onetime title Smithys bowling club — boasts half an acre of land, complete with upended fridge, oil drums and decorative bin bags.

The Sunday Telegraph might get away with this sort of thing, but for the News of the World, it's basically pissing on your own readers - a readership who are being courted with an expensive magazine relaunch this week. That's gone with Kelly Osbourne as cover girl; if you know your readers will accept the idea that Kelly is "Fabulous", how do you square that with suggesting that a pub in Padgate is somehow one of the lower circle of hell?

Mind you, the paper is also running the Heath Ledger cocaine video on its website, so perhaps it just doesn't care.

Kerry Katona story leaks

You have to feel for Kerry Katona and her husband thingybloke Mark Croft. They've been hounded out of Warrington by chequebook journalism:

"We moved away from Warrington to get away from all the people selling stories on Kerry.”

Mark's desire to take his family away from people giving embarrassing interviews in return for cash might be thwarted though, with, erm, him telling Now magazine all about his wife's bladder control problems:

After Kerry’s waters had broken I made sure Kerry got a towel before getting in my car as she was all wet.

“It was pouring out . It was mad! “She was using nappy things throughout her pregnancy – Kerry was peeing if she so much as sneezed – so I made her put one on before she got in the car.

“They’re like incontinence pads.”

Presumably the idea in moving from Warrington, then, was to ensure that if anyone was going to get cash from the papers for stories about them, everything will be flowing towards the family. Well, nearly everything.

Katona mum again; plans extra trip to Iceland

Riot-torn Kerry Katona has given birth to another child, after being rushed to hospital in Warrington. Heidi arrived six weeks early and nearly a week to the day after Kerry married her Dad, Mark.





Sorry, we hadn't realised the story was complete - usually there's either some street fighting or drug taking in any Kerry news.