SCOTLAND’S largest celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture takes place in Glasgow this weekend, with a multitude of parties, gigs and events being held across the city.
It kicks off officially on Saturday with a festival at Glasgow Green.
Highlights there include Menergy’s thumping, high-energy disco (Saturday, 4.30pm), our beloved George Bowie and his old school club anthems (Saturday, 8.30pm) and the homegrown pop of Sharleen Spiteri’s Texas (Sunday, 6.40pm).
Elsewhere, the Alternative Pride Party at Broadcast caters for the more discerning listener, with Italo disco and house on offer. And Free Pride, at The Art School on Saturday, has sets from Matthew Williams and the Lock Up Your Daughters DJs, plus a chill-out room in case it all gets a bit much.
For unbeatable high camp, event sponsor The Polo Lounge is where it’s at.
On Saturday night, Katie Price is the special guest at its HMS Pride night.
It has been a good week for the bar – it hosted the Scottish leg of the first Miss Transgender UK last weekend, which former boxing promoter Kellie Maloney helped to judge.
As the biggest and –arguably - most popular gay club in the city, The Polo Lounge is an iconic part of Glasgow’s clubbing landscape.
It stands as the centrepiece of a community that also comprises Club X, Delmonica’s, The Riding Rooms and Speakeasy - a campus of bars that has much to with Glasgow’s fierce reputation as an LGBT clubbing hotspot.
While it does take some criticism for only representing a narrow slice of gay culture, it’s grand and carries the same ambitious scale as its glitzy cousin while being welcoming and unpretentious. And for a taste of gritty, European-style sweatbox clubbing, its basement is up there with anywhere else in the city.
Night Moves
Lollipop at The Polo Lounge
Q: What’s the stupidest thing you’ve done on holiday?
1.Anna Buchanan, 18, East Kilbride, “I fell into an electric fence”
Catherine Buchanan, 18, Newton Mearns, “I went to Magaluf and drank far too much”
2. James McConville, 30, Auckland, “I visited Glasgow”
Darren Shaw, 28, Clydebank, “I Joined the Navy”
Helen Corr, 30, Northern Ireland, “I’ve been knocked down three times”
3. Rachel Knox, 21, Bearsden, “I accidentally stripped off in front of my boyfriend’s mate”
Julie Elizabeth, 22, North Glasgow, “I started going out with my boyfriend, Gary”
4.Gordon Kennedy, 21, Knightsbridge, “I don’t do stupid things.”
Gary Forsyth, 25, Royston, “Met my girlfriend Julie”
5.Greg MacLuish, 22, Maryhill, “I pretended to be ill to get out of an exam”
6.Craig Wanbree, 22, Partick, “I went to Russia once”
Yannick Bande, 20, Luxembourg, “I almost shaved my eyebrow off”
7.Nicola Lapraik, 25, Glasgow
Favourite Club? The Sanctuary
Favourite Bar? Cottiers
Favourite Dj? Calvin Harris
Favourite Band? Mumford and Sons
First Club? Cube
What you Drinking? A Bellini
Describe your Dancing? Fun, fab and flirty
8. Katie Stevenson, 25, West End, “I got dengue fever.”
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