Following rumours earlier this week about a possible reunion, the iconic Girls Aloud have officially announced that they will be touring Ireland and the UK next year, starting with a Dublin date.
21 years on since Cheryl Tweedy, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Sarah Harding were voted the winners of Popstars: The Rivals, the girls are coming back together to mark this special milestone.
Irish fans will be among the lucky first to catch Girls Aloud when they kick off their tour in Dublin’s 3Arena on Saturday, May 18, 2024, before moving to Belfast’s SSE Arena on Monday, May 20.
The Girls Aloud news!!! pic.twitter.com/vPuGqKIbBX
— Jake McBain (@JakeMC_) November 22, 2023
Announcing the new tour, Derry woman Nadine Coyle said, “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.”
She continued, “We want to have that moment with fans where we can all enjoy it together.”
Remembering bandmate Sarah Harding, who passed away on September 5, 2021, following a battle with cancer, Kimberley Walsh shared, “Over the last year, we’ve felt this outpouring of love – obviously towards Sarah, but actually towards all of us as a group. And I guess it’s ignited something in all of us again.”
She continued, “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.”
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Cheryl also acknowledged the loss the band feels without Sarah. “We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloud’s 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 didn’t feel right, it felt too soon. But now, I think there is an energy that does make it feel right.”
Noting why the tour should be a celebration, she added, “It’s the right time to celebrate Sarah, it’s the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. That’s a big honour in lots of ways.”
Gays and their hags heading over to Ticketmaster next week to secure Girls Aloud tickets pic.twitter.com/UPg4bDdMaM
— dom ? (@irldom) November 22, 2023
Girls Aloud will not be releasing any new music ahead of the tour. Instead, the hugely anticipated shows promise fans a chance to relive the band’s rich back catalogue, including smash hits such as, ‘Sound Of The Underground’, ‘The Promise’ and ‘I’ll Stand By You’.
Nicola Roberts shared, “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 a massive celebration of everything we’ve done up to this point.”
She added, “We want people to leave being like, ‘Wow, I’ve just had one of the best nights of my life.’”
Tickets for the Girls Aloud Arena Tour will go on pre-sale on Wednesday, November 29 at 9am and general sale on Friday, December 1 at 9am. For more information, go to Ticketmaster.ie.
© 2023 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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