Coronation Street party

On Saturday afternoon I received an anonymous, Mission Impossible style text: 'The Adidas Originals party is at postcode M60 9EA. Please get here for 6.45pm, prompt.'

After a bit of Google mapping, the realisation set in that this was no ordinary street party. It was a Coronation Street party.

Weatherfield has been a glum place of late, what with Gail's unjust sending down and all, so what better way to revive those dismal cobbles by allowing real people (with real problems) to descend upon them.

Adidas Originals threw the street party along with the cast of Corrie as part of a series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the show. It was organised by Manchester-based international events and artist management company, Sparkle Street, who manage Mr Scruff amongst other things.

Sparkle Street has worked with Adidas Originals for nearly ten years and produced many special projects for them including the launch of the very first Adidas Originals store and the Ting Tings paint party.

This particular event cost thousands and was probably one of the most expensive and highly organised events for the team.

Gary from Sparkle Street said: “ The current Adidas Originals ad campaign is called 'Street Party'. Head Office asked Sparkle Street to hold and produce a street party and film it in HD. We suggested Coronation Street. They liked the idea, so we put the show together within six weeks of the proposal. I had contacts at Corrie, so we made it happen as fast as we could, while trying to keep it a secret. It took 185 crew to deliver the show.

“The Coronation Street crew stopped filming at 7pm on the Friday evening. We took over the site at 7.30pm, built, produced and filmed the show, then handed it back tidy at 7am on Sunday morning ready for the Coronation Street crew to carry on their filming.”

Following the ad filming, the street party event began with a full buffet banquet on the cobbles. With the catering provided by Teacup in the Northern Quarter, elated attendees munched on all the typical party snacks of sausages, pork pies, cheese, cupcakes, the lot.

Traditional teapots were filled with a suspicious substance which looked like tea but tasted of vodka. Bottles of Budweiser were passed around as we sat, mystified, in the World War II street party set up. After the food, the tables were cleared away and the stage at the end of the street was revealed.

The event was in-keeping with the theme already seen in the latest Adidas advert which features Snoop Dogg, Agyness Deyn and David Beckham to name but a few, all having a roof top party.

Low and behold big Snoop Dogg loomed down from the big screen by the stage in Manchester and dropped it like it's hot...pot.

His shout out went as follows: "What up dog? It's your boy, big Snoop Dogg saying happy 50th anniversary to Coronation Street and all my peoples in Manchester UK gettin' in there doin' it big.”

Doing it big indeed Snoop.

Sets from the Whip, Bad Lieutenant and an extremely cool busking set by Badly Drawn Boy outside Roy's Rolls followed. And then the rain came...

Now I must admit, the grey skies had been clouding my high, after all those Coronation Street houses aren't real inside, so there'd be no running into Ken and Dierdre’s for shelter and a brew.

We like to avoid that Manchester rain cliché here at Confidential but Adidas don't. They had pre-organised hundreds of white Adidas brollies for the event of a down pour. This is probably one of the only times I've been glad of rain in this city. The crowd became a blanket of bouncing white shapes as people did their Gene Kelly impersonations.

As the evening drew on it became increasingly surreal with random celebrity sightings such as actor Craig Charles DJ-ing on the street, the Zutons propping up the bar and Badly Drawn Boy having a fag outside Dev's shop. There were even rumours that Dizzee Rascal was on his way and that Noel Gallagher would be putting in a surprise appearance. There was some truth in the latter - however Noel had to pull out due to a family illness.

Still, the event was an astounding success and it makes you wonder why no one has ever thought to hold a big party on the Street before. It's ideal. Even with a free bar, the Street itself was left tidy and its integrity respected. No one even threw up on the cobbles, despite the fact that would have made a great Facebook status update.

Adidas will be holding more World Cup related events, but mainly in London. However there will also be a series of events through and beyond the Olympics and you can expect some of those to be held here. After the success of Coronation Street, a little birdie told me that Sesame Street could be next on the hit list. Now that would be weird.

Pictures courtesy of Shaw&Shaw