Category: Event Archive

We are very sad to announce that we have made the decision to cancel our concert, Queer Folk.

The main reason for this decision is because Leeds College of Music are not holding any external events for the remainder of 2020, due to COVID-19. As a higher education institution and a venue, they need to ensure the safety of their students, and provide the students with safe performance and rehearsal spaces, which will mean students will need greater access to The Venue. We here at Gay Abandon completely understand and respect Leeds College of Music’s decision to do this.

Leeds College of Music did offer us the option of postponing the Queer Folk concert again to a date in 2021, but after much deliberation we felt that actually the right decision for us is to cancel the concert and focus on developing a new set for in the future. There are other reasons influencing our decision such as there being uncertainty around the safety of people singing in groups, which means that it is highly unlikely that the choir will be able to gather and rehearse in the immediate future, and that we would need a full term to get our set up to a standard that we are happy to perform in front of an audience. Furthermore, as an unsubsidised choir, it is financially not viable for us to hold a concert under social distancing conditions.

This has been a difficult decision for us to make, and we would particularly like to thank Catherine, our Concert Organiser, for all of the hard work she has put in to supporting the choir through this difficult period.

It’s not all sad news though! We have been able to continue meeting as a choir over Zoom, and will be doing so until we can gather again in the future. Jane has even started planning what our “Coming Out” concert (pardon the pun) could look like when we are able to perform again, and you should all definitely start getting excited about that…

In the meantime, everyone at Gay Abandon hopes you are well, and we really can’t wait to perform for you again soon.

For those who purchased tickets for the Queer Folk Concert

Leeds College of Music will be processing the refunds for any tickets purchased for our Queer Folk concert. To get your refund, please contact Leeds College of Music at reception@lcm.ac.uk and provide your booking reference number.

They have requested, where possible, for people to hold off on approaching them for refunds until Sept 2020, when their team will be back in the building.

Sadly, this event has now been cancelled. For more information about the cancellation, and how to received refunds for tickets you have booked for this event, please go here.

This was our big concert at Leeds College of Music. We started off with our Idols and Icons set, before moving onto a reprise of our Movies set. We even had a snazzy new look, as you can see!

The choir had a lovely weekend in Ireland.  On the Saturday, we sang for the locals in the city centre; and we sang to a standing ovation on Monday afternoon at Mahony Hall. You might even find some videos from the weekend on our YouTube channel (we are very cutting edge at Gay Abandon!).

This was our big summer concert, which took place at Leeds College of Music.  Our friends sang&klang:los! joined us from Dortmund, and we even sang Falling in Love in German, which was a bit of a challenge!

We were invited by our friends, Podium Paris, to visit gay Paris for Pride.  We were on the first float of the parade, and really enjoyed the atmosphere.  On the Sunday, we had a joint concert in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

We took part in a charity singing contest and won!  We also rubbed shoulders with Leeds legend Ricky Wilson, front man of the Kaiserchiefs!

Here’s a lovely write up by Sara Cox from August 2011’s edition of Shout! magazine for our 2011 annual concert. ‘I am what I am’ was the rip-roaring anthem that boomed out from the stage of Leeds College of Music on the evening of Saturday July 2nd, as each individual member of Gay Abandon came together to show that Pride, not Prejudice should be the number one message of the day. The audience was treated to a diverse mixture of music from the more traditional ‘Go Down Moses’ to Chumbawumba, Amy Winehouse and Bronski Beat. From the thundering choruses of the main choir to quieter, emotional, solos and even a ‘boy band’, conductor Jane Edwardson and accompanist Andy Fellows presented the message through music that each and every person in the world should be proud of who they are. A moving slide display showed those who had fought throughout history for just this message to be adopted, and a tongue-in-cheek reworking of letters from Mr Darcy and Miss Bennett added a humorous interlude. Even the interval became part of the celebration, with graffiti boards provided to record audience thoughts and colourful homemade fairy cakes to tempt taste buds. The whole evening was a triumph with more than enough to satisfy every sense. Be sure to put their next date in your diary!

Rosie’s Revue was a night of cabaret, celebrating the life of much loved and missed Rosie Snowden, who passed away in January 2009.  £1000 was raised for the Yorkshire Cancer Centre.