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| Mardi Gras 2000,
Finsbury Park, London |
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| Live,
Graham Bower,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F3
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An estimated 85,000 people braved the elements last Saturday for London’s biggest celebration of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities – Mardi Gras 2000. This is the second year of the annual event, which includes a march through Westminster followed by a ticket only festival in Finsbury Park. At £20 a pop, these tickets aren’t cheap, but the organisers obviously are. No opportunity was missed to make a quick buck - the main stage even featured TV commercials between the acts!
First up were the usual array of boy/girl band hopefuls, every bit as commercial as the commercials that preceded them, these desperate individuals were nervously usherred on to the stage in the hope of enlisting the all important gay vote considered essential for any bubble-gum act to succeed. Of this ilk, "Pix’n’Mix" were noticeable bad, and we at Foocha! await their first single in horror.
Then we got down to serious business with a celebration of Eurovision, hosted by Graham Norton. Bucks Fizz re-visited their Eurovision classic "Making Your Mind Up" in a nineties style – apparently forgetting that was last decade. They also tastefully updated their dance act – where at Eurovision, the boys whipped of the girls mini-skirts, at Mardi Gras 2000, the tops were removed instead, to reveal fluffy black bras. Katrina (yes, as in Katrina & the Waves) made a spectacle of herself strutting around and miming to her Euro-winning "Shine a Light." She went on to sing her eighties classic "Walking on Sunshine" and distinguished herself by dragging the reluctant Sign Artist (who was providing simultaneous translation for the hard of hearing) on to the centre of the stage. Who could blame her – he was the only interesting part of the act, and a damn site more attractive than anyone else on the stage. Israeli Diva and Euro-winner "Dana International" provided the highlight of the Euro-set with a belting rendition of "Diva" – and boy how she loved those cameras.
All Saints & Louise made an appearance – singing two songs each, and shamelessly playing up to the gay audience. Louise had clearly stuck a token muscle-mary into her dance routine in order to add some visual interest – watching him tear his top off with the five other girls was laughable. (Louise kept her top on, despite the fact that it had the corny line "Free" emblazoned across her boobs).
At this point, Ken Livingston did an excellent Henry’s Cat impression, and made a play for the sizeable London gay vote, despite the fact that he’s already won the election by a comfortable margin. There was talking of he doing a duo with Kylie Minogue, but nothing ever came of this.
Kyle was on hand to introduce Steps – which was one of the most warmly received acts of the day, and there was just a hint that she might be a little jealous of their rapturous reception from the crowd. When they performed "Love’s Got a Hold of My Heart" the crowd went wild.
Stephen Gately was up next with two appalling songs from he new album – the release day of which he made repeated reference to. The boy may be gay – but he can’t dance, he can’t sing and he has dreadful taste in clothes –camo-style trousers and oversized leatherjacket to hide his extra kilos.
Then came the moment most of the crowd had been waiting for as the bad boys of boy bands "5ive" strutted on to the stage. The high point of their set was a cover version of Queen’s "We Will Rock You" which is apparently going to be their next single.
With this much excitement on the main stage, it’s hardly surprising that most of the crowd were elsewhere – strutting their stuff in the excellent DTPM tent, or dingle their dangle in any of the other tents. Those who went to Mardi Gras for the didn’t leave disappointed.
All in all then, the main stage was a celebration of mediocrity and another shameless attempt the turn the gay community upside down, give them a good rattle, and see if some pink pounds fall out. But despite all the commercialism, a fun time was had by most (but not the chap who got to the top of the bungie crane before bottling out), and even the dodgy weather did little to dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm.
01/07/00
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