Following last night's anncounment that Girls Aloud would be reuniting for a 2024 UK and Ireland tour, the band have revealed more details about what it may entail. The most successful girl group of the noughties will be heading out on tour next May, starting off in Dublin before going across the UK, including two nights in Manchester.
Taking to Instagram last night the girl group shared that tour will be called The Girls Aloud Show and will celebrate their beloved bandmate Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in 2021 aged 39. Girls Aloud last performed on stage together a decade ago for their 10th anniversary and this year they mark 21 years since they won Popstars: The Rivals.
Cheryl Tweedy, Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh and Nadine Coyle appeared on Zoe Ball's Radio 2 Breakfast Show this morning to talk about the decision to reform, how they kept the tour secret and whether fans can expect any new music. Arriving at the BBC studios in high spirts as they joined Zoe and said the tour had been top secret "for months".
READ MORE: Girls Aloud tour 2024 confirmed as Ticketmaster links go live
READ MORE: Girls Aloud tour 2024 - all the dates, tickets latest and pre-sale
"We didn't tell our closest friends, our family didn't know," explained Cheryl, who kept it a secret from her son Bear for fear he would let the secret slip in the school playground. But when asked how the six-year-old, who she shares with former One Direction star Liam Payne, was doing, she said he was "delicious", but not so "babyish anymore".
Kimberly revealed she had also been avoiding people on the school run too in an effort to keep the hotly anticipated tour top secret. On whether her three sons were excited, she said they didn't really used to care but now they're old enough her eldest Bobby was asking if he could tell his school friends.
On the decision to go back out on tour, Nadine explained that the conversation came up earlier in the summer and quickly started to come together, culminating in a commercial shoot a few weeks ago. Kimberly added that the impetus was also the "massive outpouring of love" they have felt from fans over the last few years.
"It feels so magical, let's go," added Cheryl. "We’re so fortunate to have the fans we have, the loyalty is off the scale. It's crazy, 21 years."
Fans, who last saw the girls on stage a decade ago will understandably be very excited to know what the tour will entail and it appears plans are well underway. "We’ve had initial meeting but haven't set anything in stone," revealed Nicola Roberts.
Previous shows have seen them go all out to entertain fans and it seems the bar is just as high this time. The girls explained that they and their creative director have had to reign in slightly, as Nadine described previous shows where the would be flying over stages, but said they are "gluttons to punishment" and "all about the entertainment".
Revealing that their original crew would be with them on tour, the girls told fans to "buckle up" as they will seek to make it the "biggest show it could possibly be". Rumours over new music were quickly put to bed, though, as Nadine said "we have so many songs so we'll do those first".
And when asked about bandmate Sarah Harding, an audibly emotional band said it would be very sad to take to the stage without her. "Every step of this process has been weird," reflected Cheryl.
"We actually started discussions with Sarah around a 20th anniversary tour, so the fact we're here without her is heartbreaking. She'll be there in spirit on stage."
Throughout various initiatives Girls Aloud have raised over £1million for breast cancer charities in the last year. In October 2022 Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine and Nicola held The Primrose Ball, a charity gala event for The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Cancer Research UK, as part of The Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.
Girls Aloud have sold in excess of 5 million albums in the UK and hold the Guinness World Record for their 20 consecutive UK Top 10 singles. ‘Sound Of The Underground' was the 2002 Christmas Number One and spent four weeks at the top of the charts, selling over a half a million copies in the process.
Their hotly-anticipated tour next year 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'."
Last night the girl band revealed dates for May and June 2024. Starting in Dublin, it will then before head out across the UK including two nights in Manchester on 23 and 24 May, 2024.
Tickets go on sale from Friday, December 1. The pre-sale will go live on Wednesday, November 29 from 9am for fans who sign up to the Girls Aloud official website.
