Loose Women Live Tour is Coming to Leicester

Loose Women is hitting the road for the very first time and will be visiting De Montfort Hall, Leicester on 15 September.

Kicking off at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Friday, 1 September, the tour will visit 16 spectacular venues throughout the month.

Swapping the studio for the stage, join Loose Women’s award-winning panel and enjoy an evening filled with laughter, never-before-heard stories and backstage secrets – as the Loose Women take a look back over the last 24 years of fun and friendship. 

Joining Loose Women Live will be Brenda Edwards, Charlene White, Christine Lampard, Dame Kelly Holmes, Denise Welch, Frankie Bridge, Gloria Hunniford, Jane Moore, Janet Street-Porter, Judi Love, Katie Piper, Kaye Adams, Kelle Bryan, Linda Robson, Nadia Sawalha and Sunetra Sarker.

Tickets are on sale now via livenation.co.uk

Here we catch up with panelists Judi Love and Kaye Adams as they prepare for the tour…

Q: How do you feel about being part of the first ever Loose Women live tour? And how will it be different from the weekday show? 

Judi Love: To be honest, I can’t believe there hasn’t been one already! I mean, we’re one of the leading female daytime shows so I’m ecstatic to be joining in the history-making of Loose Women again.

I mean, with us girls it’s always going to be a bit lively, isn’t it? Live shows are just a different element as you get those moments that you witness there and then. Loose Women Live is in the evening. People are ready for a loose, Loose Women! They want to feel involved. They want to see that and they’re ready. I’m bringing the energy and the juice – the gossip! 

Kaye Adams: I’m really, really looking forward to it actually. Obviously, we love the show. It feels like your favourite pair of slippers, in the best possible way, but we’re going to have to get our tap shoes on for the tour! Just to take it into a different arena is going to be interesting but also just to feel that buzz in a large theatre of all those people. 

We’re going to mix things up a lot more, which I think we’re all looking forward to. I think we can be a little freer when we’re in a live theatre situation. I think people can expect it to be a ‘very loose’ Loose Women. We want it to be fun and for people to have a great time!

Q: Having a live audience has always been a key part of Loose Women on the weekday show. What does it add?

Judi: Well, the audience engages, you know. The audience hasn’t got that TV barrier because they’re seeing you first-hand. The more they see you, the more they feel involved – just like having a conversation with your girls. But hopefully, with the live tour, we can be a bit more saucy! It will be so exciting.

Kaye: I think it’s just going to be amazing on the tour because we obviously have an audience when we’re recording Loose Women and it’s a huge part of the show. It really does give the show a lot of energy. It gives you a lot of information because you can see what resonates with people and what doesn’t resonate with them, and the different kinds of reactions to different topics. So to be able to do that on a large scale and just give people a really good night is great. We want the audience to feel part of the experience, rather than watching an experience. That’s 100 per cent what we’re going to be focused on.

Q: Do you think we’re going to see a different side to any of the Loose Women panellists? And who do you think will be letting their hair down most? 

Judi: I think the women are themselves when they’re on TV. I just think that the atmosphere [on tour] brings it out of you a little bit more. So I think everybody will have that extra 10% in them, because there’s no filter.

And letting their hair down the most? Oh, it’s gonna be me, Nadia, Kaye and Jane… And Denise and nanny Linda and Brenda… Do you know what, all of us! 

Kaye: I hope so. How many times are you going to go on tour with a bunch of your mates?  Even for me, who’s usually known as the sort of sober one, I think to be in bed at 11 o’clock would be a bit of a tragedy! So hopefully, this will be the ultimate girls’ night out! 

Q: Have you ever been away with any of the Loose Women before? 

Kaye: With Judi, Jane and Nadia, [who I’m opening the tour alongside] we know each other very well. We’ve been away together, for weekends and things. We went to the Cotswolds last year for four nights, which was a riot, I can tell you. So I think you can expect us to be even less discreet than we would normally be!

Judi: Exactly! I think it’s just going to be like a girls trip to be honest with you and I’ve been out with them all and gone away with them and we’ve had great times. We go out for drinks all the time. We’re going to party!

Q: As well as being on Loose Women, you’re both used to either being on stage or on the radio – do you ever get stage fright or nervous before anything you do? Will you be nervous before the shows on tour? 

Kaye: Oh, absolutely! I expect to be absolutely bricking it. You know, I’ve got a podcast called ‘How To Be 60’ and we’re doing three live shows at the Edinburgh Festival in August. We did a couple last year and I am a bag of nerves because you want people to have a good time and you want to be able to enable that. But also you do need nervous energy because I’m quite a laid back kind of person. I have to almost purposely wind myself up just to give myself that level of energy or it would be dull! 

Judi: Well, I’m used to touring – I wasn’t used to doing live TV, and these girls are just phenomenal. So I think it’s just the same as doing live. If you can do live TV, where it’s daytime, anybody could be watching, sometimes you’ve got to read off an auto-cue, you’ve got to know when’s next for you to talk and engage, then if you can do that, you can do live shows. These girls are ready. And you know what’s nice? With everybody that we work with on the panel, you’ve always got someone that’s got your back. 

Q: All of the Loose Women have busy lives on-and-off screen, what’s the secret to juggling it all? 

