Music
Girls Aloud are coming to Liverpool with their 2024 arena tour
12 months ago
Girls Aloud will reunite for a 2024 arena tour in memory of their late bandmate Sarah Harding.
Girls Aloud have announced on their social media that they will be touring again next year for a show that will be celebrating, their music, fans, and Sarah Harding.
The girls will be coming to the M&S Bank Arena on Saturday, 29 June 2024, with presale tickets going live on Wednesday, 29 November.
This month marks 21 years since Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine, Nicola and Sarah were voted the winners of Popstars: The Rivals and formed the all-conquering legendary pop band Girls Aloud.
The hugely anticipated shows will feature all of the band’s historic pop hits including No.1 songs ‘Sound Of The Underground’, ‘The Promise’ and ‘I’ll Stand By You’, alongside cast-iron classics such as ‘Love Machine’, âCall The Shotsâ, Biology’, ‘Something New’ and ‘The Show’.
Cheryl said:
“We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloudâs 20-year anniversary a few years ago. The anniversary seemed like an obvious thing that we would celebrate. But when Sarah fell ill all priorities changed. She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didnât feel right, it felt too soon. But now, I think there is an energy that does makes it feel right. Itâs the right time to celebrate Sarah, itâs the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. Thatâs a big honour in lots of ways.â
Nadine said:Â
“Girls Aloud are a band that made such a huge impact on people’s lives. We grew up with the band, but so did so many other people. So for us not to do something again feels like such a shame and a waste. We want to have that moment with fans where we can all enjoy it together.”
Kimberley said:Â
“Over the last year, we’ve felt this outpouring of love â obviously towards Sarah, but actually towards all of us as a group. And I guess it’s ignited something in all of us again. It feels like something has changed and it does feel like the right time to celebrate Sarah and the 20-year anniversary that we didn’t celebrate at the time.”
Nicola said:Â
“I think what’s really encouraging is that whenever people ask us about reuniting it’s not, “Would you guys ever do it?” but “When are you guys gonna do it?” To know we still have that love from our fans and people who watched us grow up gives us the confidence to do the tour. It will be massive celebration of everything we’ve done up to this point. We want people to leave being like, ‘Wow, I’ve just had one of the best nights of my life’.”Â
The band announced the tour with a video which saw Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh reunite at a drive-in cinema where clips of the band performing their hit tracks.
The tour will be a âcelebration of Sarah, our music and our incredible fansâ, the social media announcement said.
The tour will kick off on May 18 in Dublin, hitting Manchester, Cardiff and Newcastle at the end of the month, before heading to Aberdeen and Glasgow in June, as well as Nottingham, Leeds and Birmingham.
The band will perform two nights at Londonâs O2 before closing the tour at the Liverpool M&S Bank Arena on June 29.
It comes after the death of Harding in 2021 at the age of 39, after revealing she had breast cancer which had spread to other parts of her body.
In an interview with BBC News, Nicola said:
âWeâre going to do our absolute utmost to celebrate her in the most enormous, magical way.â
Nadine confirmed that while rumours of the reunion tour were true, there is no new music or video coming â âalthough weâve shot a commercialâ, she said.
Cheryl said:
âMaking new music without Sarah would be odd, but celebrating what we made together? Fabulous.â
The group formed in 2002 on reality show Popstars: The Rivals and went on to achieve four UK number one singles and a Brit award for The Promise.
After parting ways, the group reunited with new music for their 10th anniversary â while a second reunion was planned for their 20th anniversary when Harding was diagnosed with cancer.
Nicola added:
âItâs not going to be easy for us to put a show together with four people, instead of five.â
Cheryl added:
âIt hasnât felt right, until now, to do anything without her, but now we feel strong enough, emotionally.â
Nadine also suggested that some of Hardingâs original vocals could be used in the show.