Live Review: Mighty Hoopla – 31st May / 1st June 2025 – Brockwell Park, London, UK
9 min read
Mighty Hoopla - 2025 by Luke Dyson
Every year there is one event that marks the summer for most here in London and that event is Mighty Hoopla. Now in its 9th year in London (Its 8th in Brockwell Park), the two-day pop spectacle has been dominating the events calendar every year as the biggest LGBTQI+ festival in the UK and Europe as it takes over the South London park for a weekend of fun, frivolity and the glitter ….. A LOT of glitter.
Previous years of the festival, which has become a favourite for many in London and punters that travel from much further afield, have seen pop superstars including Steps, Kelly Rowland, Sugababes and Jessie Ware lead the iconic lineup and hundreds of others from the 90’s and noughties dominate the multiple stages that are dotted over the massive Brockwell Park near Brixton.
This year it was a female headlining line-up with American stars Ciara and Kesha being signed up to cater to the thirsty, sun drenched pop fans that sold out this year’s Mighty Hoopla for yet another year and as regular attendees of the festival, we were super excited to attend this year’s latest camp edition to the 2025 festival calendar which also marks the start of Pride month 2025.
With the sun blazing over London on Saturday, we did the smart thing but dousing ourselves in sunscreen – painful lessons learned from previous years still burned into our memory. By 2pm the Brixton bound trains were overflowing with colourfully dressed Hoopla fans all making their way to the park. After collecting our wristband, we made our way straight over to the Hayu stage to catch singer-songwriter Amy Studt deliver a 5-song set made up of hits the packed crowd were able to sing back in nostalgic enthusiasm. Thanking her family for being at the show and her daughter “who’s 3 and who’s watching me for the first time”, Studt told her fans after a memorable set which was made up of Ladder in my Tights, Under The Thumb, Chasing The Light, Just A Little Girl and Misfits.
Over on the main stage early noughties superstar Jamelia lit it up with some of her biggest hits including a vocally perfect rendition of ballad Thank You, her Bridget Jones Diary contribution, Stop which had the whole crowd belting back to the singer who strutted the main stage with confidence in a figure hugging black number. A memorable performance of See It in a Boy’s Eyes, where the singer handled her forgetting of the lyrics with pure professionalism with a call to her band to stop playing so she could start the song again and give it to the fans the way she said they deserved was a highlight. Her closing performance of signature hit, Superstar was also served up to remind us of the sheer talent and impact that Jamelia has had on the UK pop scene as she belted out the mammoth hook-laden hit.
We then took a trek around the venue to see what changes were made to this year’s event. More cash has definitely been pumped into this latest edition of the festival with new installations or activities like The Gaybourhood which includes the Hay Girl Hay tent, Working Them’s Club, Dyke Bar and the Grindr Bus, all proving popular additions for the crowds to enjoy cheeky games in between seeing one of the stage performers on the line up.
Over the course of the weekend The Bump provided the muscle boys another annual tent to rave it up in and was vamped up this year with some impressive overhead lighting and almost holographic displays. This added to the feel that things for Mighty Hoopla were moving further away from its almost roots beginnings and now fully integrated into being a commercial festival experience. The tent was overflowing with punters dressed in every imaginable outfit you could think of and dancing it up like it was the last before a lockdown and numerous drag race royalty like Kandy Muse and Jimbo the Drag Clown could be seen out of make up and heading in with their friends while being pulled away from time to time by eager fans wanting a snap with the US stars.
Back on the main stage pop icon Danni Minogue made a surprise appearance as she welcomed on stage the cast of the new season of I Kissed A Boy – the perfect promotional opportunity for the show, introducing each member of the show to a screaming crowd who had filled the enormous main stage field for the next in line to tear up Brockwell Park: Jade.
With enormous silver inflatables placed on stage and wearing an eye-catching black and white cowskin cowboy outfit, the Little Mix breakout star and recent solo Brit Award winner delivered one of the most impressive sets of the festival. Throwing in a gorgeous cover of Madonna’s Frozen was an unexpected addition to the set which featured all of the stars singles to date – IT Girl, Midnight Cowboy, FUFN and closer, Angel of My Dreams as well the sexual Fantasy all winning over the frenzied crowd.
Pleasing her former pop group fans in the audience, the singer also offered up a number of Little Mix hits with Wasabi appearing early in the set as well as Shout Out to My Ex and Sweet Melody forming a meaty medley while showing her devoted LGBT allyship by calling out JK Rowling and transphobes at one point. Digs that were obviously were met with deafening applause from the fans.
A surprising headline slot by US RnB singer Ciara seemed to go down pretty well with the crowd despite not being the most obvious choice for a headliner of Mighty Hoopla. A lengthy 20 song set was able to be delivered before the Saturday 10.30pm curfew and included an impressive, stage design that doubled as a moveable platform for the star to turn out her impressive dance moves to hits like Goodies, Ride, Oh and I Bet as well as an early showcase of new single Ecstasy from her upcoming album, Cici which drops early next month. The big player of the headliners show however was signature hit, 1, 2 Step which came at the end of her set and had the overflowing field of fans dancing around in their sequined outfits and showing as much love to the stage star as they were to each other at this point of the balmy night. Honestly, things do admittedly get pretty steaming at Mighty Hoopla.
Back at Brockwell Park on Sunday, we were admittedly feeling quite exhausted from the previous day’s festivities under the sun but rearing to get back into the swing of things, pint in hand and headed straight for the main stage to see Mighty Hoopla regular, Samantha Mumba be promoted to the main area and deliver her best set yet. Joined by a handful of dancers, the singer was on top form as she turned out the usual career notables including Baby Come On Over, Body II Body and Always Come Back to Your Love.
Power ballad Lately was complimented by the singer introducing the very large Gay Men’s Chorus on stage to help her deliver a powerful performance of the hit. She then tore her way through Gotta Tell You, exiting the stage to a deafening applause and leaving us wondering why the singer doesn’t release more music or tour outside of these occasional festival shows when she clearly is at the top of her game and clearly still has a massive fanbase begging for more. It was nice to see that Samantha was promoted to the main stage this year too as previous years have seen the star deliver her sets on the smaller second (now Hayu) stage.
With Hayu now a fixture at Mighty Hoopla, we raced over to the Hayu Stage and eagerly awaited in a prime location the arrival of our favourite Housewife – Erika Jayne.
Last year saw Real Housewives of New York cabaret star Luann de Lesseps deliver a memorable set on the stage so we were extra excited when the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills superstar announced a slot at this years festival. However, after seeing the Pixie Lott drum kit put into position we quickly realised that we were at the wrong stage and made a run for it back to the main field after missing the first 5 minutes of Erika’s performance. We might have missed the opening introduction by previous Hoopla headliner, Jessie Ware but we made it in time for a slew of Jaynes high octane, sex-laced hits including XXPEN$IVE, Cars, One Hot Pleasure and Pretty Mess as the blonde socialite looked absolutely radiating as she traded several eye catching looks including a figure hugging red number with knee-high boots and another soft blue denim outfit with baby pink boots.
Like last years smaller performance by Luann de Lesseps, Erika’s was one of the most engaging, committed and memorable performances of this years Mighty Hoopla weekend.
Keeping at the main stage after a quick walk through the fields to see what was going on at the dance tent, Queertopia stage and the many mouthwatering eateries that were scattered around the festival site, we managed to catch a bit of Eurovision superstar, Loreen’s powerful set which included a huge singalong of Eurovision winning hits, Euphoria and Tattoo as well as new single Gravity; the singer moving about the stage like a mythical creature with her exceptionally long trademark nails.
Closing the night US superstar and Tik Tok hitmaker Kesha raised the metaphorical roof off of Brockwell Park with a memorable set that was dotted with hits spanning the singers 20 year career. Sporting camp outfits like a Madonna-esque white tutu the singer delivered a pulsating set which covered most of the US stars hits including Timber, Joyride and closer, Die Young.
The Trans Voices Choir added a powerful and emotional centrepiece to the show as they joined Kesha on stage to perform an incredible collaboration on ballad, Praying; the musician now wearing a ‘Protect the Dolls’ t-shirt and getting the audiences roar of approval, especially from the many fans in the audience holding trans flags high in the air in support of their LGBTQI+ peers.
Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears was then welcomes on stage for a mash up of Kesha’s We R Who We R with Scissor Sisters camp classic, Let’s Have a Kiki. This was amazing to see though made you question why an act like Scissor Sisters weren’t on the bill – especially given the band have been celebrating their much anticipated return to the stage as an outfit with their 20th anniversary tour lately. Seems like huge opportunity missed there for the UK but an appropriate one for Kesha’s upcoming US tour where the Sisters will be supporting the singer.
Mighty Hoopla really is the single best music event that happens in the UK and this year proved no different. Despite the grouchy resident complaints each year that threaten to shut the festival down or move it elsewhere, Mighty Hoopla is a place of love, unashamed flamboyance and pride as well as a place to show you are an ally to a community that is constantly under threat – something that is more real today than it has been for many years. It’s a place where you can wear whatever you like regardless of your body type and be accepted. Where you can express yourself in any way you want and everyone is there right next to you doing the same and having the time of their lives. And that’s what it should be all about at the end of the day.
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
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