JADAR

★★★★☆

Gay Village Party is the music festival side of Manchester Pride. This year’s main stage (Village Stage) headliners were Jessie J, Loreen, and Sugababes, with special guest Rita Ora, and other performers including Gok Wan MBE, Katy B, and Natasha Hamilton (Atomic Kitten).

Friday

Friday began with “Trans Filth & Joy”, which was made up of a few trans singers and dancers. There was some real vocal talent (especially Sam Buttery) though one singer was tackling songs out of their vocal range, which did a disservice to their lovely voice. This was followed by a DJ set by Gok Wan OBE. The tracks were mostly electronic and dance – a bit too heavy for my liking – but Gok mixed well, and he included some bangers, such as Whitney Houston’s ‘It’s Not Right (But It’s Okay)’.

The main event, though, was Jessie J, who came onstage at 10:15pm and performed eight songs during a 45-minute set. The set was a bit short for a headline set, and Jessie has bops for days – but she made sure to sing the ones most people wanted, from her debut single ‘Do It Like a Dude’ and her signature solo song ‘Price Tag’ to her biggest international hit ‘Bang Bang’ (with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj) and self-love anthem ‘Why You Are’ (a must-sing for Pride).

Jessie looked deliciously camp in her blue gown, even though she referred to it as a “Quality Street” (the coconut one!). She quickly built a rapport with the adoring audience, who gave her a lot back. She even had a fang sing Nicki’s bridge in ‘Bang Bang’ and then chatted with the fan (I think it was the same fan) who had a Jessie tattoo. Jessie asked him what her best show was before bravely asking him her worst: “Is it this one?” He boldly said, “Yes.” Jessie hilariously rolled with it and later shouted out, “Worst show ever!” during one of her songs.

Saturday

Saturday was the main event. We sadly missed Bennettiscoming but got there in time for Michelle McKenna of Platnum, who ended her set with ‘What’s It Gonna Be’ (H “two” O featuring Platnum). She had a lot of fun onstage. My friend Megan, who I worked with on The Circle, said that Michelle is her friend’s aunt – and she used to sing at their birthday parties!

SWAGGA played some bangers, including RNB and dancehall, which got everybody grooving.

It was great to finally see my friend of five years, Jsky, perform. We just missed his set last year. J opened his set with his signature song, ‘Legs’, which I thought was my favourite Jsky song – that is, until he sang ‘2 Good’. J was even joined onstage by Sebastenelli, who was featured on his song ‘Things, Pt 2’ (a duet version of his song ‘Things’) but they instead performed ‘Put It Pon Dem’ for the first time (ahead of the song’s release next year).

J, who confidently wore fetish gear (showing off his killer legs), was accompanied by two ripped hunks, who provided the gals, gays and theys with some delicious eye candy. However, J could be better supported by dancers than models – even if just go-go dancers who move and groove to the beat.

The Black Pride MCR Takeover was hosted by Darren Pritchard (the House Mother of Ghetto Fabulous and creator of House of MCR) and Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE (the host of House of MCR and Vogue Ball). It was opened with a performance by Xavier Thomas, aka Mr Blaque, my all-time favourite vogue performer. My Blaque is booked and busy, and it was great to see him on the main stage at Manchester Pride.

Mr Blaque was followed by a hula-hooping diva Natasha Moonshine, burlesque performers Cadbury Parfait and Coco Deville, rollerskating singer Jaii Andrew, and drag queens Coco Cannell, Goodie and Vinyl Noir. They all brought so much energy and sass to the stage.

The penultimate performer was hand balancer Andi, who I’ve never seen perform before – but hope to see again. His hand-balancing striptease was breathtaking.

The set was closed with a set by queer singer Louis III, who brought the heat and warmed our cold arses up. Louis’ voice is so soothing, and his stage presence is electric.

DJ Jade Jaxon played some bangers to keep the energy going.

Unfortunately we missed Night-Thomas, but I’ve seen videos and their performance looked fabulous.

Katy B blasted through her many hits – you forget just how many she had – in her half hour set, from ‘Katy on a Mission’ to ‘Lights On’.

