JADAR

★★★★★

After the long-running Manchester Pride, which we have covered for the past few years, went into liquidation, after not paying most of its performers, former Lord Mayor Carl Austin-Behan OBE DL and a group of local queers got together to save the day, launching the more community-oriented Manchester Village Pride and voluntarily building in half the time that it usually takes to organise Pride.

The day before the four-day festival began, and hours before the civil launch event, I sat down with Rowan Barr, the Creative & Social manager, and one of the people responsible for MVP. He told me that this iteration is different to the previous one as it is more grassroots and the entire board is made up of actual members of the community, who are volunteering their time for free, because they are passionate about Pride and have “lived and breathed” this community, and Pride specifically, for years.

They have actively listened to their community, via things such as focus groups and a community advisory board, so that all of their decisions are informed by the community. They also have five community/charity partners, who they are fundraising for: all money that does not go towards the event will be split between those charities.

MVP has Community Lane, an expo area, with market stalls by members of the community, and food vendors chosen to be part of the community. Even many of the acts are part of the community, or have long been active allies of the community.

The emphasis on “Village” is because it is back in the Village, as opposed to last year’s festival, which branched out to Mayfield Depot and Freight Island with the ill-fated Mardi Gras (the Ariana Grande-led festival at Mayfield Depot several years ago was obviously much more successful). This version wants to hone in on the history and culture of the Gay Village as a safe space for the queer community.

Whilst some might imagine advertisers, artists, etc. to be wary of working with Pride in Manchester after the disaster last year, Barr told me that they were actually overwhelmed with the amount of support, thanks in no small part because it was made immediately clear that this iteration is more community-focused and less commercial. As a community interest company, they have also been completely transparent about their finances, especially because people do not realise how much they have to pay for, from security to more loos and more accessibility. They have been inundated with so many artist requests that they have had to earmark some for next year. They also wanted to showcase more diverse artists, from all different communities, whilst also considering the generational differences of the audience, with artists that all age groups will appreciate. Barr thinks that MVP is bringing many older audiences back.

MVP revealed that the total cost of every single act this year was less than the cost of one headliner (presumably Nelly Furtado) last year. Whilst some people have complained that Manchester Pride rarely got acts as big as some other Prides, such as Brighton, this backfired last year. Manchester knows how to do Pride, and do it well, without major artists.

But the list of artists this year was still fantastic. Just before Pride, Friday headliner Nadine Coyle had to drop out, but the team managed to secure fellow Irish act B*Witched, who really wanted to do it, in just 24 hours. Saturday was headlined by Gareth Gates, with his “Boybands in the Buff” show, in which he got his booty out!

We attended on the Sunday, which was headlined by Cascada, who I have always wanted to see. Whilst they have co-headlined Clubland at Manchester Arena a few times, I have always been wary of that audience, so I was delighted to hear that they were headlining MVP. Unfortunately, it absolutely poured during her set – so much so that many people evacuated the dancefloor – but she did her absolute best to get through it, despite the tech problems (which she said were quite bad in her Instagram video right after the event, but I did not think they were too noticeable – not only because the rain was the main concern but also because she’s such a pro that she just powered through it).

Heavy rain and lightning earlier on in the day resulted in the show being stopped and the main acts being postponed. This sadly meant that Big Brovaz and Booty Luv had to instead perform on the Spice World stage at New York New York, next to the Main Stage’s exit, whilst Adam Rickitt performed on the Main Stage.

Whilst this changed was announced on social media, it was not announced on the main stage, presumably to keep everyone from leaving. Whilst keeping Caity Baser over BB & BL seems a strange choice, it might have been the case that both BB & BL and Adam Rickitt were not available to perform until later, thus one of them had to be moved to the smaller stage. Whilst BB & BL are, of course, the better act, they could all fit on the smaller stage, whilst Rickitt needed the bigger stage because of all his dancers. The optics of relegating the Black headliner are not great but it seemed to be the only option.

Whilst BB & BL obviously put on a better show and have a much stronger catalogue, I have seen them before, and I wanted to see Rickitt sing ‘I Breathe Again’. His voice is very soft and quiet and could have benefitted from a backing track but his set was fun, despite his dancers’ very basic moves.

Kate Nash, who has become known for her feminist activist as much as her artistry, delivered a passionate set, ending with her smash hit ‘Foundations’.

Other acts included Diana Vickers, who is from end, ending her set with her number one hit ‘Once’, and Misha B, who showed off her vocals with a few covers as well as her two underrated hits which were, frankly, ahead of their time.

Whilst most of the artists on the line-up are no longer super well-known to mainstream audiences, they are still beloved by the Queer community. Rickitt, who is (surprisingly) straight, thanked the audience, saying, “This is my community.” Similarly, during the Ariana Grande-led Pride, Bananarama admitted that it is the Queer community which has kept them relevant (despite most people in that very young audience having no idea who those two older ladies were).

Interspersed with the music acts were a series of inspirational speakers, with Josh Cavallo, the first openly gay professional male footballer, delivering the final speech. This was a nice touch with honed in on the purpose of Pride.

As has been the case for awhile now, there were several stages, some requiring separate entrances to get in, whilst others were just scattered around the Village, such as the aforementioned New York New York stage, which was themed around the Spice Girls, with a drag queen dressing up as various Spice Girls, wearing a copy of Ginger’s signature Union Flag dress whilst blasting her cover of the Weather Girls’ ‘It’s Raining Men’ as everyone sang and danced in the light rain.

There was also something of a Wizard of Oz theme, what with its community themes and queer fanbase, but there was a missed opportunity in not making this a bigger deal.

Whilst the first three days were free, the Monday was a free family and community day, ending with the beloved candlelit vigil, which was moved to an earlier slot to be more accessible.

Pride this year definitely felt different. All the talk about community, which was highlighted again at the media launch on the Friday, was not just talk – they actually walked the walk. Walking around the Village, it really did feel more grassroots and community-oriented. Of course, any Pride has to commercialise itself to survive, but it does not have to feel so corporate. It really is inspiring what the board have managed to do in just a few months, and I am expecting big things for the sophomore festival next year.