Fortune favours the fabulous, which is perhaps why the sun is out once again for another year of Mighty Hoopla: the UK’s campest, most colourful celebration of all things pop. The festival has got even bigger this time around and, somehow, better, with a legion of stellar performances and a jaw-dropping array of attractions vying for your attention.
MEEK by name but certainly not by nature, one of the UK’s most endearing new pop prospects kicks off the afternoon in a flurry of neon tulle. Her defiant anthem “Fabulous” is the perfect start as her sizeable audience chants along with her: “I just got my heart broken but I look f***in’ fabulous/ Yeah I’m back in therapy but I look f***in’ fabulous…” Members of the crowd snap their fans – bearing the legends “C***”, “S**G” or “GAY” – in approval.
Strolling around the festival’s sprawling home of Brockwell Park in London, I am always stunned by the pure joy that this event brings. By the end of the day everyone is covered in glitter from hugs with sparkling strangers – friends are made within five minutes of sheltering together in the shade. Everyone glows in their best outfits, from diamanté-encrusted shorts to kilts, mesh tops, tutus, leather harnesses, corsets and sequinned everything.
We squeeze into one of the big top tents for a singalong DJ-set dedicated to George Michael, then another for Madonna. For the Arsenal fans fretting over the Champions League Final game, there’s a Gay Gooners viewing party. And for anyone on the verge of sensory overload (understandable given the surroundings) there’s a fully staffed welfare space as well as a sensory tent kitted out with stim gadgets and toys, including ear defenders. Hoopla really does feel like the UK’s most inclusive space.
But back to the music: a career-encompassing set on the main stage from pop mastermind MNEK reminds us of his influence on the charts. From collaborations with Zara Larsson and JADE to his songs from his heady 2018 solo debut, Language, the songwriter and producer born Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike knows what makes us tick.
Pop duo Appleton, comprising sisters Nicole and Natalie, who once made up half of the group All Saints, deliver perhaps the most transcendent performance of the day – their first full set together in 23 years. They’re astonishingly good, delivering crystalline vocals on Noughties classics like “Don’t Worry” and “Falling into You”. There’s also a surprise appearance from the Sugababes’ Heidi Range for a euphoric rendition of “Round Round”, complete with camp choreography.
When it comes to the performances, there are barely any misses. Barely. Todrick Hall is somewhat tedious, taking himself too seriously even when performing the ridiculous and (self-admitted) petty anthem “Y.A.S” – which ends on a round of yodelling “you ain’t s***” to the person who drew his ire. Jessie J brings the hits with “Domino” and “Do It Like a Dude” but follows them up with somewhat incomprehensible monologues, leading to some shuffling and bored chatter from the audience.
By comparison, the screaming for JLS reaches the other side of the festival field, as do the chants of “everybody in love, come put your hands up…” from their 2009 hit single. A surprise scheduled on the main stage turns out to be Australia’s almost-Eurovision champion Delta Goodrem, belting out her 2026 song “Eclipse” (complete with dramatic pyrotechnics, though sadly not the platform that rises up out of the piano, which presumably had to go for budgetary reasons).
Finally, the sunburnt, dusty but still-glittering crowd assembles for a string section singalong to some of headliner Lily Allen’s biggest hits. The West End Girl star is performing her latest album in full, to the disgruntlement of some fans who had been hoping for “Smile” and “The Fear”. Yet from the moment she steps out onto the stage, it becomes clear that this might be the perfect setting for such a theatrical performance. She plays out the collapse of a relationship in real time, revelling in the triumph of marriage in the opening title track, before receiving a shattering phone call from her new husband requesting an open relationship.
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Allen has already earned plaudits as an actor, most notably in her Oliver-nominated starring role in the West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story, so it’s unsurprising that we’re moved by her now, as she strips down to lingerie and wipes away tears on “Ruminating” (in which she reels from her husband’s request) and “Sleepwalking”, a devastating lullaby about the lack of love or validation from her partner. She plays the doting wife on “Tennis”, pushing aside her own feelings until she sees a text from another woman; her demand of “and who the f*** is Madeline?” goes down a treat at Hoopla.
The West End Girl tour has received mixed reviews from critics, which is all the more baffling now, seeing the show unfold in real time. Allen’s lyrics are excoriating – about herself, her ex and his other lovers – while never shying away from her feelings of inadequacy, shame, helplessness, heartbreak, rage or pity. She wanders the stage as if it’s her own apartment, dazed as she discovers the stash of sex toys in “Pussy Palace”, then needy as fellow pop star JADE joins her for the recently released remix of “Beg for Me”. It’s the perfect headline set, offering clarity and catharsis before revellers drift off into the night.