The video for new song Better Days was all filmed on the rooftop of Manchester’s Midland Hotel and yes… it’s biblical
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Liam Gallagher's rooftop filming session in Manchester city centre has been revealed – and yes, it is looking suitably epic. Rock 'n' roll star Liam caused quite the stir when he took over the roof of Manchester's historic Midland Hotel last month – with fans clamouring to get a look at the action.
Now fans can see the full results of Liam 's rooftop gig with the release of the video to his new single Better Days. The video, which Oasis icon Liam tweeted out on Friday, starts with an extraordinary cityscape scene sweeping across all the famous buildings and rooftops of Manchester.
On the roof, Liam is joined by his band as well as special guest Bonehead, his fellow Oasis founding member, who plays guitar in the video. Bonehead, aka Paul Arthurs, posted a suitably spectacular shot of Liam up on the roof after the day's filming, which saw Manchester bathed in sunlight throughout the shoot.
Read more : Liam Gallagher to play one off charity gig in Blackburn
Buildings visible in the video include the incredible circular Central Library, looking out towards Manchester Town Hall. The clock of the town hall remains under scaffolding amid the extensive renovation programme by Manchester Council, but the rest of the building can be seen behind the library.
The Hilton Tower looms large at the back of the shoot, while fans are also seen hanging out of office blocks close to the hotel as they aim to get a better look of Liam and co. St Peter's Square is seen in the video as well as Manchester Central.
The camera also sweeps across the band and speakers are seen with the message "MCFC Spezial" in a nod to both Liam's beloved Manchester City and his collaboration with Adidas on a new trainer. It was announced earlier this week that Liam will play a one-off charity gig in Blackburn to celebrate the Adidas partnership.
Liam being a huge fan of The Beatles, will no doubt have noticed the similarity of The Midland's roof with its tall chimneys to the iconic rooftop where The Beatles performed an unannounced gig back in 1969 at the Apple Corps HQ on Savile Row in London. Meanwhile Oasis fans will no doubt link it back to the very first video from the band, for debut single Supersonic, which was filmed on a roof in central London back in 1994.
Liam tweeted out the link to the song saying: "Enjoy, it's the sound of the Summer". And the sunny blue skies of Manchester are certainly the backdrop to it all.
The new single comes amid exciting times for Liam as a solo artist, with his third solo album C'Mon You Know due for release in May. The 49-year-old from Burnage is also preparing for his biggest ever solo gigs, at Knebworth and also at his beloved Manchester City ground, the Etihad Stadium, in June.
After the full day shoot at The Midland on Peter Street, Liam headed down to meet the hundreds of fans who had patiently waited outside the hotel. And he even ended up having a bit of a dance with the crowds.
The Midland's rooftop has not been open to the public for over 100 years. But when the hotel first opened in the early 1900s the roof terrace was the place to see – and be seen – for the city’s high society.
Back then, the historic hotel served afternoon tea up on the roof terrace, where men dressed in their finest straw boaters and elegant ladies supped their Earl Grey in full ballgowns and fancy bonnets. Guests at that time happily took seven flights of stairs up to the very top of the hotel to take in the stunning views of Manchester, where a full band would play at musical soirees for revellers.
It was a vista enjoyed for some seven years, until in 1910 bosses decided to close off the roof as the soot from all those chimneys was making it a rather grimy affair for the fashionable elite.
It has remained closed to the public ever since, while afternoon teas are now served in the venue's dedicated Tearooms at the front of the hotel on the ground floor. The hotel recently unveiled its £14m upgrade with a huge new bar in the main reception area, which sits next to the hotel's award-winning fine dining restaurant The French by Adam Reid.
Over the years, hotel bosses have toyed with plans to reopen the roof in some way – but modern health and safety rules (and the original railings can’t be changed as part of the Grade II listing of the building) mean it may never be enjoyed in quite the same open air way as those Edwardian dandies once did.
Guests back in the early 1900s would have had very wide-ranging views to as far away as the Pennines across the rooftops, but nowadays it's the city’s modern development clear to see from every side.
The Hilton Tower dominates the landscape to the south of the hotel, while to the sides there are developments of recent years including the Premier Inn on Lower Mosley Street, Number One and Number Two St Peter’s Square and the new office building at the crossroads of Peter Street and Mount Street.
While those turn-of-the-century revellers had splendid views of the old Town Hall spire, currently that is not only covered in scaffolding, but obscured by the later Town Hall Extension (built in 1938), but in the foreground you get splendid views of the grand circular building of the Central Library, which was opened in 1934.
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