"I'm not joking, the drummer's gone home. Get all your aggro out on me, I can take it. What can I say, the drummer's a cunt."

A spokeswoman claims there had been a problem with the drum-kit and that the frontman was being tongue-in-cheek. She dismissed the incident by saying:

"The band didn't play an encore - which is quite normal for them - and they had already played their full planned set so no one walked off before the end. All tour dates continue as planned."

The Stone Roses were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement during the early 1990s.