Quickly becoming a mainstay of the London day festival scene since kicking off in 2017 before finding it’s current home in South London’s Brockwell Park a year later, Mighty Hoopla is the pop festival, an event that immediately created a safe and fun home for London’s LGBTQ+ community, attracting world-renowned acts through the years to it’s evolving stages. And 2024 promised to up the ante once more, bringing the likes of En Vouge and Nelly Furtado to day 1 of the festival.
Nelly Furtado @ Mighty Hoopla 2024
Any with the mud bath that was left at the park in leafy Herne Hill, a stones throw from Brixton following last weekend’s Wide Awake and Cross The Tracks events – part of the Brockwell Live series taking place in the park over a fortnight – wellies were more than optional as North-London based singer-songwriter Charles kicked off proceedings on Hoopla’s main stage with his brand of neo-soul, R&B and funk, introduced by our host for much of the day on the stage: London-based queer performance artist Rhys’ Pieces.
Clapham-hailing drag artist Tia Kofi wowed Hoopla’s second – Hayu – stage, Solihull’s own 22-year-old starlet Bellah Mae heated things up over on the main before 1990s star Michelle Gayle showed us what we’ve been missing back on Hayu. Californian Friday-hitmaker Rebecca Black brought the faux-chainsaws to the main stage for a blistering set before Real Housewives star Luann de Lesseps – aka Countess Luann – made her first UK appearance on the Hayu with renditions of Lady Marmalade, Miley Cyrus’ 2023 hit Flowers and Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams among others.
Philadelphia-hailing rap superstar Eve lit up the main stage before British X Factor star Cher Lloyd brought the Swagger (Jagger) to Hayu. Slayyyter upped the ante on the main stage with a multi-platformed setup and Irish pop act B*witched brought the hits to Hayu, Rollercoaster, Blame It On The Weatherman and C’est La Vie were all present and accounted for. A surprise was in store next on the main stage with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance from rapper and Britain’s Got Talent host Alesha Dixon.
While dance-poppers Steps may have headlined Mighty Hoopla together in 2022, Claire Richards made the Hayu stage her own this year mixing Steps hits with covers of ABBA, Bee Gees and Barbara Streisand hits alongside last year’s Eurovision winner and Hoopla performer Loreen’s 2012 hit single Euphoria before 1980’s charts mainstays Bananarama closed the Hayu stage.
1990s R&B hitmakers En Vogue brought the hits to the main stage with flair, kicking off with My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It). Don’t Let Go (Love), Whatta Man and Free Your Mind are all aired before their supurb set is closed out with biggest hit Hold On. But it was Canadian songstress Nelly Furtado (introduced by Amanda Holden and comedian Mawaan Rizwan) that closed out the music on the first of two Mighty Hoopla one-dayers over this first weekend in June. Appearing 15 minutes after the billed time, with a strict curfew just 30 minutes later, her set was short but flame and hit-filled with Man Eater, Promiscuous and Like A Bird all aired along with new single Love Bites.
Photography of Mighty Hoopla 2024 by Kalpesh Patel
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