World Aids Day Concert

Thirty years since its inception the LGBT+ community of the city gathers to remember in a candlelight vigil in the New Steine World Aids Day as the names of those departed are read out. Then many of the assembled crowd who have braved the cold and drizzle drift over to St Mary’s for a concert. This now annual event is the joining together of the city’s buoyant musical scene, choirs of all sizes and even a ukulele ensemble. For over two hours they sing and play in celebration of lives lost and also of the great works done by local organisations from the voluntary to the not so voluntary. It’s a joyous and moving event, a programme that balances emotions from sorrow and joy to much needed humour, thank you Quekeleles!

Each ensemble gives their all, pop arrangements, folk, standards and classical. It’s not a competition, nor is it competitive I hope, and this is finally proven when all participants join together in a thunderous arrangement of Queen’s We Are The Champions that has the audience on their feet and joining in. I decline to name all the participants because symbolically this entire event is about the world working together to find an end to this dreadful virus that has blighted humanity, gay and not gay, for nearly 40 years.

St Mary’s

1 December

Andrew Kay

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