Social media reacts to Toploader performing at Tory Party Conference

4 October, 2023

Toploader performing live on stage in 2023

Toploader are facing criticism after performing at the Tory Party Conference – check out the footage and a range of reactions below.

The Eastbourne band – who count former PM Liz Truss as a fan – played their 1999 hit version of ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’ at the Blues Kitchen in Manchester yesterday (October 3).

According to Politico, the live appearance was hosted by UK Music. The organisation was hosting a conference in the city yesterday, titled ‘How Can A Conservative Government Boost Our Music Industry’.

The third day of the 2023 Conservative Party Conference also saw Home Secretary Suella Braverman receive backlash for saying that a “hurricane” of migration is coming to the United Kingdom.

Braverman promised to do “whatever it takes” to stop small boat crossings, adding that immigration was “already too high”.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is among those to have called out the Home Secretary, saying that she had used “utterly despicable language straight out of the far-right playbook”.

Toploader have since been criticised over their decision to perform as part of the Tory Party Conference.

Sharing a clip of the brief gig, music critic Simon Price wrote: “I once hit the guy from Toploader with a champagne cork at the Q Awards, from right across the room.

“Hell of a shot, but I felt slightly guilty afterwards. (What had he ever done to me, except be in a crap band?) I don’t feel guilty any more.”

Former BBC Radio 6 Music host Shaun Keaveny shared Price’s message, writing: “This is perfect symmetry. Two things I never want my kids to listen to: Tories and Toploader.”

Elsewhere, actor Kathy Burke took to X/Twitter to say: “Toploader must be really skint as well as being really shit.”

Comedian and filmmaker Matthew Highton joked: “Oh so the Tories can’t afford to finish HS2 but they can afford the millions to hire Toploader for a private gig!!”

You can see that post and more reactions below.

 

Today (October 4) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce the scrapping of the HS2 high-speed rail line from the West Midlands to Manchester, bringing further controversy to the project.

Meanwhile, thousands marched the streets surrounding the Manchester Central Convention conference recently to protest 13 years of Conservative rule.

Toploader – comprising Joseph Washbourn, Dan Hipgrave and Rob Green – released their fourth and latest album, ‘Seeing Stars’, back in 2017. The group have recently been touring in the UK.

The post Social media reacts to Toploader performing at Tory Party Conference appeared first on NME.