Reality star Countess Luann on her Mighty Hoopla headlining show
This new Aussie music festival is hitting Sydney in a couple of months – and one headliner knows exactly what we should expect.
For almost a decade now, pop music festival Mighty Hoopla has been growing and growing in its native UK, as Aussie pop fans watch on with increasing levels of envy.
The event is now an annual two-day spectacular in London, where it attracts a diverse line-up of noughties pop stars, gay icons and even the occasional singing Real Housewife.
Among the latter is Countess Luann de Lesseps, an OG Real Housewives of New York cast member and cabaret singer who entertained the masses at Mighty Hoopla 2024.
And she’s back on board as one of the headliners for February’s inaugural Aussie Mighty Hoopla, taking over Bondi Beach on February 21 next year.
The Countess raved about her past Mighty Hoopla experience in a chat with news.com.au.
“It’s magical … it’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on steroids,” she said.
“People get dressed up, free to be who they want to be. They’re there for creativity: It’s a bunch of creatives doing their thing, and there’s so much love and joy in the place.”
Luann shared one story as an example of the loved-up atmosphere at her last Hoopla: She’d accidentally left her lighter on a chair while she was off enjoying the festival. “Two hours later, I came back and the lighter was still there. I love good manners!”
She said she was excited to come to Australia with the festival, namechecked her own handful of campy original dance-pop tunes to explain why she loved playing a massive festival crowd.
“All these souls, singing music I wrote. Money Can’t Buy You Class. Feelin’ Jovanni. Chic C’est La Vie. I’m passionate about what I sing, and they get it. But my shows are always different. I never do the same show. Because [singing] ‘Life is a cabaret, my friend.’ So the story always changes.”
It’s this grand, eccentric personality that made Luann such a great Real Housewife for 13 seasons of the show. It’s also why there was such a stir when the beloved cast of the original franchise was turfed in 2022 and replaced with a rebooted line-up of newbies severely lacking in star power.
Two seasons into the reboot, New York staggers on, but it seems many fans of the franchise have lost interest at this point.
“They decided to go with a new cast. Didn’t work quite so well for them. That’s great, because they’re pining for us to come back,” Luann said, unable to hide her smile.
“Listen, [ours] are big shoes to fill. And it was a lot to ask of the newbies to fill our shoes, right, and they’re different women, they’re not us.”
But a note to fans hoping to bump into Luann during her Aussie visit: Approach with caution. The diva had appeared at fan convention BravoCon before our interview, and confessed one downside of reality TV fame she struggled with was having fans invade her space in her personal time outside of the event.
“There’s a border that gets crossed, because we’re on reality TV. And that’s where the manners and respect comes in for me, which is: I give you my life on TV. It’s a hard one for me, and for every reality star, figuring out how to keep that border,” she said.
“I’m a giver. I always give to my fans, because without them, I don’t have a career or a show. And I love my fans. But sometimes it’s tough, to be quite honest.”
Mighty Hoopla Australia is on February 21 at Bondi Beach, with headliners including Kesha, Delta Goodrem, Jessica Mauboy, Countess Luann and Rose Gray. Tickets on sale now.
Originally published as Reality star Countess Luann on her Mighty Hoopla headlining show
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