Reading Pride 2025 Sat 30th August
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For the ninth year running, Reading Pride is very proud to welcome back our incredible Pride aLive stage. Featuring fantastic local artists and bands who are either friends, allies and supporters of, or who themselves identify as LGBT+. Throughout the day they will be performing a mix of their own original songs and popular tunes. We have a strong and vibrant music scene here in Reading with many bands and acts on the cusp of breaking into the professional industry. This stage showcases that talent and the generous support there is locally for LGBT+ and across all diversity.
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- Would you like to perform on the Pride aLive stage at this year’s event?
- Are you a solo act or a band that performs predominantly original music?
- Do you perform your music live?
- Are you local to Reading and surrounding areas?
- Are you LGBT+ or an ally yourself?
- Then you could be in with a chance to perform.
The deadline for applications is 30th April 2025. Applications received after this date will not be accepted.
Applications for performing on our stage on Sat 30th Aug 2025 are now open.
Sponsored By
Supported By
Official Highlights Video
Filmed by Nicely Done Productions;
Music by Colours and Fires.
Pride aLive 2024 Review
We had some incredible artists performing for you in 2024. 10 different acts with a broad range of genres. Click through each artist to find out more about them.
Sophie Henderson
Singer songwriter from Maidenhead. Sophie has supported London Grammar in the past and has performed at Glastonbury as well as many other local festivals, functions and events.
The Amazing Tiger Band
A genre-fluid, funk-fueled experiment, often seen as a bold display of one person taking on more than they can handle. Prepare for tongue-in-cheek tunes that tackle real-world issues.
Readiophonics
Reading’s own a cappella group. Singing beatbox with no musical instruments. Inspired by the modern vocal style of university a cappella and partly by the film Pitch Perfect
Chelsea Blues
For nearly seven years, Chelsea Blues & Kev Remi have graced stages such as SoFarSounds, O2 Academy, and Canary Wharf. Their warm and uplifting music makes them unforgettable.
Liam King
Guitarist and singer and stands proudly as member of the LGBTQ+ community, he released his debut single ‘Blue Jeans’ in January which can be found on all major streaming platforms.
Saxcelerate
Saxophone quartet with twice the firepower. Berkshire-based saxophone octet delivers dynamic covers of popular tunes from pop, rock, jazz, Disney, TV & Film themes, and more.
Haylorr
A Dynamic acoustic duo from Reading bringing a fresh and captivating sound to every performance. Haylorr blend toetapping melodies with intricate guitar work and tight harmonies to delight their audiences.
Colours and Fires
Acoustic Indie folk artist. Performing songs that will make you listen and sounds which will make you think. Their songs give an insight to personal transformation across genders and relationships.
Nicole Allan
Singer songwriter based in Berkshire. Nicole has performed her original music across the globe and has supported performers such as Ian Mculloch (Echo and the Bunnymen), Jason Eady and Danny worsnop amoung others.
Tara Deane
Singer songwriter, promoter and presenter from Berkshire. Tara has performed in and supported the local music scene for many years.
Alice d’Lumiere
Alice performed some short spoken word at several different times throughout the day between some of the act change overs.
Would you like to perform?
Do you perform your music live?
Are you local to Reading?
Are you LGBT+ or an ally yourself?
Yes? then why don’t you apply
Previous acts who have performed include
Over the last 8 years, we have showcased an incredible 53 different acts …
Sophie Henderson, The Amazing Tiger Band, Readiophonics, Chelsea Blues, Liam King, Saxcelerate, Haylorr, Tara Deane, Nicole Allan, Dream Sellers, Country Chicks, Cities in Dust, Country Moans, The Char, Glass half broken, Oliver Hagan, Wolf Note, Boho Super group, Dan Curtis, Sam & the Gang, Any Baker Sound, Liam Barnes, Colours and Fires, Valeras, Mythhs, Eleanor Knight, Buildings on Fire, One Eyed Man, Cody Noon, Jamie Larbalestier, Swallow, Four Counties Kev, Amya Ray, Harry Jones, Ted Robinson, Amanda Andjelkovic, Harrowland, Reading Spring Gardens Brass Band, Indio Child, James Kell, Wherewithal, Andy Sugarcandy, Lisa Kenny, Hatty Taylor, Mother Pluckers, Lack of Faith, Gary Millard, Emily & Cray, Ray Wills, Beat Roots Drum Band, Jair, Midnight Drive and Riverine.
Pride aLive Video Library
Pride aLive Stage Team
Organising the Pride aLive stage starts around November only a few months after the event itself. Most of this initial time is getting the application form ready, setting up the website so that its ready for people to learn more about the stage and to apply if they wish to perform. The website page switches over from “who’s performing” to “Who’s played”, including references to all previous artists who have performed over the years. Once applications are opened (which they are currently) it’s pretty much a waiting game till the closing date. In the mean time we need to secure our booking for our marquee structure, our sound & stage team and our lighting and backdrop team. If there are any planned expansions to the area we need to consider this and pre book as much as we can as there is so much demand for them we don’t want to miss out.
From about Feburary onwards we go into more of a detailed planning mode making sure that we have everything we need for the Pride area and are coordinating with the rest of the Readfing Pride Committee who are busy working on all of the other stages, sections, security, operations and so forth. The closer we get to the event the more detail we go into each others sections. When the applications close at end of April we then start going into the act selection process. We review each applicaiton, watch their perfomances on the links they have provided and select the artists which we’d like to offer a performance slot to. There are only 10 avilable slots on the stage throughout the day, so sadly not everyone who applies will be selected. We do though try to make sure we have as much variation as possible and generally speaking try to have different acts performing each year if we can. During the whole time we also work closely with our stage sponsors and supporters to ensure they are getting the visibility they need and we’re getting the assitance we require.
There is a lot of hard work and dedication which goes into organising all of our stages, areas and the whole event. All of our team volunteer their time and without them we wouldn’t have an event to put on.
Sophie Sheehan
Pride aLive Stage Manager
Sophie has been organising and hosting the Pride aLive stage since she first introduced it back in 2016. The idea behind the stage initially was to provide an alternative to our main stage and to give more oppourtunity for local LGBTQ+ artists to perform at Pride. Today it’s one of the most outstanding stages at Reading Pride.
Sophie herself is a singer songwriter performing locally under the artists name of “Colours and Fires” and has been a very active member of the local music scene and local LGBTQ+ community since she moved to Reading over 15 years ago.
She joined the Reading Pride commitee in 2016 and is continues to be a valued member of our team focusing mainly on the Pride aLive Stage and helping it grow into the impactful stage it is now.
Nicole Allan
Pride aLive Stage Manager
Nicole joined our committee in 2024 to help out with the organising and running of the Pride aLive Stage. She brings a wealth of experience from organising festivals and music events in and around Reading over the last 10 years.
Nicole is a local singer songwriter and guitarist performing regularlay across the country and has even spent some time in Nashville honing her songwriting skills.
Nicole also hosts and runs a regular open mic night at the Butler Pub in Reading every Friday, originals music night once a month also at the Butler and co-hosts “So you think you know Music?” a really cool music quiz at several venues around Berkshire.