THE BRIT FEST – DAY 2 – LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTO GALLERY – HOLLY JOHNSON

Today we got transported back to the 80’s with a stacked lineup including the 80’s legend Holly Johnson. The crowd was a sea of neon colours with the dress code today being an 80s neon party that suited the lineup so well.

In the first half of the day some stunning acts certainly dazzled the crowd – ‘Altered images’ and ‘Blow Monkeys’ to name two of them. Altered Images are originally from Glasgow, and they formed back in 1979, and they branched into the mainstream during the early 80’s with 6 UK top 40 hit singles and 3 top 30 albums. Even 47 years later, they are gaining new fans as well as keeping their original ones and its a lovely sight to see. We had the typical UK weather join us today with a downpour of rain but that didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits – just their clothes.

In the second half of the day, we had the first-ever international guest at Brit Fest, Australian actor and singer Jason Donovan. Before his career as a singer, he rose to fame very quickly, starring in the Australian soap Neighbours alongside the fantastic Kylie Minogue. Let’s just say the crowd was overly pleased to see him hit the stage. He wore his iconic bright pink suit which again fit the dress code very, very well. Thankfully, Jason managed to hold off the heavy downpour of rain until the middle of his set. Sometimes the rain is a bit of a deterrent at festivals, but not here at Brit Fest. He sang many of his famous hits alongside a beautiful cover of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World ’.

With the rain still going, we had ‘Wet Wet Wet’ take to the stage, which is very ironic! Two of the founding member of this band still carry the torch for them ‘Graeme Clark’ on bass and ‘Graeme Duffin’ on guitar and they play these instruments to perfection. Frontman Kevin Simm, who joined back in 2018, is definitely one for live performances – he interacts with the crowd, he moves around and his vocals are perfect. My favourite song of this set had to be ‘Love Is All Around ’ which is so iconic and everyone knows this tune. This was originally a 1967 hit and it skyrocketed back to global fame in 1994 as ‘Wet Wet Wet’ did an amazing cover of this song for the film ‘Four weddings and a funeral’ and they have done an amazing job in keeping the spirit of this song alive and it truly brought the crowd together with the atmospheric rain all around everyone.

Guess who was here to stop the rain for his set – the iconic Holly Johnson. The crowd was blessed with his presence with his immaculate 80’s look which featured an iconic leather jacket with lots of diamonds on it, showcasing the star that he is. He even brought his furry little friend to the festival, who was seen wandering backstage all day. Holly Johnson is a legendary English singer, songwriter, artist and writer who was the lead vocalist in ‘Frankie Goes to Hollywood’. He was noted as one of the first openly gay major pop stars in the UK, and he is a highly important LGBTQ+ cultural figure. Frankie goes to Hollywood was highly controversial and hugely successful – the BBC banned one of this bands most successful hits ‘Relax’ which ultimately boosted its popularity. After Holly left the band back in the 1980s, he launched an arguably even more successful solo career as his debut album reached number one in the UK’s album charts and he went on to create even more successful hits which are still praised til this day. Johnson and his amazing band have such an amazing stage presence not staying still once which is all a crowd wants. The top three songs from the set had to be ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’, ‘Love Train’ and ‘Americanos’ as they have been played on repeat for years and it certainly was a blessing to witness them live. The crowd was in awe, dancing along to every beat.