The Adidas Spezial exhibition is currently taking place at Canvas Club, Oxford Road, Manchester showcasing shoes with football themes along with famous faces who have sported the shoes themselves. They will then be auctioned off for charity causes and best of the all the event is free to visit !

What comes next? Well with all exciting fashion based projects, getting a backing from musicians not only compliments the event but adds to the buzz.

They announced several exclusive gigs at the Canvas venue space which was an intimate sought out gig to experience at least once in your life.

This secret gig we attended was no other than Liam Fray, Courteeners front man playing an acoustic set with Elina Lin.

This space had around 250 people in, a sea of cult followers wearing head to toe Adidas in celebration. Chanting “Liam, Liam, Liam” after every single song like a ritualistic war cry.

Famous faces stood in the heaven seats (balcony space) above our heads.

The gig was rumoured to be on at 9:30pm but we were kept waiting until ten so that half an hour was spent amongst the exhilarated crowd bobbing their heads to Manchester based bands playing on an audio track, it got the audience tapping their feet in a sort of rhythmic drumbeat until it suddenly went silent.

Then the chants grew louder and Fray appeared , he immediately started to showcase his artistry with gifted guitar playing and with stripped back vocals which were complimented with Elina singing and playing keys, this gave a raw feel to the night and made you feel lucky that you were among the lucky few that could encapsulate that moment in time.

The gig was an hour of an acoustic style performance, during that time every single person in the room sang along in unison, it was rumoured that it was usual to finish the set with the predictable but banger ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ but we were pleasantly surprised when we were gifted an encore of two more bonus songs which he stated was “the extended track”.

When we were thought it was over Liam came back on stage and posed with his fans for a photo and even reached out to the crowd and shook their hands, an outstanding showmanship whilst remaining humble and relatable.

It was an honour to be part of that historical event embedded in to part of Manchester culture.

Article for Musik Magazine 2022

Check out the event here – https://www.soccerbible.com/news/2022/11/adidas-originals-host-spezial-fc-event-in-manchester/