On August 6th, Leeds was treated to an evening of dance, disco and dazzle – thanks to Popworld Festival 2022.
The Festival, which celebrates all things pop culture, was originally planned for 2020, but when COVID-19 hit, a spanner was put in the works. Thankfully, the Festival finally arrived in Leeds this summer, taking over Millennium Square in the centre of the City.
Celebrations kicked off at 5:30pm, with queues of sparkly and brightly dressed twenty-somethings queuing to get in on the Festival space. I headed over with Emma Gibbon, who was in charge of photography for us. We made our way right to the front of the stage, where we set up camp for the evening.
Whilst the crowd waited for the Festival proper to kick off, pop classics were blasted from the speakers, drinks were ordered and spots in the crowd secured. There was a great mix of colourful and creative entertainment pre-stage, from dancing butterflies to a man balancing a glass ball on his arm, all helping us build the anticipation.
Kicking off the show were the Roscoe Brothers, a DJ duo from Peterborough, who played pop classics and got us all in the dancing and singing mood ready for the acts to take to the stage. There were some minor technical sound issues right at the start of the Festival which were soon resolved, and the rest of the sets seemed to go smoothly.
The first well recognised act to take to the stage was Paul Chuckle. Paul may be best known as one half of the Chuckle Brothers, but much to the surprise of the audience, for the Popworld Festival, Paul Chuckle delivered a killer DJ set full of pop pleasures. He kept his witty charm, and threw in a few ‘To Me, To You’s’ for old times’ sake. The Yorkshire native provided a pop feast to get the party started!
The Roscoe Brothers returned to the stage between acts, playing pop classics that we all sang and danced along to. Some of the colourful acts that we saw before the Festival started also reappeared, my most memorable being disco ball dancers who shimmied to the tunes as they blasted out of the speakers.
Up next on stage were Gabriela and Monica Irimia AKA The Cheeky Girls. The identical twins were once (wrongly) described as one of the worst pop acts ever by Pete Waterman when they auditioned for Popstars: The Rivals, but the Romanian singing duo defied the critics and scored four top 10 hits between 2002-2003. The identical twins brought their characteristic energy to Leeds, performing ever familiar hits including the ‘’Cheeky Song’’.
Following on from The Cheeky Girls, were 90’s boyband 5ive. During their prime, the heartthrob boyband sold over 10 million records, but split up in 2001 to go their separate ways. In 2012, three of the band, Sean, Ritchie and Scott got back together and featured in ITV2’s Big Reunion documentary, leading to a sell-out tour across the UK. The trio appeared at Popworld Festival, looking almost as they did over 20 years ago, and took us all back to the 90’s, performing songs like ”If Ya Gettin’ Down” and ”Keep on Movin’’.
I bailed not long after 5ive as MC Duvet and DJ Pillow were calling me. Emma stayed on, shooting images and enjoying the night.
Up next were S-Club 7. In their heyday, S-Club had eleven top 5 singles, and were one of the biggest selling Pop groups in the late 90s and early 00s. Whilst the group have since gone their separate ways, two of the original seven, Bradley and Tina, made it over to Leeds and sang some of their biggest hits including ”Bring It All Back” and ”Don’t Stop Movin”. Whilst the duo relied on a backing track they didn’t need to – it seemed all of the audience recognised most of their songs – still a big hit!
Whigfield, was a popular Italian dance act in the 90’s, that was fronted by Danish singer, songwriter and record producer Sannie Charlotte Carlson. It was Sannie who took to the Leeds stage for the Popworld Festival on Saturday night, wearing a sparkly one piece. When Sannie belted out her 1993 single “Saturday Night”, it was instantly recognisable and the crowd sang along too!
Following on from Sannie was Peter Andre, a staple of the UK pop circuit, since 1995. Peter Andre took to the stage and performed some of his most popular hits, including ”Mysterious Girl’’. As he was a bit late on, he had to cut some of his songs short, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Peter is a crowd pleaser, especially when he brings out all his 90s dance moves! During one of his songs, he asked Emma to grab a cowboy hat from the crowd. She took one off a girl in the front row and he wore it for a song then put it down. When Emma returned the hat to the girl, she and her whole group of friends took it in turns sniffing it, so that certainly says something about how popular Peter is!
Fatman Scoop, the New York native, was up next. He brought his rough and raw pop rap to Popworld Festival. In 1999, he soared to the top of the UK charts with ‘Be Faithful’. He closed out the evening by getting everyone bopping along by playing some epic pop collaborations. Midway through his set, as it was also his birthday, all the other acts came on the stage and brought him a cake to celebrate. They all stayed on stage with him for a couple of songs, before heading off and leaving him to finish off his set. Before leaving the stage, he said there was nowhere that he would rather be to celebrate his birthday!
For those who wanted to keep the party going, there were three after-parties across Leeds to choose from after the festival ended. I’m sure lots of the audience would have headed over to continue dancing and drinking.
It was a fun evening. We loved the energy, the positive vibes and the sense of community. After all, it was just one big long pop party! Popworld was a fun, friendly and joyful experience, and we all need as much of that as we can get these days!
All photography by Emma Gibbon.
