Undoubtedly one of the largest celebrations of humanity, equality and self expression, the Brighton Pride Festival is a beacon of hope and prosperity for the LGBTQ+ community across the globe. This weekend sees thousands descend on our little seaside city for a weekend of pure celebration no matter who you are, or how you identify.

The festival kicks off on Friday at the BIMM live stage in Victoria Gardens, opening with the stunning acoustics from Amelia Caesar. Her sound is both soothing, yet still incorporates an excellent level of powerhouse vocals, a lovely way to start the evening and definitely a name to be on the look out for. Brighton heroes and strong LGBTQ+ activists, Frankie Furlow, follow and morph the evening’s vibe into a far more upbeat aura. This band are never one to disappoint and inject the perfect level of energetics to get the evening flowing into full celebration, the rainbow flags are already waiving strong and, as the band’s set comes to a closure, the entire grounds are yelling in unison. The crowd are more than eager to be dancing and chanting and so no act could have been more suited than the miraculous Lucy Spraggan. As always, Lucy’s bubbly personality, infectious humour and terrific outlook on life make for a brilliant ending to the evening and her rendition of ‘Fight For It’ in particular certainly left a very moving and heartfelt mark on the night that I’m sure many will not be forgetting anytime soon.

Friday’s antics were already satisfying enough, however, they were just the warm up to what I can only describe as the most fantastic display of colour and love I have ever seen. As the Pride Parade slowly clambers its way through the streets of Brighton, the entire city becomes one conglomerated crowd of sheer awesomeness and acceptance. The pounding of drums draw ever closer in an almost military fashion with such a colossal sound that the entire streets find themselves bobbing along. Each float’s creativity and individuality are exceptional, obviously celebrating the 50th anniversary of decriminalisation, this Pride is bigger than any before and each organisation has clearly pulled out all of the stops. Colourful costumes blur the eye, tunes from the Spice Girls, S Club 7 and Madonna all make appearances and more than a few members of The Beatles can be seen mixed amongst the floats, it turns out even death cannot stop John from making this march.

The chaotic kaleidoscope soon finds its way up towards Preston Park where the real fun is yet to begin. At first I find myself almost overwhelmed with choice so, initially, I make my way over to the Diva’s tent to hear a nice early DJ set from Kate Wildblood & Queen Josephine, whose techno beats see an entire room bouncing around despite it being the early hours of the afternoon! A quick head over to the Legends Cabaret tent and sudden downpour sees the crowds cluster in for Sally Vate’s set, Sally has a tremendous amount of fun whilst performing and not a half bad voice either! Her version of a Jungle Book medley is hilariously divine and sees the entire room chanting along with her, the smile on her face says it all really and the image made for a perfect representation as to just what Pride is all about.

The main stage soon beckons as the incredible Fickle Friends begin yet another stunning set as always. Opening with both ‘Brooklyn’ and their latest single ‘Glue’, was more than enough to get the crowd bouncing along and provided that bit of tropical indie that my day certainly needed. Fickle Friends really do seem to be on a freight train which shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon and, seeing them perform live, it is easy to see why this local band are dominating the UK indie scene.

Pride not only brings a brilliant selection of people from all walks of life but really does try its best to cater for a number of musical desires. Whether your sound be those into clubbing anthems, then the Wild Fruit Dance Tent is a non-stop party or, if simple acoustics are more your thing, then the Sheila McWattie Women’s Performance Stage is the one for you. I enter just in time for a performance from We R Bob, whose acoustic set features a selection of brass instrumentals made for a calming pit stop from the surrounding pandemonium. The duo’s harmonies and vocals are soothing and soft whilst incorporating large levels of humour and fun within, the smaller tent is rammed to capacity and likewise all find themselves singing along to a lovely cover of ‘Karma Chameleon’.

With recharged batteries, it was back over to the main stage to see Becky Hill. An extremely delayed start through technical issues meant that Becky’s set was almost cut in half, but nonetheless she was more than willing to give it her all. Her huge singles ‘False Alarm’ and ‘Piece Of Me’ saw the crowd in a flurry of energetics and Becky herself seems to be having an immense amount of fun performing. It is a real shame about the delay as it feels as though just as she is getting into her stride, she reaches her last song. Despite this, Becky did all she could to still put on a stellar performance and deserves credit as such.

The following performance easily made the highlight of the day, a flamboyant set from Years & Years. This trio are brilliant icons for the LGBTQ+ community and singer, Olly Alexander, is in no way shy about expressing this! He bounds into the stage with a sublime level of energy, charisma and uplifting aura. The band lead into ‘Take Shelter’ and the sound is equally as impressive as their visual element, the synth hits well and Olly’s vocals are excellently diverse and powerful. A white confetti cannon floods the air and is met with a torrent of screams and smiles from the band. Years & Years are excellent performers and no expense has been spared in today’s show, perhaps best demonstrated by a cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ where Olly is elevated onto a throne carried by his backing performers; the track may seem a bit cliched but still is an immense level of fun to watch and every single person involved seems to be having a fantastic time. The set of course ends with the band’s largest dominating number, ‘King’, and sees the crowd in one final frenzy of dancing, waiving flags and arms in the air as far as the eye can see, a brilliant sight.

The final act of the festival were the electronic titans of the Pet Shop Boys, whose set could easily constitute a three page review in itself. Obviously the band are incredibly influential and significant to the gay community and the crowd’s eagerness and buzz throughout the grounds to see their performance is unmatched. A stunning introduction of lasers, holographic and stage props make for an incredibly strong start to the set and, as the band lead into ‘Inner Sanctum’, the opening track from their 2016 album, Super, the crowd find themselves fixated on the brilliant visual and sonic performance. The set only leads from one strength to another as the brilliant projections continue and singer Neil Tennant proceeds to dominate the entire stage with his peculiarly phased vocals. The set consists of a wonderful mixture from across the band’s 30 year discography, and each is met with an even greater level of enthusiasm than the last. Appearances from ‘The Pop Kids’, ‘It’s A Scene’ and ‘West End Girls’ all make colossal appearances which transcend the performance into a sheer frenzy of colour and dynamics, however, nothing could prepare for a wonderfully brilliant rendition of ‘Always On My Mind’, which sees the crowd in one final flourish of chants, love and dancing. A brilliant end to the festival which will have meant an immense amount to so many.

Pride is all about being who you are and not being afraid to show it. It is a loving environment for people of all backgrounds to celebrate individuality and this year was no exception. Once more, Brighton has proven that we truly are one of the most accepting and diverse places on the planet that all are welcome to enjoy. Brighton Pride is certainly not a festival I will be forgetting anytime soon and would advise anyone and everyone to get down there for next year’s celebration.

Ben Walker

Website: brighton-pride.org
Facebook: facebook.com/brightonpride
Twitter: twitter.com/PrideBrighton