Ian Brown

>Thetford Forest

While Ian Brown's solo material is not as consistently strong as what he produced with the Stone Roses, he has had some memorable moments.

When Dolphins Were Monkeys, F E A R and My Star got a strong reception from the thousands who congregated in Thetford Forest on Saturday, though nothing compared with the four Roses songs in the set: Made of Stone, She's a Waterfall, She Bangs the Drum and I Wanna Be Adored.

Much of Brown's other post-Roses material is lively enough but derivative - one song took its cue from his old band's Love Spreads, another from Stevie Wonder's Superstition.

Given that the heat of the evening made for an equally warm ambience, it would be churlish to complain that his voice was often out of tune.

Jogging on the spot and pushing his hands to the sky like a monkey in a keep fit class, the hollow-cheeked Brown exuded a charisma that saw the crowd chant his name through the evening.

The atmosphere was only broken when he ended with a reprise of the Sex Pistols' Sub-Mission and then failed to provide an encore, prompting a hail of plastic bottles as the road crew dismantled the equipment.

Better to remember the moment when, as the summer sun set and the backdrop of trees became silhouettes, the band moved to I Wanna Be Adored from She Bangs The Drum and, true enough, there were no words to describe the way we were feeling.