The return of the Stone Roses

The Stone Roses have confirmed their return to touring as well as possible work on another album.

The Stone Roses are coming back... for the third time.

Despite vehement denials throughout the years, the seminal Manchester band The Stone Roses confirmed they are returning next year for two UK dates followed by a world tour and possible album.

In the packed news conference in London, band members said they had buried old hatchets in the 15 years they have been apart.

The always quotable singer Ian Brown said: "This is a live resurrection we're inviting you to so you better be careful."

The guitarist John Squire was more circumspect in how the group had reformed, despite dousing reformation rumours throughout the years.

"Everything changed when me and Ian started seeing each other again. We went from crying and laughing about the old days to writing songs in a heartbeat," he said.

"In some ways it's a friendship that defines us both and it needed fixing. Two phone calls later and the band was no longer dead."

The group have announced two shows next year at Manchester's Heaton Park on June 29 and 30.

The shows will be the first time the band will have played together since their widely criticised performance at the Reading Festival in 1996.

Since forming in 1983, the band have broken up twice, with Brown forging a solo career, the bassist Gary "Mani" joining Primal Scream, Squire forming the Sea Horses before beginning an art career and the drummer Alan "Reni" Wren slipping under the radar.

The band are renowned for their early raucous live performances as well as their 1989 self-titled debut, which has often been described as one of the best British rock albums ever released.