Free Festival Will Return To St. George’s Quarter For Second Year.
Liverpool Pride Festival has revealed that acclaimed Mersey singer Marc Almond will headline the Summer 2017 event.
The former Soft Cell front man is originally from Southport. He has sold over 30 million records worldwide, and is appearing at Liverpool Pride for the first time just weeks after he celebrates his 60th birthday.
This is the eighth consecutive year of Liverpool Pride, a free two-day event celebrating all things L.G.B.T. This year’s festival takes place on Saturday 29th July and Sunday 30th July 2017 returning to St. George’s Quarter for the second year.
Liverpool Pride has grown to become one of the city’s major annual events. Last year, the festival attracted more than 32,000 festival goers to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
The theme for Liverpool Pride 2017 is International Love, with organisers spreading the Liverpool message far and wide. Liverpool Pride’s International Love theme will also complement a city-wide season of events and performances to mark the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. The 50 Summers of Love season will run from May to August 2017.
Marc Almond played a vital role in the new wave music movement, scoring an international hit with the song Tainted Love in 1981. The song still remains a huge favourite with many of today’s artistes – including The Pussycat Dolls and Rihanna – sampling the track on new releases.
Tainted Love broke all records as the track that remained the longest in the US Billboard Top 100, the song also received a Brit award for best single. He again hit the top of the charts in 1989 with Sixties legend, the late Gene Pitney, with the duet Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, which remained at Number One for five weeks.
Almond continues to record new music and in January he released the single, A Kind Of Love. Two months later, he released an album of greatest hits – Hits And Pieces, The Best of Marc Almond And Soft Cell. It entered the Official U.K. Album Charts at Number 7, and was followed by a short sold out U.K. tour.
The singer is currently working on a new solo album for release in September 2017, coinciding with a 20-date U.K. tour.
Marc Almond commented: “I was born near enough to Liverpool for it to feel like a home city for me. It feels very special to be opening and headlining this year’s Pride event. Liverpool is famous for being a diverse, friendly, tolerant city so I hope that many people will come and have a good time and support the event.”
Liverpool Pride will return to St. George’s Quarter for a second year. The festival site covers the areas of St. George’s Hall Plateau, St. John’s Gardens and William Brown Street, and will feature three stages.
The Main Stage will be located on William Brown Street and will feature Marc Almond and additional performers to be announced in the coming months; the Plateau Stage will be in front of St. George’s Hall showcasing the World On One Stage sponsored by Manchester Airport and supported by The Arts Council, and will feature music linked to the festival theme of International Love; and the Garden Stage with indie music and spoken word will be located at St. John’s Gardens.
Liverpool Pride Festival Chair Lucy Day commented: “Last year’s Liverpool Pride was absolutely incredible. The new festival location of St. George’s Quarter proved an extremely popular choice with festivalgoers so we’re absolutely thrilled to announce that we will be returning to this stunning setting for 2017.
“Come and join us for a free, two-day family friendly celebration of all things L.G.B.T. this Summer, with Mersey singer Marc Almond headlining the festival on his Liverpool Pride debut. Watching Marc perform against the backdrop of one of the city’s most iconic venues is going to be a huge highlight for 2017 – and we cannot wait.”
The Liverpool Pride Festival began as a community response to the death of murdered gay teenager Michael Causer, who tragically lost his life on 2nd August 2008.
The festival was specifically created in 2010 in Michael’s memory as a way to celebrate his life and to empower the L.G.B.T. communities. The festival continues to remind the community to stand up for L.G.B.T. culture and equality through a city-wide celebration where everyone is welcome.
Each year, the Liverpool Pride March is an increasingly popular and poignant part of the special weekend – and again the march will play a major role in the weekend’s programme when it makes its way through the city on the Saturday, starting at 12pm from St. George’s Hall Plateau. The procession will return to St. George’s Quarter at 1pm when stage entertainment will run until 9pm.
Sunday sees the return of We Are Family with fun activities, workshops and entertainment throughout the day. Singer and vocal expert Jennifer John returns to work with community choirs, supported by The Arts Council.
New for 2017 is a film and theatre programme to complement the theme of International Love. This includes Queertet 2017 at HUS during the week of Pride, and Gypsy Queen at The Unity on Friday 28 July and Saturday 29 July.
Further programme announcements will be made in the coming months.
Manchester Airport has come on-board this year to support Liverpool Pride Festival 2017 as the Official Airport Sponsor. The airport joins Radio City, who has been named as the Official Media Partner for this year’s event.