The Ghetto Fabulous Dance Party, which was brought forward a set, saw the return of some of the Black Pride MCR Takeover performers.

Rita Ora, adorned in jewels and metallics, clearly got the memo. She was certainly the best-dressed performer of the night. Her set was only 30 minutes long but she made the most of her limited time. She sang four huge hits, one moderate hit, and two newer songs. She’s had so many hits – she’s the British woman with the most top 10 hits (13) – so it’s a shame she opted to sing some lesser-known songs when her stage time was so small, but she sang the hell out of all of them.

Then, finally, came the headliner, Loreen, who surprisingly got a whole hour. Her set was very dance-heavy – I love dance but it was that hardcore kind of dance that you can’t really dance to – but it was amazing watching her perform; she’s so camp and passionate. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse, and it poured as she sang her first Eurovision-winning song, ‘Euphoria’ (but that low-key added to the anthemic vibes!).

She, of course, ended her set with ‘Tattoo’, which won Eurovision last year here in the UK – making her the second person, first woman, and first person this century to win the contest twice. I attended Eurovision as press and got to see her perform the bop twice, but it was great to see her sing it up-close (I was right by the barrier), without all the artistic staging.

Unfortunately, she pulled a Lauryn Hill and rearranged her songs to match the hard-dance vibe. ‘Is It Love’ was almost unrecognisable, but ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Tattoo’ mostly retained their original sound.

Logistics

I didn’t attend the festival on the Sunday, nor did I visit any of the other stages (like many people, I was gutted that Keala Settle was headlining the Alan Turing stage whilst Jessie J headlined the Village Stage), so I can only speak on the main stage. The performances were incredible but there were some logistical issues which arose from unnecessary changes. As the saying goes, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it…

Firstly, the capacity is nowhere near big enough. For the past few years, people have queued for hours only to be denied entry. If you don’t arrive a few hours before the headliner’s slot, you probably ain’t getting in.

Perhaps the main stage needs to be moved to a different location, out of the Gay Village. When Ariana Grande and Years and Years headlined (alongside the likes of Bananarama, Becky G, Cheryl, Emily Sandé, Pixie Lott, and Tulisa), the main stage was located at Mayfield Depot. Perhaps that space is too big without Ariana as a headliner but surely there is somewhere else more suitable. So many people wanted to see Sugababes that sets were moved around so that a live screening could be showed at the Alan Turing Stage – and even then, not everybody got in.

Secondly, for some reason, the layout of the Village Stage was changed this year. Last year, the stage was on the right as you walked in, but now it was straight ahead – swapping place with the loos (more on the loos later!). But rather than being positioned in the middle, it was weirdly shoved in the corner. The ground is quite uneven – and annoyingly higher by the stage, making it a bit difficult to see if you are farther back. This was not the case last year – even at the back, you had a clear view.

The loo situation was not great. There were an okay amount of loos but their location made them difficult to access – it took ages to reach them because of a metal barrier as well as a fixed wooden barrier belonging to the car park. People were getting shoved about (I saw one woman in tears) and falling over. Some people (including some girls) opted to just pee in the corner. If anything needs rethinking next years, it’s the loos.

Lastly, there was something going on on the street next to the car park. Extremely loud music was being played, which was especially distracting during Jessie’s set (especially during ‘Who You Are’). Whatever was happening ought to be moved to a different location. You don’t do Jessie like that.

There’s also the controversy surrounding Manchester Pride’s partnership with Booking.com, which has ties to Israel. Some people boycotted the festival this year, and some performers (including Bimini and Ginger Johnson) dropped out. I’m sure there’s complexity with contracts but surely there are other (less controversial) companies lining up to sponsor the festival.

So, musically, the festival was incredible, with a few small issues, but logistically, the festival had some problems that need to be addressed next year. People shouldn’t have to pee in a corner because they can’t access the loos without getting crushed.

Manchester Pride returns August 22 to 25 2025.

Photo: Rita Ora by Jay Darcy @ JaDar