‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – ‘FABULOSO AT PRIDE’, MAIN STAGE, BRIGHTON & HOVE PRIDE’, PRESTON PARK, BRIGHTON 5.8.23 (DAY ONE)
When you think of Brighton’s world famous ‘Pride‘ celebration of LBGTQ+ diversity and inclusivity, it conjures up images of bright colours, carnival scenes and sunshine skies, unfortunately we only got 66% of that as the unseasonal ‘Storm Antoni’ was forecast to strike the event, and strike it did, although fortunately not as severely as had been predicted.
The Community Parade which wends its way from Hove Lawns to Preston Park was forced to start early on account of the predicted weather, however that allied to a complete lack of trains due to strike action didn’t stop thousands of people from lining the route and enjoying the colourful floats, costumes and beats.
Having followed the final mile or so of the Parade, I arrived at the park and took up my position on the crowd barrier and waited expectantly in anticipation of the eclectic selection of acts that had been lined up for ‘Fabuloso’ which is Brighton & Hove Pride’s official community fundraiser.
First up was Bellah Mae, no stranger to the Brighton & Hove News as we reported on her Patterns set as part of this year’s ‘Great Escape‘ back in May.
It was quite a leap from that venue to opening the main stage at Pride but she cut a dazzling, confident figure in a striking pink dress as she delivered a showcase of her self-penned pop numbers including ‘Boyfriend Of The Year’, ‘Date Your Dad’ and ‘Drama King’, all radio friendly stuff and the perfect material to open up proceedings on a dull, damp and windy afternoon. Signed to EMI, Bellah is an artist going places and she is set to appear in some major cities around the UK as part of her first solo tour in October.
Next up were French electro-rock band ‘The Blackmordia‘ who’ve been together for around a decade and whose music has been described as a convergence of ‘Def Leppard’ and ‘Daft Punk’ and I’d say this is a pretty accurate description.
I admit, this isn’t music I would normally go out of my way to listen to, but they did play an entertaining set with a couple of their tracks catching my attention, the synth driven ‘Hold On’ which is their current single and the previous release ’54’ which I’d describe as retro funk rock. There aren’t too many bands making music like this at the moment, it certainly has its place and the crowd appreciated it.
As the rain teemed down, the UK’s 2023 Eurovision entrant Mae Muller took to the stage with a trio of dancers and dialled up the party vibe with a set made up of numbers from her forthcoming debut album ‘Sorry I’m Late’ which will be released on 15th September and can be pre-ordered across all of the usual platforms.
Eurovision entry ‘I Wrote A Song’ is a great pop tune massively under-appreciated by the Eurovision judges and I really enjoyed the bass-heavy ‘I Just Came To Dance’ which had the crowd who’d braved the elements dancing away in the heavy precipitation. In front of the stage Mae strutted her stuff on the protruding catwalk despite the heavy rain (and being in very real danger of slipping), determined to let nothing stop her from having a great time. The crowd reciprocated her efforts with cheers and warm appreciation at the end.
Following Mae’s set, I decided to get into the dry for a while where I headed to the Gaydio Dance Tent and took in a section of the sets from DJ Paulette and HiFi Sean, there was certainly plenty of full-on dance intensity in there and lots of brightly dressed people having a great time.
I hot-footed it back to the main stage to catch most of Jax Jones’s set, who was holding court at the decks behind a large white altar-like structure on stage with images of himself beamed on the screen behind, pumping out some of his dance banger smashes including ‘Where Did You Go’, ‘Out Out’ and ‘Breathe’ to name but a few. Bursting onto the UK music scene in 2014 with ‘I Got You’ a number 1 collaboration alongside Duke Dumont, this talented DJ, songwriter, mixer and producer has filled dance floors across the world with his music. It was a pleasure to witness a master of his craft at such close quarters.
Next up there was a well-received appearance and speech on stage by Australian born human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell who is best known for his work with LGBT social movements.
Following this, it was time to hand over to other Australians in the form of the act I had most looked forward to, Brisbane-based indie-electro four-piece Confidence Man. I had seen them several times before in Brighton, the first time at the 2017 ‘Great Escape‘ festival in the much lamented and since demolished ‘Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar’ and I’ve been a fan of their full-on infectious dance music, camped-up choreography and on-stage energy ever since.
Once again, they put on a great show, front duo ‘Janet Planet’ and ‘Sugar Bones’ on fine form with a blistering set including early material like ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘Don’t You Know I’m In A Band’ plus later songs like their 2021 single ‘Holiday’ and clubby 2023 release ‘On And On’ all going down well. Unusually, the stand out track for me was a cover version of the Bryan Adams classic ‘Heaven’ released over 38 years ago and given a new lease of life here today. This was a reminder of what a tremendous live band they are and I cannot understand why they haven’t enjoyed greater commercial success.
Next came a genuine musical discovery. Until the announcement of the line-up, I’d never heard of 23-year-old Natasha Woods aka ‘Dylan‘, but after an intoxicating set from the English indie-pop songstress and her two bandmates, I certainly have now! Smiling her way through the whole performance, this talented singer and guitarist unleashed a torrent of instantly likeable songs including ‘No Romeo’, ‘Nineteen’ and ‘You’re Not Harry Styles’.
Her latest single was released the day before this performance on the 4th August and is called ‘Liar Liar’ – it features Bastille and for me it was her best track, but in fairness they were all superb. Having already supported Ed Sheeran on tour and signed to Island Records, surely a debut album is in the offing. An inspired booking by the Fabuloso organisers.
