Queens come out for Jubilee

Just as Her Majesty marks her Golden Jubilee, London queens will be having a celebration of their own.

Saturday 1 June sees the launch of a hedonistic new lesbian and gay dance festival, Purple In The Park.

Taking place in Brixton's Brockwell Park, the 50,000-strong festival features bungee jumping, a funfair, club tents, comedy, cabaret and market stalls, plus live PAs by dancefloor favourites.

The iconic Grace Jones headlines with her first UK appearance for five years, which, after her exuberant appearance on Graham Norton, has got to be unmissable.

Grace is preceded by a chorus of established and new dance acts including Alcazar, divas such as Kym Mazelle, Barbara Tucker, Jacki Graham, Kathy Brown, Rosalla, Angie Brown and Alison Limerick, as well as newcomers Baz, the Moon and fledgling boy band Bak 2 Bak.

Purple In The Park is organised by the team behind new gay and lesbian radio station Purple Radio, and hopes to pick up where London's much-missed Summer Rites festival left off.

"After the sad demise of Summer Rites there was a vacuum left to fill," says Purple founder and MD Twysden Moore.

"A summer festival for London that was purely about having a good time. Purple's main stage features some of the most enduring artistes to have hit dancefloors across the world, and the club line-up is the largest collaboration in living memory."

Among queer clubland's finest, expect G-A-Y, Heaven, Salvation, Crash, Candy Bar, Atelier, Coco Latt?, Off The Hook, Bootylicious, DTPM, Fiction, XXL, Popstarz and Queer Nation. Listen out for sets from the likes of DJs Ariel, Paulette, Malcolm Duffy, Princess Julia, Alan Thompson, Tom Stephan, Luke Howard, Guy Williams, Simon Hobart and the Sharp Boys and even Boy George.

Purple In The Park, Saturday 1 June, 2.30pm-10.30pm, £15, Brockwell Park, SE24.
Tickets and further information from the 24-hour hotline (0115 912 9170), Clone Zone stores nationwide, the Purple In The Park office above Hanover Grand, 6 Hanover Street, W1, or visit www. purpleinthepark.com.