homecoming concert at Haigh Hall

On 24 May, The Verve played a homecoming concert in front of 33,000 fans in the grounds of Haigh Hall & Country Park , Aspull , supported by Beck and John Martyn . The band then played gigs in mainland Europe, but, on 7 June, a post-show fight at the Philips Halle in Düsseldorf , Germany left McCabe with a broken hand and Ashcroft with a sore jaw. After this, McCabe decided he could not tolerate the pressures of life on the road any longer and pulled out of the tour, leaving the band’s future in jeopardy, with rumours of a split circulating in the press. The band continued with session musician B. J. Cole replacing McCabe, whose guitar work was also sampled and triggered on stage. The band played another American tour, which was riddled with problems as venues were downsized and support act Massive Attack dropped out. The band returned to England for two headline performances at V Festival , which received poor reviews; NME wrote that “where songs used to spiral upwards and outwards, they now simply fizzle tamely”. The Verve played their last gig at Slane Castle in Ireland on 29 August. A long period of inactivity followed. In February 1999, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song . Finally, in April 1999, it was announced that The Verve had again split up.