Pop group Girls Aloud have announced a massive reunion tour for 2024, bringing their 11-year break to an end.

Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine and Nicola will hit the road in May, playing “all the hits” and “a few favourites of our own”, they tell BBC News.

The shows will be dedicated to their former bandmate, Sarah Harding, who died of cancer in 2021.

“We’re going to do our absolute utmost to celebrate her in the most enormous, magical way,” says Nicola Roberts.

“For us, it will feel very much like she’s there,” adds Kimberley Walsh. “She came alive on stage. That was the happiest she ever was.”

But tabloid reports that the band have also recorded a new album and filmed a music video are untrue, they say.

“There is no new music and there is no video – although we’ve shot a commercial,” says Nadine Coyle.

“Making new music without Sarah would be odd,” confirms Cheryl. “But celebrating what we made together? Fabulous.”

Girls Aloud were formed 21 years ago on reality TV show Popstars: The Rivals. The format required that they be pitted against a “rival” boyband, One True Voice, with both acts competing for the Christmas number one.

All eyes were on the boys, but Girls Aloud blew them away with the eccentric, skittering drum-and-bass anthem Sound of the Underground.

They went on to score 20 more top 10 hits, including three further number ones and Brit Award-winning single The Promise.

In an era of formulaic pop, they were a blast of fresh air. Their songs were ballsy, anarchic and defiantly anti-boredom – from the two-finger salute of No Good Advice to the melancholy beauty of Call The Shots.

They first parted ways in 2009 after playing Wembley Stadium with Coldplay, before reuniting for new music and a 10th anniversary tour in 2012-13.

A second reunion was planned to celebrate their 20th anniversary, but then Sarah was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67491420

I am standing in a stranger’s living room in the nether end of north London. It’s 11am, but the blinds have been drawn to a close, which makes me feel as though I might have been smuggled into a safe house. There are bouclé armchairs and elaborate chandeliers and there are fat wedges of lemon bobbing about in my glass. I could have predicted these boutique tastes would belong to someone who works in pop music, and I could have predicted the specific artists under his management: Goldfrapp and Jessie Ware and The Scissor Sisters. That is because there is a pile of artfully arranged disco balls at my feet, but also because I’m listening to Girls Aloud gossiping from the other side of the wall. I then hear a scramble of high heels clacking through the hall, as Nicola Roberts leads Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Tweedy and Nadine Coyle into this plush set-up. “Right,” she says. “Where shall we all sit?”

And so: it is official. The most successful girl band of the Noughties – who garnered more than five million in album sales, a record-breaking run of 20 consecutive top 10 singles, four number ones and a Brit Award – will be reuniting for an arena tour in the summer of 2024. “I swear to God, I cannot for the life of me remember how we even came to this decision,” says Nadine. “I just remember diaries being sent through and thinking, ‘Oh well, here we are!’ Suddenly I’m getting all these emails about flying around the roof of the O2 again.” She sounds genuinely flabbergasted. It has, after all, been 10 years since Girls Aloud last gave an interview and 20 years since their first appearance on Pop Stars: The Rivals. “Just don’t call it a comeback,” Cheryl adds, with a laugh. “I see it more as a celebration of a milestone. And listen: it’s gonna be unreal. And it’s gonna be the nostalgia of your life.”

Read more here: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/girls-aloud-reunion-tour

‘The Girls Aloud Show’ UK & Ireland Tour

This month marks 21 years since Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine, Nicola and Sarah were voted the winners of Popstars: The Rivals and formed the all-conquering legendary pop band Girls Aloud.

To celebrate this milestone with all of their fans, Girls Aloud today announce that they will be coming together for a huge arena tour of the UK and Ireland in May and June of 2024.

The hugely anticipated shows will feature all of the band’s historic pop hits including No.1 songs ‘Sound Of The Underground’, ‘The Promise’ and ‘I’ll Stand By You’, alongside cast-iron classics such as ‘Love Machine’, ‘Call The Shots’, Biology’, ‘Something New’ and ‘The Show’.

Cheryl says: “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 makes 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.”

Nadine: “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. We want to have that moment with fans where we can all enjoy it together.”

Kimberley: “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. 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.”

Nicola: “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 massive celebration of everything we’ve done up to this point. We want people to leave being like, “Wow, I’ve just had one of the best nights of my life.”

Tickets will go on pre-sale on Wednesday 29th November at 9am, with the general on sale Friday 1st December at 9am, all via girlsaloud.com.

WATCH ‘THE GIRLS ALOUD SHOW’ TRAILER HERE

‘The Girls Aloud Show’ arena tour dates are:

Sat 18 May – 3Arena Dublin

Mon 20 May – SSE Arena Belfast

Thurs 23 May – Manchester AO Arena

Fri 24 May – Manchester AO Arena

Mon 27 May – Cardiff Utilita Arena

Fri 31 May – Newcastle Utilita Arena

Sat 1 Jun – Newcastle Utilita Arena

Tues 4 Jun – Aberdeen P&J Live

Sat 8 Jun – Glasgow OVO Hydro

Weds 12 Jun – Nottingham Motorpoint Arena

Sat 15 Jun – Leeds First Direct Arena

Tues 18 Jun – Birmingham Resorts World Arena

Sat 22 Jun – London The O2

Sun 23 Jun – London The O2

Sat 29 Jun – Liverpool M&S Bank Arena

Girls Aloud will not be releasing any new music around the tour. The band haven’t recorded any new songs or filmed any music videos. The tour will be a celebration of Girls Aloud’s rich back catalogue and all the ground-breaking success they have achieved as a band.

The most successful girl group of the noughties, Girls Aloud have sold in excess of 5 million albums in the UK. The band hold the Guinness World Record for their 20 consecutive UK Top 10 singles. ‘Sound Of The Underground’ was the 2002 Christmas Number One, spending four weeks at the top of the charts and selling over a half a million copies in the process.

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