After an 11-year break, Girls Aloud, the treasured girl band of the early noughties, has revealed their highly anticipated return. The four band members Nicola Roberts, Cheryl Cole, Kimberley Walsh and Nadine Coyle are set to return to the stage in May and June of next year dedicating the tour to the late singer and cherished bandmate, Sarah Harding.
The northern lasses, who rose to fame during the 2002 show Popstars: The Rivals have many accolades including twenty consecutive top-ten UK singles and being nominated for five BRIT awards, winning one for the 2008 song “The Promise” off album Out of Control.
In 2009, The singers of the popular track ‘Can’t Speak French’ took a hiatus from their musical endeavours, only to make a comeback to celebrate their decade anniversary as a band. This exciting and momentous occasion marked the commencement of their Ten: The Hits Tour.
A year later, the group officially split to work on separate solo projects and individual career goals. This included Nadine Coyle taking part in the hit ITV show ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ and Cheryl Cole becoming a familiar judge on X-Factor and pursuing a solo career.
During this time, former band member, Sarah Harding developed breast cancer and endured a long struggle with the disease until her passing, aged 39 in October 2021. She wrote about her journey from working with Girls Aloud, to her illness in her book ‘Hear Me Out’, which was one of the group’s first releases in 2004. Buy the book here
Cheryl, of the group said “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.” However, due to Sarah being unwell at the time, the group decided it wasn’t the right time. Cheryl continued “She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didn’t feel right, it felt too soon.”
The group have now explained they feel enough time has passed that they feel ready to celebrate the life of their late friend and band member, Sarah Harding. Cheryl elucidated“There is an energy that does make it feel right. 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.”
There were rumours of new music, possibly a new album. The singers have shut this down early, stating “Making new music without Sarah would be odd but celebrating what we made together? Fabulous.” Nicola Roberts exclaimed, “We’re going to do our absolute utmost to celebrate her in the most enormous, magical way.”
Girls Aloud has announced that the cities they will be performing in are Manchester, Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Nottingham, Leeds, Birmingham, London and Liverpool. The tickets officially go on sale on the 1st of December although you don’t want to miss out! Pre-sale release starts at 9 am, Wednesday 29th November.
For pre-sale ticket access click here
Tour dates
18/05/24 – 3Arena, Dublin
20/05 – SSE Arena, Belfast
23/05 – AO Arena, Manchester
24/05 – AO Arena, Manchester
27/05 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
31/05 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle
01/06 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle
04/06 – P&J Live, Aberdeen
08/06 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
12/06 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
15/06 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
18/06 – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
22/06 – The O2, London
23/06 – The O2, London
29/06 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
