Kate Nash cements herself as trans ally: ‘You’re cooler than everyone else’

Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander’s star-studded concert Trans Mission Live will be nothing short of history-making, according to the one and only Kate Nash.

The Irish-English singer-songwriter says she wants to use the upcoming gig at the OVO Arena in Wembley, London, as a chance to remind trans people across the UK that she and so many others “have their backs”.

“I want trans people to feel loved, to feel safe, to feel supported, to have an amazing night during a stressful political time and to know how many people have their backs,” she tells PinkNews. “My message is, I love you. You’re cooler than everyone else. Keep being you.”

Tickets are still available for the self-professed “night of solidarity for a lifetime of change”, which takes place Next Wednesday (11 March).

Hosted by BAFTA award-winning singer and actor Olly Alexander, Trans Mission Live will feature powerful performances from over 24 artists, including Sugababes, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Adam Lambert, Jasmine.4.t, and Wolf Alice.

Interspersed between each performance will be appearances from a cavalcade of trans people and the allies that are doing the most, including Dani St James, Shon Faye, Zack Polanski, and Munroe Bergdorf.

If that wasn’t enough, it will also act as a fundraiser for LGBTQ+ rights charity Not A Phase and legal non-profit Good Law Project. One hundred per cent of the donations will be split between the two organisations – that’s right, every single penny.

Kate Nash ‘overjoyed’ to join Trans Mission Live line-up

Nash was overjoyed to join the concert line-up after Mighty Hoopla’s founder, Glyn Fussell, offered her the chance to do so in a message on WhatsApp.

“I have only really done big line-ups with some touring festivals like Big Day Out & Lilith Fair, which was fun. But it’s very exciting to be in London, especially somewhere as iconic as Wembley, for such a specific cause that I believe in supporting so strongly,” she explains.

“I’m happy to see so many people on board. I just wish George Michael was still with us.”

The 38-year-old Foundations singer headlined Mighty Hoopla’s Hayu Arena festival in 2025, where she sang her latest single GERM. The 2025 single, which Nash describes as a “feminist and trans ally anthem”, sees the artist rapidly list a stream of facts about transphobia and misogyny in the UK while giving a verbal middle finger to trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs).

A major draw for Nash to join the line-up was seeing the sheer diversity of musicians who would be performing alongside her, from newly-established underground rock bands to internationally acclaimed pop stars with hits dating back to the 1990s.

She argues that touring musicians are far more likely to understand and appreciate the struggles of marginalised groups, saying that it makes performers more worldly and wise to specific issues faced by cultures and classes across the globe.

“We travel so much and meet and connect with all sorts of people on the road,” she says. “We check in 21 pieces of luggage at the airport, wash our underwear in the bath, sleep in cheap hotel rooms or buses or on airport floors. Our gig is in a different venue every night, we arrive at airports and get picked up by strangers, we work with different promoters or label representatives in each country we travel to.

“Touring will inevitably open your mind to people living differently to you. And then you’ll create some of the most important and beautiful memories of your life with those people. Musicians know how many different types of lives are out there and how we can all find commonality and enjoy and celebrate each other through music.

“God I sound like such a hippy, but it’s the reality of the job,” she joked.

‘Music Unites, it just does’

Music, Nash argues, is already an art form suited for those who reject societal labels of the so-called ‘norm’ and who support everyone’s right to freedom of expression. She says this makes a concert the perfect place to show the community how many people support them.

It is why she has been so unapologetic in her allyship, having gone to Parliament last summer to lobby for trans rights and joining so many protests she can seldom keep count.

She hopes the gig will be a chance to prove how powerful a tool music is to help people connect with one another, arguing that it’s an integral part of a good live show.

“I’m always amazed at how many people can stand next to each other at a gig and have no idea what their backgrounds/religion/political differences are and have the best night of their lives together. Music unites, it just does. Connecting with people is part of the gig.”

It isn’t hard to be a trans ally, Nash says, saying that it boils down to a desire for trans people to “feel safe, feel supported”, and to “simply live in the world as they want to”.

Why this is a hard concept to grasp, she isn’t quite sure: “Society is so confused and uptight sometimes. I get why we’re all angry and in a fluster, but, in the words of Sinéad O’Connor, ‘fear the real enemy’.”

Trans Mission Live, presented by Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander, takes place at the OVO Arena in Wembley, London, on Wednesday 11 March. Tickets are currently available on Kaboodle and AXS.

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