Never before seen footage of The Stone Roses’ iconic Spike Island gig has been unearthed – and is set to be used in an upcoming documentary.<br /><br />Martin Cornell’s handheld recording is thought to the only shots of the seminal concert in 1990, which is seen as a landmark event in British musical history.<br /><br />More than 29,000 fans crammed into man-made island in the River Mersey, which was better known as the site of a disused chemical plant.<br /><br />It was described by the NME as a celebration their success and "an entire youth culture" and came at the height of the 'Madchester' music scene.<br /><br />The footage includes shots of the crowd filling up, support acts taking to the stage and the Manchester music legends’ full performance.<br /><br />And 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 show in Widnes, Cheshire.<br /><br />Martin, 63, said: “It sat in my attic for 10 years then we moved house and I found this box of tapes.<br /><br />“I’d been recording all day, I got the whole day from the build up to the finale.<br /><br />“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.”<br /><br />Camera crews had been scheduled to record the concert – held at the height of the Madchester music scene – but plans fell through after a row with the band’s record company.<br /><br />The gig has since reached mythological status among music fans as it was believed only 10 minutes worth of video footage existed.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />But it’s never been shown in its entirety, despite efforts to reach out to the band.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />“It wasn’t until I dug it out ages later that I realised what I had, but by then the band had split up.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />“My brother got a YouTube channel set up and uploaded a few clips, but it’s sat in a dusty corner of the internet for 10 years.”<br /><br />Paul, who was at the gig, said he was excited by the prospect of showing the event in all its glory.
