Pride in Liverpool 2023 will have no main stage or headline act - full details

Liverpool’s pride festival is just ten days away, however, the celebrations will differ from previous years, with no main stage area or headline act due to the lack of a major sponsor.

Last year, disco legends Boney M, featuring Maizie Williams, headlined the festival, with a performance on the Barclays Main Stage at Pier Head, including some of their greatest hits like Daddy Cool and Rivers of Babylon.

However, with a staging area, acts and security costing around £80,000, the organisation behind Pride in Liverpool have had to announce a major change for this year. Pop-up performances will happen across the city instead, ‘taking pride back to its roots’.

LCR Pride Foundation said that last year’s attendee survey showed people were interested in a ‘more community focused pride’ and insist the pop-up concept means pride ‘can grow year-on-year’ and be even bigger. However, fundraising efforts are already underway for 2024, when the main stage could return.

In a statement on their crowdfunding page, LCR Pride Foundation said: “Pride is more than just a stage. Pride has and always will be a protest. It is a powerful symbol of visibility, acceptance and solidarity.

“We do not have a headline sponsor for Pride in Liverpool 2023 so we carefully considered how to best deliver an event programme that matches up with our community’s values and weighed it up against making sure we could using our charity’s funding to make the biggest impact possible.”

The organisation added that attendees ‘love the main stage’ and they are crowdfunding for next year’s pride celebrations. Donations towards main stage in 2024, and any surplus will go towards the wider event.

Pride in Liverpool 2023: Taking place on Saturday, July 29, the annual festival will feature pop-up community performances, family-friendly spaces and a diverse series of ‘fringe events’ around the city. This year’s theme ‘Shout it Loud’ encourages local LGBT+ people to be proud of who they are and full details will be announced soon.

March with Pride 2023:  Continuing the city’s Eurovision legacy and solidarity with Ukraine, Liverpool will play host to Kyiv’s annual Pride march this year. The city region’s annual ‘March with Pride’ is being held jointly with KyivPride, the LGBT+ organisation of the Ukrainian capital as well welcoming Ukrainian delegates and community members from across the UK and Europe. The march will take place on Saturday, July 29 - muster is from 10:30, speeches at 11:15 and the march starts from 12:00.