Mighty Hoopla 2025 review: a community event in the truest sense
Mighty Hoopla 2025 review ★★★★★: Go for the vibe, which is unmatched
It’s ironic that Mighty Hoopla 2025 was almost closed down for being a nuisance to the local area. While it irked some residents, inside the walls it is one of the truest examples of community, and the power of uniting people together at festivals.
Billed as the UK’s biggest pop festival, it is also a massive LGBTQ event, or as pretty much every performer on every stage called it, “gay Christmas!” It’s hard to imagine a better vibe: sure, there are brands everywhere — everyone from Aldi to Greggs and Schuh were running their own catwalks to show how cool and queer their brands are — but does that really matter when it bankrolls this?
Mighty Hoopla 2025: care has gone into making every inch of this festival incredible
Programming ranges from cabaret to drag and a whole stage dedicated to new queer talent from around the world. There was lesbian arm wrestling (I don’t think that’s actually what it was called but that’s what the crowds were calling it come Sunday when word had spread), queer country bands leading Jolene sing-a-longs by hay bales, the Working Them’s Club, a sort of play on the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club that shouted ‘trans representation!’ and three types of bus, Grindr’s ‘bussy‘ that tours festivals around the world, the Greggs merch bus, and the Vengaboys came cavorting in on one too. It’s all a bit of a sensory overload, but isn’t that what gay Christmas should be?
You could spend two days on a beach parked up with a beer just watching the Mighty Hoopla 2025 crowd, surely the most colourfully dressed of any festival. Or you could dive into the music: Kesha on Sunday night was astonishing, a mixture of raw revelatory storytelling and, for the hugely up-tempo bangers, immense choreography that was so raunchy it left you you needing a shower. “Who’s horny!” she shouted from the stage before going into a bout of three-way kisses with most of her backing dangers, then eating a banana positioned by one of the men’s crotches and spitting it out again. On a Sunday night!
Bands have reunited just to play Hoopla; such is the festival’s dedication to serving fandoms, and bringing cultural moments from the past back into the present. Daphni & Celeste on Saturday were the kind of classically charming throwback act that might never have been the best singers, but it is incredibly heart-warming to see the love people had for them anyway. Comments on Instagram after Heidi Montag’s LA house burnt down suggested she should be booked at Hoopla, and there she was. More about the fans than the acts though, it’s all immensely powerful, and emotional, stuff.
Mighty Hoopla returns in 2026 and tickets are on sale now