Fabuloso, Preston Park, Brighton, Day # 1 of 2 – Saturday 3rd August 2024

 

 

Brighton & Hove Pride 2024 kicked off in style on Saturday, seeing spectacular performances throughout the day on the Fabuloso stage in Preston park – headlined by Girls Aloud with a UK festival exclusive.

Kickstarting the day was the annual Pride parade from 11am and streaming colourfully and vibrantly through the city, calling at iconic Brighton landmarks such as the West Pier and Royal Pavilion, with hundreds of thousands lining the route to cheer them on.

 

The weather kinder than last year, just a short shower this time compared to last year’s Storm Antoni with 50MPH winds and lashing it down, and then on top of that the train strike keeping many people away on the event’s 50th anniversary. Not this year…and the trains laid on had rainbow livery as a tribute to Pride.

One sour note: The parade came to a standstill for quite a while, due to Pro-Palestinian protesters blocking the road in front of the Coca Cola truck. The rest of the parade eventually had to be diverted to be able to continue.

 

 

Over in Preston Park at Fabuloso, the official Pride community fundraiser, Beth McCarthy opened the main stage with future LGBTQ+ anthems, whilst RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World S2 winner Tia Kofi got the crowd hyped with a flurry of sassy pop-bops.

House Gospel Choir brought their infectious high energy, and kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis Bextor sprinkled magic all over Preston Park and serenaded the Saturday crowd with hits such as ‘Take Me Home’, ‘Music Gets The Best of Me’ and the viral hit that refuses to surrender, ‘Murder on The Dancefloor’.

The legendary Billy Porter aka The Black Mona Lisa arrived with a thrilling and theatrical performance taking the crowd on a musical journey, showcasing tracks from his latest album, while also celebrating his 90s r&b roots and award-winning turns on Broadway.

Girls Aloud were Saturday night headliners, leaving Pride-goers in awe with their exclusive and show stopping performance to close the evening.

No band, singing to tracks, 21 songs in the set; A new stage, new outfits and surprises, including a Madonna “Material Girl” cover, and a performance of “Watch Me Go”, which the band haven’t performed since their first arena tour in 2005.

There was also a surprise guest appearance from Olly Alexander, who joined the girls in a performance of fan-favourite “The Loving Kind” and Years & Years hit “King”.

Flaming cannons, pyrotechnics and so much confetti – The Girls Aloud Show was an unforgettable extravaganza filled with laughter, love and beautiful moments dedicated to band member, the late and great Sarah Harding.

Girls Aloud teased fans in the run up to Fabuloso, confirming that their Brighton Pride performance will be their “biggest and final show of the year”. Speaking to Attitude magazine, Kimberly Walsh said “We are beyond excited to perform at Brighton Pride, It’s our biggest and final show of the year and the first time performing at Pride as a band!. We know it’s the summer’s ultimate party and we can’t wait.”

The show follows a successful UK tour celebrating iconic hits such as “No Good Advice”, “Love Machine” and “Something Kinda Ooh”, although Pride goers got something kinda new from this weekend’s setlist, which Nicola Roberts had teased: “The show is going to have a few surprises. We’ve added some songs that we didn’t perform on the tour that we’re doing just for Brighton Pride”.

Girls Aloud setlist @ Fabuloso

The Show

Something New

Love Machine

Can’t Speak French

Material Girl

Biology

Whole Lotta History

Wake Me Up

Sound of the Underground

No Good Advice

Watch Me Go

Long Hot Summer

I’ll Stand by You
(Pretenders cover)

Sexy! No No No…

On the Metro

The Loving Kind
(with Olly Alexander) (First time performing since 2009)

King
(Years & Years cover with Olly Alexander)

Jump (For My Love)
(The Pointer Sisters cover)

Call the Shots

Something Kinda Ooooh

Encore:

The Promise

 

 

Some of the worlds biggest superstars have graced the Brighton Pride stages including Christina Aguilera, Black Eyed Peas, Steps, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Grace Jones, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Dua Lipa,  Jessie J, Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne, Emeli Sandé, , Ella Eyre, Paloma Faith, Sister Sledge, Anne-Marie, Carly Rae Jepsen, Pet Shop Boys, Years & Years, Fatboy Slim, The Human League, Boy George and many more…

 

 

Brighton Pride is the biggest in the UK and has raised more than £1.3million for the Brighton Rainbow Fund, the Pride Social Impact Fund, Pride Cultural Development Fund and Pride Solidarity Fund. The Brighton Rainbow Fund has a remit to receive donations and to use them to give grants to LGBT and HIV groups and organisations in Brighton and Hove. The Pride Social Impact Fund benefits local good causes giving grants to a range of local groups.

The theme of this year’s Pride in Brighton is “Joy – Celebrating Life. Spirit. Resilience”. Joy would ably sum up how the many thousands felt who were attending Fabuloso on day # one of two. Tomorrow it is the turn of Mika to headline and a bunch of other top acts on the bill too, including S Club and Gabrielle.

Making their Brighton Pride debut this year, Sunday headliner MIKA has promised a kaleidoscopic extravaganza to close Fabuloso on Sunday evening. Showering the crowd with hits such as “Grace Kelly”, “Love Today” and “Relax” and “Take It Easy’, it’s set to be a standout performance.

 

• Watch out for coverage of Sunday’s Fabuloso line-up coming soon in our “Live Zone”…

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Photos [marked JD] by James Daly

Photos [marked JC] by Jim Carey

Photos: [Marked RL] by Rowen Lawrence

Photos [marked MW] by Manja Williams

Posed promo photos – Girls Aloud & Beth McCarthy: PR-supplied

Words: Jilly Gold