Rain fails to on spirits for

THOUSANDS TAKE PART IN PARADE

THE weather might not have played ball to begin with, but rain definitely didn’t stop play at Newcastle Pride.

The showers held off for the annual city centre parade, which saw people, buggies and pets decked out in rainbow colours as the march made its way from the Civic Centre, down Northumberland Street and up to the Town Moor.

The rain that threatened to come finally arrived as revellers made their way to the famous home of The Hoppings, with Newcastle’s own Channy Thompson and Little Mix tribute Little Fix on the main stage early doors.

With Mother Nature not being too kind, many festival-goers sought shelter in the Powerhouse dance tent as songs such as Clean Bandit’s Symphony sounded out, while in the Eazy Street Cabaret Tent an eclectic mix of drag queens, including Baga Chipz, Beauty Killer and Mary-Jane Holland did their thing.

As the sun made an appearance, there were plenty of riders on the fairground attractions up at the moor, while Boulevard’s Miss Rory held court on the main stage introducing Drag Idol 2017 winners Dragon and the Whale. Meanwhile, Plop and Danni put everything from the Macarena to Theresa May in their set, which got plenty of audience participation.

The main stage yesterday was headlined by boyband A1. The act that gave us the likes of Take On Me and Same Old Brand New You at the turn of the millennium, were a popular addition to the Big Reunion lineup a few years ago and went down a treat.

Acts on today’s lineup include ’90s dance divas Kelly Llorenna and Livin’ Joy, girl group Stooshe and X Factor winner Sam Bailey, who will bring the curtain down on this year’s event, which is set to be the UK’s largest free Pride once again.