The Silver Jubilee of Brighton Pride was delayed by 90 minutes due to a suspect package that had to be dealt with near the start of the parade but this in no way dampened people’s enjoyment of this landmark occasion. There was a great party atmosphere on London Road, the sun shone bright and much supermarket booze was consumed.
When the parade finally arrived at 2:15 it was heralded by the campest police sirens we had ever heard. The self-styled ‘oldest gay in the village’, 92-year-old Pride Ambassador, newly-wed George Montague took his place ahead of the floats with his husband Somchai and received a rapturous reception. The unions and emergency services were all cheered and high-fived as were the newly revitalised ‘”We’re Corbyn and we’re proud” Labour Party supporters.
There were many deserving charities represented, from local heroes The Martlets Hospice to a Peter Tatchell-led worldwide equal rights group along with an English Disco Lovers-enhanced Terrence Higgins Trust.
Onto the park and it looked full-to-bursting but once inside people seemed to choose their preferred spot or wander around taking it all in. Those that explored may have stumbled across Lola Lasagne belting out the obligatory ‘I Will Survive’ and hits from The Sound Of Music or wandered into the Bear Tent while looking for the toilets. Many of the stages had sign language interpreters who really got into the festival spirit, often coming close to outshining the performers.
Wild Fruit was of course packed all day, Maze & Masters being the last act we were able to get into ahead of a roadblocked Fatboy Slim set. A very-excited Ruby Rose burst onto the main stage to introduce Ms Dynamite whose set of East End junglism went down a treat for fans old and new. A fully-integrated crowd raved to techno in the Girls Tent and David Doakes even had the security guys dancing during his set on the Radio Reverb Stage.
With access denied to Fatboy it was back to the main stage for a bouncing set from Foxes and after a filmed reminder of how far equal rights has come since Clause 28, Zoe Lyons proudly introduced headliners The Human League. With a back catalogue full of dance classics it was more a case of what was left out of their 45 minute set. That said, they chose well and crammed in three classics from ‘Dare’ including the day’s biggest singalong ‘Don’t You Want Me’ while the Giorgio Moroder collaboration ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ rounded off the night.
There were no signs of trouble and only a few over-indulgences and as the after-parties cranked up this was a most successful day of celebration.
Brighton Pride, Preston Park, Saturday 1st August 2015
Words by Steve Clements
Photos by Fran Moore
