Girls Aloud have paid an emotional tribute to the late Sarah Harding during their reunion tour.
The iconic ’00s girl group took over Dublin’s 3Arena on Friday (May 17), kicking off the first night of their ‘The Girls Aloud’ reunion tour. The gig marked the group’s first live performance in over 10 years and their first following the death of Harding, who passed away in 2021 due to breast cancer.
Numerous tributes were paid to Harding throughout the night. The group – comprised of Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh – opened with 2008’s ‘Untouchable’ which included a backdrop of past footage of Harding being projected on pink curtains.
“When we recorded this next song 19 years ago, we had no idea 19 years later it would become so poignant on our journey,” Roberts told the crowd, with Walsh adding: “Standing feeling all the emotions you’re feeling. I hope you know it means as much as it means to you.”
Elsewhere in the set, they performed their cover of The Pretenders‘ 1994 hit ‘I’ll Stand By You’. During the performance, audio of Harding’s vocals were featured, with the remaining members of the group singing backing vocals.
“When we were putting the show together, there was this piece of Sarah singing this song all by herself. Singing it amazingly and when we all heard it we were like ‘Wow’, she should have done this whole one by herself the whole time. So she going to tonight,” said Coyle, introducing ‘I’ll Stand By You’. “We’re going to do a duet with Sarah tonight. It’s going to be us, Sarah, you. Let’s do this together.”
@andrewhannon87 GIRLS ALOUD ARE BACK! #girlsaloud #girlsaloudreunion #dublin #girlsaloud2024
During the final song of the night, ‘The Promise’, Harding appeared on a video screen singing her solo. The girls stopped halfway through to watch footage of Sarah performing the song on her own.
Fans took to X/Twitter to praise the tributes to the late singer with one tweeting: “Seen #TheGirlsAloudShow tonight and I honestly think it might be the best concert I’ve ever been to. The tributes to Sarah had be bawling @GirlsAloud you were unbelievable.”
Another fan wrote: “So many lovely moments for Sarah tonight. Crying my eyes out still. Cant believe I just got to see Girls Aloud on opening night in Dublin.”
@zaralucy_x girls aloud you were unreal, glad i didn’t miss out on this xo #girlsaloudbelfast #girlsaloud #girlsaloudreunion #fy #fyp @Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud previously said that fans would be “blown away” by the show, which they hoped would “transport” them back to their ’00s heyday.
“We want people to be transported back to the time through our music. We want people to sing their hearts out and dance their socks off,” Tweedy told The Independent.
“It’s the right time to celebrate Sarah, the right time to celebrate the band, and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this over 20 years later. That’s a big honour.”
“What do I want people to think when they see Girls Aloud? That we’re pop icons of our era who have always been fun and free.”
Walsh added that the love shown for Harding after her death as well as the whole band helped to reignite them. “It just felt too raw to begin with, but time does make a huge, huge difference. And now feels like the right moment to celebrate Sarah and the 20-year anniversary that we didn’t celebrate at the time.”
“If you’d asked me a year ago about the possibility of a Girls Aloud tour, I’d probably have said it wasn’t very likely,” she continued. “But our energies have all aligned at the same time, which is something you can’t predict. It just got to a point where we all looked at each other and thought: ‘This feels right.’
Meanwhile, the band surprise-released a megamix called ‘The Whole Damn Show’ to celebrate the beginning of the tour. It mashes up 27 Girls Aloud hits and fan favourites, mixed by The Alias, and will be released as an extremely limited 12” ultra clear vinyl on August 2 – you can pre-order yours here.
You can find the rest of the tour dates below and buy tickets here.
MAY
20 – Belfast SSE Arena
21 – Belfast SSE Arena
23 – Manchester AO Arena
24 – Manchester AO Arena
27 – Cardiff Utilita Arena
28 – Sheffield Utilita Arena
31 – Newcastle Utilita Arena
JUNE
1 – Newcastle Utilita Arena
2 – Newcastle Utilita Arena
4 – Aberdeen P&J Live
8 – Glasgow OVO Hydro
9 – Glasgow OVO Hydro
10 – Glasgow OVO Hydro
12 – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
13 – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
15 – Leeds First Direct Arena
16 – Leeds First Direct Arena
18 – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
19 – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
20 – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
22 – London The O2
23 – London The O2
24 – London The O2
25 – London The O2
27 – London The O2
29 – Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
30 – Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
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