Girls Aloud reuniting two years after Sarah Harding’s tragic death with huge 2024 arena tour

Girls Aloud are to reunite for a massive UK & Ireland tour next year, it has been confirmed.

The girl band is set to mark their 21st anniversary next summer with dates in Belfast and Dublin, which will include a tribute to late bandmate Sarah Harding, who passed away from breast cancer in 2021.

The group, which includes Derry-born singer Nadine Coyle as well as Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh, and Nicola Roberts, was created through the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals back in 2002.

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Confirming their big return to music, in a social media post tonight they said: "We’re so excited to announce that we will be touring the UK & Ireland in May and June 2024.

"A celebration of Sarah, our music and our incredible fans. We can’t wait to sing and dance with you all once again. -Cheryl, Kimberley, Nadine & Nicola."

The tour will include shows at the SSE Arena Belfast on Monday, 20th May and the 3Arena Dublin on Saturday, 18th May as part of a string of dates in the UK and Ireland throughout next May and June.

Making their official comeback announcement tonight, Nadine said it would be a "shame and a waste" if Girls Aloud never worked together again.

She added: "Girls Aloud are a band that made such a huge impact on people's lives. We grew up with the band, but so did so many other people. So for us not to do something again feels like such a shame and a waste. We want to have that moment with fans where we can all enjoy it together."

Cheryl said: "We all started talking about the possibility of doing something to celebrate Girls Aloud’s 20-year anniversary a few years ago. The anniversary seemed like an obvious thing that we would celebrate.

"But when Sarah fell ill all priorities changed. She passed away a year before the anniversary and it just didn’t feel right, it felt too soon.

"But now, I think there is an energy that does make it feel right. It’s the right time to celebrate Sarah, it’s the right time to celebrate the band and the right time to celebrate the fact we can still do this 21 years later. That’s a big honour in lots of ways.”

Kimberley added: "Over the last year, we've felt this outpouring of love – obviously towards Sarah, but actually towards all of us as a group. And I guess it's ignited something in all of us again. It feels like something has changed and it does feel like the right time to celebrate Sarah and the 20-year anniversary that we didn't celebrate at the time."

Nicola said: "I think what's really encouraging is that whenever people ask us about reuniting it's not, 'Would you guys ever do it?' but 'When are you guys gonna do it?'

"To know we still have that love from our fans and people who watched us grow up gives us the confidence to do the tour. It will be a massive celebration of everything we've done up to this point. We want people to leave being like, 'Wow, I've just had one of the best nights of my life'."

In 2012, Girls Aloud was named the UK's biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century so far, with over 4.3 million singles sales and a million albums sold. They also achieved a string of 20 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK, including four number ones.

Tickets for The Girls Aloud Show go on sale next Friday, 1st December.

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