Following on from a fabulous Friday that had the rain staying away but the sun struggling to peak through the clouds, day 2 of Mighty Hoopla 2024 at South London’s Brockwell Park was a reversal, with occasional cloud cover providing welcome respite from the beating sun. But we’re never going to complain when the sun comes out for Hoopla!
Mighty Hoopla 2024
Day 2 kicked off with local indie outfit Supersaurus, winners of Lambeth Sounds. And while the festival site was still only slowly filling up, the quartet made those in attendance stand up and listen over on Hoopla’s second – Hayu – stage before York-hailing, London based multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Beth McCarthy lit up the main stage. Boy band V, the five-piece now four and comprised of Antony Brant, Aaron Buckingham, Kevin McDaid and Leon Pisani reformed last year after going their separate ways back in 2005 and brought their brand of pop to the Hayu.
But it was Australia’s sister pop-duo The Veronicas that lifted the Hoopla crowd to the next level. Lisa and Jessica Origliasso brought the hits, kicking off with banger Take Me On The Floor, mashing-up When It All Falls Apart with White Stripes’ infamous Seven Nation Army and closing with 2007 hit single Untouched before Real Housewives star Countess Luann returned to the Hayu stage following her UK debut on the same stage the day before.
S Club star Rachel Stevens’ turn on Hoopla’s main stage was much anticipated and she didn’t disappoint, performing a short set of solo tunes mixed with S Club hits. Making their festival debut, the stars of The West End’s Six The Musical lit up the Hayu stage with tunes from their modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, while Irish alternative star Bambi Thug brought the politics to the main stage, highlighting the plight of people in Palestine and causing chaos as they dove into the Hoopla crowd!
Meanwhile, over at the Block Party area of the festival, Don One was bringing his “Kings” show to the Hoopla stage before former All Saints star Mel Blatt took on DJ duties at the area. Over on the main stage, Streatham-hailing Cat Burns played her home area’s main stage, shielding from the bright sun with a baseball cap, she kicked off with 2024 single Alone, aired a rendition of Wheatus classic Teenage Dirtbag and closed out with biggest hit Go.
More from All Saints was to be caught over at the Hayu with Shaznay Lewis banging out a set of solo cuts and All Saints hits! She even brought out Shola Ama for 2024 collab. tune Good Mourning before Never Ever and Pure Shores closed out her sunlit set. Enfield-hailing Alison Goldfrapp blended solo and Goldfrapp tunes over on a sun-soaked main stage, kicking off with Love Invention before diving into 2005 Goldfrapp classing Number 1. Meanwhile London’s The House Gospel Choir stormed the Hayu and brought out Zambian-born Zimbabwean Everybody’s Free-hitmaker Rozalla to close out their set.
21-year-old former child star JoJo Siwa, brought the dancers and brightly coloured KISS-style make-up for a short set including 2016’s Boomerang through to this year’s Karma. Sure, the backing track she sang along to might have been more pronounced as it carried on when she stopped singing, but hey, it was a fun performance! But it was Eternal star Louise, making her Hoopla return, that drew the crowd to the Hayu. And boy did she bring it, performing a set of solo cuts, Eternal hits and massive covers and adding a special surprise with the appearance of fellow Eternal star Kéllé Bryan for a rendition of their hit 1994 tune So Good.
British singer and massive TV personality Rita Ora was up next on the main stage. Kicking off her set sightly oddly with an airing of her latest music video, the heat finally got to Hoopla’s equipment as a technical fail meant 20189 hit Ritual had to be restarted. Her set continued being plagued by both technical challenges and audience mishaps – the singer going to the crowd for them to sing a song, only for an audience member to sing the wrong song! Equipment issues saw the singer take things into her own hands, singing acapella in-lieu of any instrumentation. Kudos Rita, kudos.
Australian star Delta Goodram closed out the Hayu stage with a massive 17-song set from across her back catalogue as well as squeezing in a few covers with The Pointer Sisters, Whitney Houston, Céline Dion and Shania Twain all suitably represented before closing her set out with 2015 hit single Wings and her newest single Hearts On The Run. But it was “Mother” Jessie Ware the Hoopla crowd had been waiting for. And what a set she delivered! Following an introduction to the stage by her own mother Lennie Ware, the Clapham-hailing singer’s return to her home area stage was resplendent. Kicking off with 2023 single That! Feels Good! her massive 16-song set had the Hoopla crowd dancing. She even recounted a tale of sneaking backstage at Glastonbury Festival’s John Peel stage and meeting Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto, who she then proceeded to bring out on stage for a storming rendition of the Olympia, Washington-hailing group’s biggest hit Standing In The Way Of Control.
All in all, another super successful Mighty Hoopla Festival was had by all in attendance, regardless of the potential damper that may have impacted the festival following the rather damp Wide Awake and Cross The Tracks events also held at Brockwell Park the previous weekend.
Photography of Mighty Hoopla 2024 by Kalpesh Patel
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