Mighty Hoopla 2022

The first weekend of June marked a special occasion. Many flocked to London to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee. As for me, I went to London for a different reason. I guess Mighty Hoopla was my way of celebrating the occasions even though I was stanning different kinds of Queens.

Mighty Hoopla was a massive festival filled with body paint, drag queens, nostalgic pop and people being their prideful selves. Steps headlined on Friday, but I only attended the Saturday because Sugababes were headlining. Steps are okay. Their music is nostalgic cause they were massive in the 90s. They're kinda like a British Abba that danced. Whilst they're not a band, I would actively go and see, they would have put on a good show for them on Friday. The Friday line-up looked awesome with Anastacia and Blue there as well. A part of me wished I stayed Friday too, but I don't think I would have been able to afford it to be honest as I had a lot of things booked already.

I had already seen the original lineup of the Sugababes, but I always want to see them when I get the chance. Sugababes are one of the few acts that I own all their studio albums. I have their first album in multiple formats. Maybe you could count me as a Sugababes groupie.

I’ve written a lot of posts about the Sugababes on Vocal. Even considered writing a book about them which would consist of me fangirling over the albums and the music. They’re a pretty special girl group. Amidst all the drama and alleged catfights, their songs were as real as you could get.

Face Paint

I loved getting my face painted there. While we were in the queue, I bumped into this guy with his friends and they had loads of cans in his hand. That guy knew how to party. Once you're there, it was quick and I was tempted to take home the golden cat statue on the floor. Don't know how I would have been able to carry it home with me though.

Freebies

I did get some freebies at the festival. First, there were some chaps giving away boxes of condoms, and after getting my face painted, I was told I got a goodie bag. I had packed lots of power banks with me, so finding a power bank in my bag was funny. A £20 gift card was a nice surprise. I only expected it to be a fiver, it wasn't until I used an app to redeem it, was when I found out it was £20.

Music

The main highlight was the music. Loads of people were dressed up in their pride colours and costumes. There were fabulous drag queens, pop icons on t-shirts and a whole lot of love in the air. Even though I came mainly for the Sugababes, it was nice seeing bands like the 411 and Cleopatra. Louise Redknapp looked and sounded amazing. She had a great setlist, she sang a lot of my favourite songs from her and she also did some songs from Eternal.

Sugababes were set to perform at 9. In true fashion they were late. Once they were on, it was a great show. They had a proper video introduction and the biggest surprise was that they had performed a short version of About You Know. This was significant because not only was it their biggest hit in the UK, but it was also their last proper hit (Get Sexy doesn't exist, okay!). The song hasn't been performed by the original lineup before and was last done by the final line-up at around 2010/2011. I was under the impression that the Sugababes would only be performing songs from the first and second line-up, along with new songs.

So Much Positivity & COVID too!

Another reason why this festival is such a historic moment for Sugababes fans is because of their legacy. After all the original members got replaced, they eventually got their name back after a long legal battle. Their comeback single, Flatline did not go as well as expected, because they were under the name as Mutya Keisha Siobhan. It vanished from streaming platforms, but now, Flatline is back under its rightful name. I always liked Flatline, but it sounds better than it ever did now they have their name back.

There was so much kindness and love here. Over 40,000 people attended, so there's bound to have been at least one person who had Covid. I knew someone who had it. Luckily I didn't get it. I think at this point, people aren't as scared of Covid as they were during the pandemic, but there are some that are still scared.

I knew people who had travelled all over the world to come and see this show. And the Sugababes noticed it and called them out. A lot of screaming, but all nice screams. My apple watch kept telling me it was too loud, but what do you expect when you're in a festival with 40+k people?