Triumph again for Bolton Pride

Stars from X Factor, The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent descended on Bolton’s Victoria Square this weekend to celebrate the second ever Bolton Pride.

With hosting duties given to BGT and local heroes Father & Son ably assisted by the fabulous Davina De Campo from The Voice, the various acts powered their way through their repertoire.

George Windsor and Fourth Intake were representing this season’s X Factor fresh from their appearances at Bootcamp while the Voice was represented by Joe Keegan (of Team Kylie no less) who showcased some of his own material to the audience.

Christopher Maloney was also there to give his support singing his friend and mentor Gary Barlow’s hit, Could It Be Magic before going on to his audition song, Bette Midler’s The Rose which he proudly told us has had 50 million hits on YouTube.

After a fantastic singalong with Davina taking the crowd through Grease and Proud Mary (can anyone resist a bit of Proud Mary?) things hotted up as the infamous Micha B launched straight into her track Fire Away (Bitch I’m Fabulous) showing off the sass and attitude we all loved in the X Factor.

The sass factor remained high as diva Angie Brown took to the stage. She powered through some serious classics such as Say A Little Prayer, Knock on Wood, Believe and Better The Devil before finishing with her own 90s club anthem, I’m Gonna Get You Baby. She gave a wonderful, bonkers performance which everyone lapped up.

Closing duties were awarded to The Voice and X Factor star Lydia Lucy who gave us a glimpse of her forthcoming album before treating us to Bang Bang and finishing on the cover of choice for many artists, Uptown Funk.

With that, the show was over... or was it?

After a quick pit stop we all congregated at local club The Venue for Chartbusters, a night of tribute acts. Where else would you find Kylie, Boy George, Spice Girls, Take That and Tina Turner sharing a bill?

Things started off strongly with the Kylie tribute who’s attention to detail was remarkable and gave us many costume changes reminiscent of the pint sized pop princess. She hit all the right notes with Kylie classics including Spinning Around, Better The Devil and finishing with Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. By now we were all “la la-ing” together and getting right into the spirit.

Next to the stage was “Boy George” who was channelling George’s (or is it Boy’s?) Culture Club days and took us through some of their back catalogue before reappearing as a later Boy to finish off with Everything I Own and, of course, Karma Chameleon.

Mid way and it was the act that (and I will be proud to admit this) I had been waiting for. Yes I am a Spice Girls fan and I don’t care who knows it. I’m not a detail freak or anything, but I have to say I was aghast when “Geri” sang the “Sporty” bits and then the “Scary” bits and then “Baby” was singing “Posh’s” bits and it all became a bit of a free for all.

Sacrilege!

However it was good fun to sing away to Spicey hits like Viva Forever, Stop and Wannabe.

Take That and Tina Turner followed but sadly due to a wonderfully timed rail replacement bus service, this reporter had to get back to Manchester and couldn’t dance his way through to the end.

It was a great day and considering it is only the second year running, the Bolton Pride Team should be proud (no pun intended) of the line-up and events they organised. It will be interesting to watch this event as it grows.

By Chris Park for Canal St Online

Published: 29-Sep-2016: (3914)