The sun was shining bright, the rainbow flags were out, and it was that time again; London saw the strength of the gay scene come together as one, as we all celebrated the right to be proud. The moment we stepped out of our respective gaffs and spotted some delightfully retina-searing outfits and questionable looking drag queens staggering around, clutching a bottle of vodka at midday, we knew Pride London was upon us.
A chorus of blowing whistles, joyous chants and a dress-up level that put your reviewers roll-out-of-bed t-shirts and shorts combos to shame, assured London was suitably splashed with colour. Not even a teeny group of anti-Pride, goggle-eyed bible bashers or some annoying, glum-looking clouds could dampen the ‘make your own fun’ and ‘bring your own booze’ vibe of this year’s extremely fun festival.
As soon as we saw a very young looking twink with a gaggle of feather-boa clad girls asking a rich old fella, “babes, can we have a picture sitting on your Bentley?” the sun came out right on cue, and the West End was poppin’! As the whole of London was bar hopping, street partying and parading throughout, a big percentage of us were all rocking out to the sounds of top DJs at the Fire Dance Stage.
Soho Square was ram-packed and grass blatantly decimated by a sea of topless hunks jumping to every beat! D’Johnny, Lee Harris B2B Jonny Marsh, The Oli B2B Fat Tony, Mikey D B2B Steve Pitron and The Sharp Boys sent waves of musical house mayhem through the panting crowd, with not one, not two, but three live PAs performing- Lizzie Jane France, Sonique and the one and only mighty Shawnee Taylor.
Over at the main stage, young pretenders from X Factor and the like collided with experienced pop purveyors Bucks Fizz (the original line-up), and the day’s festivities finished off with our gurl, The Very Miss Dusty O, headlining – featuring a plethora of eclectic club kids performing her new choon ‘Wat2Do’. But that’s not all, we haven’t even covered Soho yet… turn to page 28 to see us stagger round the bars of Soho like a pair of beer-fueled old ashtrays…
Pride London 2011
Words by Lee Dalloway and Sylvia Rebel
Photos by Chris Jepson
