Manchester Pride on Friday

Friday night at Pride can be a bit like the start of the school disco where everyone is a little held back, conscious that it’s a marathon not a sprint, there are days of partying ahead. Not this year, the weekend started off with a massive bang and the energy levels were incredible.

Canal St Online’s Chris Park was there to bring you all the action from day one of the weekend of the year.

Danny Beard
Who better to get the party started than local hero and Britain’s Got Talent Semi Finalist Danny Beard. Canal St Online caught up with Danny ahead of his storming performance.
“Pride is always amazing and special for me here in Manchester. I feel like this year it’s going to be extra, extra special. The first time I ever came to Manchester Pride I stood there and watched all the acts on the main stage and thought, I want to be there and now I’m here”.

Beard grabbed the crowd as soon as he hit the stage with crowd pleasers like Freed From Desire, Uptown Funk, a fantastic reworking of Spice Girls Say You’ll Be There and culminating in an emotional Bohemian Rhapsody.

Danny will be a regular fixture around the site but what is he looking forward to the most? “I’m really, really looking forward to seeing Sean Miley Moore, he’s on on Monday. I’ve managed to become good friends with Sean so I feel like it’s going to be an extra special performance from him. Of course Fleur East, Will Young, there’s loads of amazing acts. The Dance Arena is amazing. I don’t want to say I like drinking so I like socialising in all the different venues on Canal St”.

For more of Canal St Online’s exclusive interview with Danny, please subscribe to our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/canalstreetonline.

Karen Harding
Pride stalwart and X Factor star Karen Harding was next up and gave a great set with hits such as Open My Eyes, You Make Me Feel Good and new release Like I Can. But Harding really came into her own when she interacted with the crowd and got them jumping with her infectious energy on classics such as CeCe Peniston’s Finally or Whitney’s How Will I Know.

Sophie Ellis Bextor
This was the set that was the highlight of the night. A super glamourous and confident Sophie took to the stage with her smash hit Take Me Home. 
Ellis Bextor can sometimes come across as a little aloof but she was so relaxed and her Strictly training has clearly had a huge effect on her performing as she owned the stage, skipping from one side to the other and even putting in a bit of Charleston here and there.

She covered new release Familia but also the classics were there with Get Over You and of course, Murder On The Dancefloor. The crowd went crazy for her reworking of Yes Sir I Can Boogie and the mash up of Lady (Hear Me Tonight), Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) and Bring It Back set the arena absolutely on fire.

Tulisa
The NDubz Diva brought a huge touch of show business to the main stage with dancers and light show.  She marched onto the stage meaning business with Living Without You before launching straight into an school mix of crowd-pleasers that had everyone jumping.

Not stopping for a second, Tulisa took on Shanks and Bigfoot’s Sweet Like Chocolate before rounding off her set with anthem Young.

All in all a pretty strong start Manchester Pride, let’s see what the rest of the weekend has in store.

By Chris Park for Canal St Online

Published: 27-Aug-2016: (3870)