Kaye: My mum was like that, funnily enough. She was a little human dynamo. More than me, actually. I remember I used to look at her when she was older and think, ‘Oh, my God, why have you not collapsed by now?’. I think you just keep on going. If you enjoy what you’re doing, it doesn’t feel like a chore. When you’re doing something that you genuinely love, you get an adrenaline rush, you’re looking forward to it, and that carries you along. 

Judi: The days that I’m off, it’s just pyjamas and the sofa all day. That’s the secret. Complete downtime. And I put my foot down, you know. I’m not contactable when I’m on my days off because it’s so easy to just pick up an email and to do this and to do that. And before you know it, you’re working every day. 

Additional Q&A – Judi:

Q: You’ve been on Loose Women for three years now, what is it you enjoy the most about being part of the show?  

Judi: Oh, the sisterhood, without a doubt. I could go on my phone and I’ve got more than 20 women that are excellent in their fields – down from being a singer, a performer, doing live at theatres, to columnists, to people who write books; to just being a mum, or partner, or wife, or sister. That is such a valuable gift and a blessing to have. I wouldn’t want to change it for anything.

Because you feel inspired, and there’s different ages, different cultures, different backgrounds, and you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m in this blend’. Someone thought that my opinions meant a lot to somebody else and being amongst these women is forever inspiring.

Q: Are there any particular moments on the show that really stand-out for you since you joined? 

Yes, my first ever show, because it was just the first, so you cannot believe it but also when I was with Charlene, Brenda and Kelle and we made history for being the first four black panellists, that was absolutely amazing. To make history like that was very emotional, as a black woman. 

There are also some shows you do when you have moments of like ‘Oh my God, I love my job.’ I remember, there was one show I did with Kaye, Nadia and Jane. I can’t remember what date it was, but I just remember that I laughed until I felt dizzy. It was just such a high. Kaye, you know, she’s the anchor, but my god, that woman, I keep telling her, she could write a comedy sitcom, and it would be absolutely fabulous. 

Then, obviously, doing one with Brenda when she did her son’s anniversary. It was just sheer sisterhood. Because if one of us falls, we’re all picking you up. That’s just how it is on the show and behind closed doors. 

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say to anyone that would like to join you on the tour? 

Get your tickets! If you want to have a fabulous time and have a great evening, you need to come and get loose with the loose girls. That’s what you need to do! 

Additional Q&A – Kaye: 

Q: Is there any item you can’t live without that you’ll be bringing with you on tour?

My dressing gown! I got it when I did Strictly and it’s fabulous and fluffy with my name in gold on the back, so I’ll bring that. 

Q: Which shows will fans be able to come and see you?

One of the dates I’m doing will be in Glasgow, where I live, so I’ll sleep in my own bed that night but I will be sleeping in a different bed for the others, which will make me feel 25 again! I have heard that you can get a bus that you can sleep in overnight and, oh my god, that is where I want to be because I want the full Spinal Tap experience. I want to be on the top bunk! I don’t think Judi will want the top bunk? Denise might… She is an absolute riot!

Q: You mentioned you’ll be on the panel for the show in your hometown, Glasgow. Will you plan something special for that date?

Yes, I’m sure I’ll do something special with the other panelists. Glasgow has been my home for such a long time. I feel so comfortable here. Often it’s just the way you speak, the references that you make, and stuff like that. The panel that night are welcome to stay in my house and I will give them very competitive rates for that! 

Q: Do you think your family will come and watch the show that night?

Do my children really want to come and see their mum cavorting on the stage? I’m not entirely sure…  And Ian would definitely rather be playing tennis. I know I don’t watch him play [tennis] so I don’t really expect him to come and watch me! 

Q: What will you miss on the nights you’re not so close to home?

Definitely Bea, my Cockapoo. Bonnie will look after her and Ian takes Bea to the tennis club and she runs about and chases tennis balls all day so she’s quite happy. 

Ian and I are both away for work a lot though and it wouldn’t work for everybody but I think it works for us. You know, we’ve been together for 30 years plus… We’re never entirely sure because it’s so long and can’t remember… But it’s definitely 30 years plus! We’ve just always been like that, we’ve always had our own thing going on and before I had the kids and I was doing Loose Women I was in Manchester from Monday to Friday for a long time and he works a lot in Italy doing tennis stuff so it’s just the way that we are. Whether it strengthens us or not I don’t know but I do know that it certainly doesn’t damage it [the relationship] because it’s just our rhythm!

Q: On the nights you’re not at home, are you expecting to return to a mess?!

They’re not bad actually. Ian and Bonnie are here and I call them the flatmates because they are both messy. The two of them are happy as Larry when I’m away, because they don’t have me nagging them – and they both make the same things. So they get their wee takeaway pasta and sit and watch the telly without me saying someone needs to come and do the dishes! 

Q: Talking of family, you previously called your mum a ‘dynamo’. How has life been for you since she sadly passed?

It was five years on July 29th. For her funeral, we’d put together a little video with photographs over the years, things like that, and it sits on the desktop of my computer. And I never go into it. But funnily enough, I was looking at my computer yesterday and it was there. I sat for about five minutes thinking, ‘do I now open this?’. And I did – I watched it. It’s only 90 seconds and everything just comes flooding back, doesn’t it? But I think it’s good to do that every now and again, because you know, life does get busy. 

My daughter was 21 recently. My mum absolutely loved her, and oh my God, she would have been so proud. 

LOOSE WOMEN LIVE TOUR 2023: