It’s the morning after the night (or shall we day!) before and we are still giddy from excitement at the extravaganza that was Mighty Hoopla. Yesterday, on Sunday 3 June, pop music lovers of all different race, gender, and sexualities congregated in South London’s Brockwell Park for an almighty celebration of all things pop, glitter and beyond and CelebMix is here to bring you a rundown of the highlights from yesterday’s event….
- The Vengaboys were one of acts on the line up that we were most looking forward to, and they did not disappoint. Flickers of our childhood came rushing back to us as we watched them perform hits likes ‘Boom Boom’, ‘We’re Going to Ibiza’ and ‘We Like To Party’ in the packed out Guilty Pleasures tent. It was a testament to the group that although they played at the relatively early time of 15.00 in the afternoon, the tent was fully packed out and the crowd sang to their set word for word. The group also performed enthusiastic covers of The Black Eyed Peas‘ ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and Prince’s ‘Kiss’, during which they brought a lucky fan onto the stage. The Vengaboys, who are clearly seasoned performers, gave an impressive performance which had us and the crowd wanting more. Let’s hope for a longer set, on the main stage next time?
- Nadine Coyle didn’t forget her passport this time luckily, and made it onto the festival’s main Sink The Pink stage for a polished performance. The front row was made up of devout Nadine fans who unashamedly sang along to the singer as she performed solo cuts such as ‘Go To Work.’ Of course it wouldn’t be right, without a few Girls Aloud songs and that’s exactly what we received. Nadine took us back to those good old days with performances of ‘Call The Shots’, ‘Sound Of The Underground’ and ‘Something New’. The whole crowd went crazy, including us and our voice is paying for it today.
- Another popular act with the audience was none other than Melanie C, who dazzled in a black and white jumpsuit. Despite her short set of only 3 songs, the singer, who performed on the main stage, gave us the highlight of the day when she performed ‘Say You’ll Be There’ alongside four Sink The Pink drag performers who were each dressed as a Spice Girl.
- Now, unfortunatley with all the clashes of performers, we regrettably didn’t make it in time to The Guilty Pleasures tent do the Irish jig with B*Witched, but we did manage to catch up with band member Edele after their set. She praised the “fun” audience and the reception to their set and said that being surrounded with pop acts reminded her of the girls’ appearances back in their heyday. When we asked her how much she thinks pop music has changed from then to now she said:
“I think it’s changed completely. I think the business side has changed, I think the Pop has changed and all very sexualised and a lot of language in it. It’s amazing isn’t it, but I think society is going that way.”
- Lily Allen gave a cool and sophisticated performance of hits, old and new gearing up to the release of her No Shame album out Friday, June 8. She undoubtedly reserved her best two performances for the last two songs on her set, “No Fear” and “Not Fair” which had Brockwell Park singing along. Lily also found the time in the middle of her set to namecheck one of her biggest fans on the front row. Don’t you just love her?
- It’s easy to forget just how many hits TLC were responsible for but as they effortlessly ran through hits such as “Aint 2 Proud 2 Beg’, ‘Unpretty’, ‘No Scrubs’ and ‘Creep’, it’s easy to see how they became one the most influential artists of the 90’s and continue that influence on the artists of today’s generation. The ladies closed their set with ‘Waterfalls’ which for us, was the performance of the night and in which they paid tribute to former member Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes who tragically died in 2002.
We had such a great time at Hoopla reliving memories from our youth and getting to witness some legendary performances in such a diverse and carefree environment. Props to everyone who took part in organizing this!
Were you at Mighty Hoopla? Let us know on Twitter @CelebMix