Every August, Brighton turns into a haven of love, acceptance and celebration as Pride comes into town. The Brighton & Hove Pride LGBTQ+ Community Day Parade opened the weekend under this year’s theme of JOY: celebrating life, spirit, and resilience. The parade wound through the city streets towards Preston Park in its usual spectacular colour and style. Around 300,000 people took to the streets to participate in this year’s parade and a whopping £1.4 million has been raised to support essential LGBTQ+ community groups. Once at the park, pride flags towered above the crowd who dressed head to toe in bright colours, sequins and feathers. It is clear that this is a place where everyone and anyone is welcome and you can just be yourself.
First up was Beth McCarthy, who opened the weekend with upbeat pop bops and tracks bound to be future LGBTQ+ anthems. It was the perfect way to get punters dancing and in the mood for a celebration!
Following Beth McCarthy was winner of "Ru Paul’s Drag Race: UK vs The World" - Tia Kofi! The rain poured down as she took the stage, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the jumping and cheering crowd. Tia performed a mixture of covers and original tracks and was accompanied by her fantastic dancers from Homoparody.
As the rain finally subsided, The House Gospel Choir from London took the stage. The versatile group wowed with their dance moves and incredible voices. Various soloists took centre stage throughout their set, giving a different sound and vibe to each song.
Next up was Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who kicked off her set with her popular cover of "Crying at the Discotheque". During the pandemic, Sophie became a refreshing source of joy for many as she live-streamed her "Kitchen Discos" from home. (For those unfamiliar, these sessions were a delightful mix of chaos and fun with Sophie dancing and singing to disco hits while her children clambered on furniture in quirky costumes.) Her performance at Brighton Pride captured the same spirit, the title "Kitchen Disco" proudly displayed on the drum kit and a backdrop resembling the kitchen window from her iconic live streams.
During her performance she sang a mixture of original songs and popular disco anthems such as "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" by ABBA and "Like a Prayer" by Madonna. She finished her set with her biggest hit "Murder on the Dancefloor", and the crowd rightfully went wild!
Calling all ABBA fans - this next act is tailor-made for you! The Australian ABBA tribute band, Björn Again, took the stage as the familiar beat of "Waterloo" resonated across the festival grounds. The band members are uncanny look-alikes of the original ABBA lineup, complete with wonderfully tacky costumes that perfectly capture the essence of the world's favourite disco group. The band even put on fake Scandinavian accents, adding to the comedy and cheese of the whole act. This was clearly a fan favourite from the whole weekend; droves of crowds rushed towards the stage to dance and sing along to their favourite songs. It was also lovely to see punters of all ages enjoying the performance.
After that delightfully cheesy performance, the stage welcomed the legendary Gabrielle. While she kept the energy high with her crowd-pleasing hits, she also took a moment to remind everyone why we were all there. She spoke to the crowd about the significance of Pride, highlighting the community’s embrace of diversity and expressing how proud she was to stand alongside everyone in celebration. She performed hits such as "Rise", "Out of Reach" and "Give Me a Little More Time" before finishing with "Dreams".
The penultimate act—and the one I was most excited to see—was S Club! For anyone who grew up in the '90s, S Club was the soundtrack of every school disco and birthday party; everyone knew every word. Now a five-piece, the group took the stage in the campiest tie-dye rainbow outfits, dazzling the crowd with an energetic performance. It was clear they were having the time of their lives as they kicked off with "S Club Party". Their hair, faces, and costumes sparkled with jewels and glitter, catching the light as they moved through their intricate choreography. Midway through the set, vocalist Jon Lee shared that this was their first time at Brighton Pride. He also expressed surprise that they hadn’t performed there before in their 25-year career. The set slowly came to an end as they played "Never Had a Dream Come True" and "Reach". There was a brilliant buzz amongst the audience, and everyone was ready for the headlining act.
Walking out in an all white outfit with a jacket casually thrown over his shoulder, Mika grinned from ear to ear as he took in the roars of the crowd. He looked so comfortable on stage, waving to fans in the crowd blowing kisses to the audience. He suddenly turned his back to put the jacket on, displaying the personalised Brighton Pride rainbow applique sewn on the back. The opening notes of ‘Ice Cream’ began to play as he raced around the stage posing at the end of the walkway, taking in the screams from the audience. This man knows how to put on a show!
Above all though, he is the epitome of love and joy. He's the perfect headline for this event. Throughout his set, he told stories of his own past growing up in the world as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. He shared memories of his first experience of a gay club and how accepted he felt, and he shared how the community continues to act with grace even when times are hard.
Moving into his hit song ‘Big Girl’, he explained the meaning behind the popular track "Butterfly Lounge", explaining it was a real place in California (now closed) for larger women to hang out as they were often turned away from the clubs in town. He loved that place and wanted to recreate the vibe with the audience, making it a space where everyone and anyone can dance and have fun. He moved through the audience throughout the track, barely visible by the cameras as he was swarmed by feather boas and rainbow flags. As he finally made his way out of the crowd, he climbed up onto the stage before leaving for a short while.
He returned to the stage wearing gigantic red feathered wings and matching red trousers. The wings seemed to move like real wings, spreading and retracting as he walked. Although the wings looked incredibly heavy, this did not stop Mika from running and jumping to his next song "Relax (Take It Easy)". On each chorus, he jumped high into the air, and his voice never faltered. He continued regularly changing costumes (around four/five times overall).
He ended his performance with three hits: "Grace Kelly", "Happy Ending" and "We Are Golden". He showcased his musical talent, playing the piano at times during these songs. He exited the stage a short while before coming back for his encore performance of "Love Today" - a perfect song accompanied with a huge firework display to end a fantastic weekend.
Overall, the weekend was a perfect display of what the LGBTQ+ community is all about. At a time when there is so much hate going on in the world and in the UK, it was a safe haven for people to be themselves without any judgement or prejudice.
