Kimberley Walsh has described how ‘crazy emotional’ it was for Girls Aloud to go on their reunion tour this year, without their bandmate Sarah Harding.
The iconic girl band was made up of Kimberley, 43, Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Nicola Roberts and Sarah, until her tragic death from breast cancer in 2021, aged 39.
In May, the group returned to the stage for the first time in 11 years to go on a huge UK tour, where their late bandmate was kept as the focus throughout.
The show included songs dedicated to Sarah, as well as emotional montages of the late star and a rendition of I’ll Stand By You featuring her vocals.
In a new interview, Kimberley has admitted that paying tribute to Sarah night after night was ‘gut-wrenching’ and that reuniting the band without her felt ‘so emotional’.
The mother-of-three even revealed that during the rehearsals for the show the group had ‘let it all out’ so that they could be strong enough to get through the live shows.
Kimberley Walsh has described how ‘crazy emotional’ it was for Girls Aloud to go on their reunion tour this year, without their bandmate Sarah Harding
The iconic girl band was made up of Kimberley, 43, Nadine Coyle , Cheryl , Nicola Roberts and Sarah, until her tragic death from breast cancer in 2021, aged 39 (pictured in 2015)
In May, the group returned to the stage for the first time in 11 years to go on a huge UK tour, where their late bandmate was kept as the focus throughout
The show included songs dedicated to Sarah, as well as emotional montages of the late star and a rendition of I’ll Stand By You featuring her vocals
However, she added how important they all knew it was to follow Sarah’s wishes and show how she was an integral part of the band, admitting that despite it being ‘tough’ for them, they wanted to be able to honour and remember their friend.
Speaking to The Sun, she explained: ‘She wanted us to do it. She made it clear when she was here, but equally we felt it isn’t Girls Aloud without her. She’s such a mᴀssive part of it, so we wanted to keep her part of it. We’re trying to keep her spirit alive.
‘There wasn’t just one moment of her, we made the whole show have a thread of her throughout. And at times we were like: “Is this actually too sad?” Because for us it felt just gut-wrenching. But then, equally, she deserved that time and for people to remember her.’
Kimberley said the end result was ‘crazy emotional’, but described hearing Sarah’s vocals in arenas as ‘epic’ and confessed celebrating their bandmate alongside the fans had ended up being a ‘cathartic’ experience for the group.
She said: ‘It’s been cathartic for all of us to have that time and to almost grieve with the fans. They’ve grown up with us. And there’s no denying that her energy was really missed on stage. But I think everybody could feel that she was still very much intertwined within the show and the band.’
Speaking to MailOnline in September, Kimberley elaborated on how painful the experience was initially.
She said: ‘Honouring Sarah was quite cathartic, it really was, as tough as the first part was, the planning – the rehearsals without her were painful.
In a new interview, Kimberley has admitted that paying tribute to Sarah night after night was ‘gut-wrenching’ and that reuniting the band without her felt ‘so emotional’
The mother-of-three even revealed that during the rehearsals for the show the group had ‘let it all out’ so that they could be strong enough to get through the live shows
‘But then seeing her honoured and her voice playing out in the arena again and people’s outpouring of love, seeing how happy it made her mum and all of that, it made us feel really amazing.’
Meanwhile Cheryl revealed that she misses her Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah’s ‘electric and wild side’ after her death.
Speaking in a special two-hour show for Radio 2, Cheryl said: ‘There are little moments that you would share with her individually on stage on tour.
‘Where there’s no more Sarah than in that moment and I can’t describe… like, nobody else would know her that way, other than us four.’
