Review of the 'Big Gay Out' Festival

Finsbury Park, London, Saturday July 3rd 2004

'Big Gay Out' was the Official London Pride event for this year, organised by Faceparty. After the usual parade through the city centre, the gates to the Finsbury Park festival opened at one o'clock.

On the main stage, there was a mix of camp retro singers including CeCe Peniston and Urban Cookie Collective, and toward the end of the night bigger stars including Emma Bunton, Jamelia, Marc Almond, Fun Lovin' Criminals and the Sugababes. Peter Andre and the Cheeky Girls also made appearances.

If you got bored of the main stage there were plenty of other things to do. There were loads of big dance tents with well-known DJs including Boy George getting the party going. There was also a funfair which had some deadly waltzers (I had whiplash for a week). A marketplace curled round the edges of the festival in which you could buy the usual rainbow flags along with some 'herbal highs' and witty t-shirts. One of the big hits, though, was the cabaret tent which had a loads of drag artistes, singers and comedians, including the 'Men in Coats,' a hilarious act which especially appealed to those with a silly or blokey sense of humour! Also appearing here was a very, VERY, convincing impersonator of Boy George called the Boy George Experience.

The Main Stage (Fun Lovin' Criminals)

Of course, if you got bored of all this, you could always sit down in one of the teepee tentsor on one of the beanbags and watch the brilliantly costumed festival goers pass by!

A blessing tent could be used by those who wanted a special ceremony (like a wedding) to tie them to their partner, performed by the Metropolitan Community Church. There were plenty of food and drink stalls and lots of veggie food was on offer.

This was just one indication of how inclusive and welcoming the festival was - in the cabaret tent there were communicators for deaf people, and the main stage had a viewing area for disabled people to come and go as they pleased. Overall, the atmosphere was warm and completely friendly.

And one more bonus: the rain stayed away! Seeing as we've been having really freaky weather here in the UK (The Day After Tomorrow anyone?) this was a much welcomed surprise!

There was one hitch, which unfortunately came at the end of the night. The much anticipated 'Frankie Goes to Hollywood Firework Spectacular' kicked off late, which can only explain why it seemed to have been cut short, leaving a confused (but amused) crowd wondering why a load of costumed dancers were swaying on the stage to complete silence! They even cut the poor presenter's mic in the end. We can only assume that because the main stage had been running late, licensing laws prohibited loud music and fireworks after half ten!

However, this was one of the best one day festivals I have ever been to. There was so much to do and the time went really quickly. Faceparty have already decided to bring the event back next year, and with word getting around about how good it was, hopefully next year will attract bigger stars and loads more festival-goers. And hopefully, they'll get the fireworks right.

All profits from Big Gay Out are being donated to charity: the slogan 'Pride Not Profit.'



See the official website for some great pictures.

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