If you have never been to the Royal Albert Hall, next time you are in London, be sure to book an event there. Home of the Proms it is an architectural masterpiece. Built as a tribute to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert and opened off Hyde Park in 1871, a palace to her King from a Queen it seemed quite apt that this would be the venue for the closing event of Euro Pride 2006. Euro Pride The Show.
The minute you arrive at the Royal Albert Hall you feel taken in by its beauty. Its not just a theatre it is the master of all concert halls in London. An amazing space with the best acoustics of any venue I have been to. We arrived by Taxi and made our way to our seats in Row One of the Circle. No matter where you sit in the Royal Albert Hall you are guaranteed an un obscured view of the stage.
The show was put together by the team that used to produce the Equality Show at the same venue every year raising funds for Stonewall and equality in Britain. This year it was produced by Hollywood Actor and the number one most influential gay man in England, Sir Ian Mckellen. I had decided to Invite Gill, Lisa & Emily. Knowing that it would be something that they would enjoy too and that they would love being part of Pride weekend.
We took our seats a little before 745 but with so many pouring into the venue it was clear that it would not be starting on time. Our seats, kindly had our free gift, an old fashioned hand held fan emblazoned with Gaydarradio.com. As the Royal Albert Hall (RAH) filled up everywhere you could see there were people fanning. 4000 Plus queens with a fan in hand could not be more Camp and was much needed in the heat of the early evening with temperatures still in the mid 20’s after sun down.
The show started off with top English Actor, Steven Fry as Compeer introducing the acts. First up Tina C, a country & Western style American Drag Queen with all the attitude to go with it and some songs to get us started. We then had famous Gay friendly actresses like Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Saunders & Ruby Wax on stage. The Gay guy, Nick Cotton from Coronation Street & Fizz introducing more acts.
The first half also saw Sir Ian McKellen in Drag as Widow Twankey, and scenes from Top West End shows including Chicago (all that Jazz), Mama Mia (Dancing Queen) and the new top hit, Avenue Q. Graham Norton Outed the Gay Puppet with a Snog on Stage. That was funny and ended the first half in music getting everyone very much in the mood.
Stopping for a drink and to powder our noses in the bathroom Marcus and I were not sure why we should not use the ladies bathroom. After all, we would if we were in a gay club eh?
Second half started with Heather Small from M People getting everyone out of their seats and dancing in the boxes & Circles. More comedy acts including Alan Carr, while Julian Clary & Sandi Toksvig were hilarious as compeers. Introducing Heather, Boy George, The London’s Gay Men’s Chorus whom can only be described as awesome and the ceremonious handing over of the Quilt to next years host city, Madrid. Yes, I did say Quilt. Much like the Olympics have a Torch, the Euro Pride committee have a Quilt that has embroidered into it
Something from each country that has been a host city. We were not sure at first if they were being serious but apparently its true. So the Quilt was passed over by several gay couples whom were picked from the Audience. Graham Norton did an experiment where he made the entire audience stand and then said you could sit down if you were “Not Married”. The experiment leaving standing all of those gay couples that had in the past six months ceremoniously entered into Civil Partnership. Something that Graham rightly pointed out would have left the entire Audience sitting just over six months ago. With effect from December 21st 2005, Gay & Lesbian Couples now have the right to marriage in the eyes of the State by entering into Civil Partnerships. Several Prominent famous couples then came onto Stage including Michael Cashman & his long term Partner and now Husband.
The final gentleman on Stage was Canadian born David Furnish whom Julian proceed to ask about his proposal and how his partner proposed. Apparently it was during a family dinner at their home in Windsor and also in the presence of the Scissor Sisters. After a small delay, David Announced, “Please welcome on to stage, My Husband, Sir Elton John”. The audience went crazy, the atmosphere was electric and Elton proceeded to give us 3 songs from his current tour including a finale with Kiki Dee who’m Sir Elton had his first Number One UK hit with 30 Years ago to the Day.
you can only imagine the atmosphere as the Gay Mens Chorus and all of the previous acts came back onto stage for the grand finale. Heather Small took the Microphone and the entire cast backed to a truly memorable version of “We are Family”.
It was a day to be proud to be a Londoner, Proud to be Gay. Proud to be out and involved in a community that is so filled with Love for one another. A community that I have made my home. My friends are both Straight & Gay but as this year proved, I can share my gay life with my straight friends and vice versa. With the introduction of civil partnerships there is very little but marry in a church that we the Gay & Lesbian community can not do. You certainly don’t see them celebrate “Straight Pride”. A huge Thank you to all the volunteers, organisers and committees of Euro Pride and Euro Pride the Show. It was a weekend I shall remember for a long time and listening to the callers on Gaydar Radio this week the proof is in the fact that I, like so many of my friends agree, “It was the BEST Pride we have ever been fortunate enough to attend” May it be a beacon to those worldwide that events like Pride can change the way your country see you as a community. Never stop the fight for equality and after so many years of Struggle may England forever fly the Pink Union Jack.
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