Sarah and Ben were away so I was left to go to Durham Pride on my own this year. I’d left a little later than I had hoped so that by the time I got into Durham, struggled to park in Prince Bishops and walked along to the Sands I was fully expecting to have missed the speeches. However when I got close enough to the stage I could hear Laura Pidcock, my MP, in full flow so I wandered close to listen to the end of her speech.
I wandered off while the choir were on and went to get a drink and have a look round the stalls. I got given a free pair of pants and a condom holder! Then I headed back to the front where I got my beard fondled during Smashby…now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write! I don’t know why people feel the urge to fondle my beard during live gigs – and it’s always blokes!
After he’d finished one of the acts I had come to see was on – the cast of the Consett Production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. We love this musical and have seen it several times in Sydney, London and Sunderland! We would like to go to the Consett show but as yet we’re not sure if we will be able to make it so it was good to be able to check it out!
The performance had good bit and bad bits but on the whole was ok. I’m sure they are still getting the show together and today was more like a rehearsal – not helped by the rubbish sound engineer! There were confusing bits too – the guy who was playing Tick delivering some of Felicia’s lines (the actor who appeared to be playing this part kind of disappeared to the back and stayed there!) and the most famous line being delivered as “a crock in a frock on a rock!”
Next up was X Factor contestant Lloyd Daniels so I took the opportunity to head to the bar again! As I was leaving the tent I bumped into one of Ben’s Friends who turned out was there with a couple of her mates and was draped in a Pride flag of some hue (transgender perhaps!) – she asked if Ben was here but as I pointed out he was in Brighton! I tried to have another look at the stalls but couldn’t go out due to having a drink! I headed back to the front to catch the other act I’d come to see the fabulous Tess Tickle and the Dragettes.
I’d seen them for the first time at last years event but this year they seemed to have really stepped up a notch! From the opening number of the Spice Girls Wannabe…
…to the finale of Hallelujah they were just so so good – the costumes, the routines were just out of this world!
At the end Tess made this really emotional speech but the sound engineer had managed to turn off the feed to the main PA and the microphone was only coming out of the monitors at the front. Such a shame! The next act was Stooche but by that time I figured I’d been down the front in the sun for too long and called it a day