NEWS: Queer Folk – The Pride Tour @ Sage Gateshead

What do you think of when you hear ‘Pride Month?’ Pride marches? Pride events with Queer icons headlining? Social justices and injustices? Maybe every corporation donning rainbow colours in a half-hearted attempt at ‘inclusivity’? Pride means many things to many people, but there are some in the LGBTQIA+ community who don’t feel super represented by the current mainstream approach to celebrating their identities. The fact of the matter is that Pride celebrations should be as varied and complex as the community they represent, which is far more than you’re going to see on TV or in the news. It’s as a result of such chronic under-representation or acknowledgement in all aspects of life that such clear cut stereotypes surrounding the community have formed – and rectification is long overdue.

That’s where Queer Folk come in, whose Pride Tour hits Sage Gateshead on Saturday 25^th June. This two person team of folk musicians, Sophie Crawford and George Sansome, have curated a night of entertainment featuring the music of some of the nation’s best LGBTQIA+ folk musicians who seek to unearth their often overlooked contribution to traditional music. They’ve traversed the country in the effort to right the wrongs of the genre’s mainstream, and demonstrate the diversity of a community that’s tired of pigeonholing. Local performers at the Sage Gateshead event include Hannah James, Amy Thatcher, Holly Clarke and Maddie Morris, as well as Sophie Crawford and George Sansome themselves.

Queer Folk: The Pride Tour is at Sage Gateshead on Saturday 25^th June.