In my opinion, the next act stole a high quality show. Swedish songstress Zara Larsson was in awesome form as she powered her way through a 16 song set of pure dance joy along with a supporting cast of ten others including backing singers and dancers, dressed in a striking white ensemble and really ramping up the atmosphere further still by offering up a set quite literally fizzing with energy from beginning to end.
It’s hard to believe that Zara is still only 25 having seemingly been around for years, tasting UK chart success at the tender age of 17 with ‘Never Forget You’ (with MNEK) having been a childhood star in her homeland, the said track (which reached number 5) was the penultimate offering this evening.
Each and every song was a cracker, but her cover version of Abba’s ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ went down particularly well with the crowd as did 2018 single ‘Ruin My Life’ but the biggest cheers were reserved for her 2017 UK number 1 collaboration with Clean Bandit, the electrifying ‘Symphony’ and the closing number, 2016 number 3 ‘Lush Life’ which both had the audience joining in every word. I’ve always liked her music but as a live performer, she is an absolute sensation. I really hope she returns to perform in the city soon.
Zara Larsson setlist:
‘Can’t Tame Her’
‘I Would Like’
‘Ruin My Life’
‘Ain’t My Fault’
‘Bad Boys’
‘Like It Is’ (Kygo cover) (shortened)
‘This One’s For You’ (David Guetta cover) (shortened)
‘Look What You’ve Done’
‘Lay All Your Love On Me’ (ABBA cover)
‘Love Me Land’
‘End Of Time’
‘Girls Like / Words’
‘Symphony’ (Clean Bandit cover)
‘Uncover’
‘Never Forget You’ (Zara Larsson & MNEK cover)
‘Lush Life’
Finally, it was time for the headliners, the Black Eyed Peas. Unfortunately, there was a long delay of twenty minutes or so past the advertised stage time, but what they served up was well worth waiting for. Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap, Taboo and singer J Rey Soul strode onto the stage and gave us an hour and ten minutes of solid entertainment with the charismatic Will.i.am directing proceedings dressed in a baggy orange and black outfit.
They chose the perfect track to start their show, the brilliant ‘Let’s Get It Started’ and what followed was a tour-de-force of how to entertain a crowd with the band unleashing hits from across their illustrious career including the four UK number one singles they bestowed upon us this evening.
There were highlights aplenty. 2009 transatlantic number 1 ‘Boom Boom Pow’ is indeed a knockout of a track and the 2012 UK number 1 ‘Scream And Shout’ (a Will.i.am song) featuring icon Britney Spears who was beamed onto the screen behind the band sent the audience into a frenzy. Will told the audience that “tough times would pass” before launching into the 2020 single ‘Don’t You Worry’ ft Shakira and David Guetta who also appeared on the screen.
The best track of the night for me was an incendiary rendition of their 2006 number 3 hit ‘Pump It’ with flame throwers unleashing their full force to the cries of “louder”.
A special word should go to 25-year-old singer J Rey Soul who had a hard act to follow filling the quite considerable boots of ‘Fergie’ who quit the band in 2017. There was no discernible difference, her vocal talents more than held their own against such an illustrious predecessor.
Penultimate track ‘Where Is The Love‘ was their UK breakthrough, hitting number 1 in 2003. The band shared the story that they had found success on these shores before anywhere else, attending a church sermon two decades ago whilst visiting Scotland called ‘Where Is The Love’ which inspired the track.
The final song of the evening turned out to be 2009 UK number 1 ‘I Gotta Feeling’ which sounded great – until the sound suddenly stopped. It would appear that somebody had quite literally pulled the plug, as the event runs under very strict curfew conditions. Although the band looked a bit confused, the crowd took over, completing the track with fervour and ensuring the performance finished on a high.
With that, the band unfurled a large union jack flag at the front of the catwalk protruding from the stage (where they had spent a lot of time positioned to be in and amongst the crowd) and took a bow – and that was that! In no way should this detract from what had been a remarkable show. Will.i.am told the crowd on several occasions that the UK is a special place and the Black Eyed Peas accordingly gave us a magnificent performance with plenty of references to the essence of the Pride event and its key messages of love and inclusivity.
Organisers reported that the weather and lack of train transport had understandably affected attendance this year, which will in turn have sadly affected fundraising. It certainly didn’t detract from people having an amazing time, however, I just hope the weather gods will be generous in dishing out the sunshine next year!
Black Eyed Peas setlist:
‘Let’s Get It Started’
‘Boom Boom Pow’
‘RITMO’
‘MAMACITA’
‘The Coming’ (Live debut)
‘Pump It’
‘Seven Nation Army’ (The White Stripes cover) (Snippet)
‘IN THE AIR’
‘Love Tonight’ (Shouse cover) (Snippet)
‘MABUTI’
‘Bebot’
‘This Is Love’ (will.i.am song)
‘#thatPower’ (will.i.am song)
‘Scream & Shout’ (will.i.am song)
‘DON’T YOU WORRY’
‘Don’t Stop The Party’
‘The Time (Dirty Bit)’
‘Where Is The Love?’
‘I Gotta Feeling’ (cut short halfway through the song)
The Day Two report of Brighton & Hove Pride from Sunday 6th August can be found by clicking HERE.
Let’s bring out the Champagne and celebrate another successful Brighton & Hove Pride. Roll on next year!
