r/stoneroses

Can see pics of Liam leaving Abbey Road but have not seen any of Mr Squire, anyone else have any Abbey Road info? Apparently Andy Bell may have been there too.

Does anyone else think about how unbelievably absent Ian Brown has become from public life?

Not in a dramatic or tabloid way — more in the sense that he genuinely seems to have disappeared into his own world. Every rare sighting of him becomes an event online because they happen so infrequently. It almost feels like whenever Ian leaves the house, someone posts about it within minutes because people are genuinely shocked to see him.

For someone who once stood at the absolute center of British music culture, his silence and distance from the scene feel surreal. Especially considering how influential he remains. You still hear his name constantly when people talk about Manchester, alternative music, Britpop, indie culture, lyrical attitude, stage presence, all of it. His impact never faded, even if he did.

What makes it stranger is his absence from moments where you would naturally expect him to appear. Things connected to old friends, peers, or major cultural moments from that generation. For example, Noel Gallagher receiving the award for Songwriter of the Year — events like that feel incomplete without figures like Ian around somewhere in the room.

And maybe that’s part of why people miss him so much. Ian Brown was never just another frontman. He had an aura that’s difficult to explain unless you grew up with that era. A mix of confidence, mystery, swagger, intelligence, chaos and poetry. He represented something bigger than music for a lot of people.

Maybe he simply prefers privacy now. Maybe he got tired of the industry, the attention, the expectations. Fair enough. But it’s impossible not to feel that his absence left a strange hole in the cultural landscape.

The love people still have for him is enormous. Even after years of distance, people still care deeply about what he’s doing, how he is, whether he’ll ever properly return.

One of the only times Ian Brown has been seen publicly this year was in this recent Instagram post, and honestly, his smile says everything about how much people still love him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DX6_W0BiNDl/?igsh=MW5vZHZqa2xrMGVqOQ%3D%3D