BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend is a music festival run by BBC Radio 1. It is held once a year, in a different location within the United Kingdom each time. It was previously the biggest free ticketed music event in Europe, until a fee for tickets was introduced in 2018, and always includes a host of new artists.
The festival is a spin-off of Radio 1's "One Big Sunday", where in each Sunday during July and August, a different town would host the roadshow, usually next to a beach or in a large park. These were also free, but non-ticketed. Both events are successors to the Radio 1 Roadshow which toured the country during every summer from 1973 until the 1990s.
Originally a "One Big Weekend" would run twice a year, although that last happened in 2004 since when it has been held once a year instead - usually in May, with the exception of 2012 when a larger festival took place over the weekend of 23–24 June in Hackney, East London.
The form of the event has varied over the years, from one tent at the events in 2003 to as many as six stages in 2012. Every event since 2013 has consisted of one outdoor main stage, one tented second stage, and one much smaller stage dedicated to showcasing emerging talent supported by BBC Introducing. Additionally, the early events dedicated their Saturday exclusively to dance music and their Sunday to bands. The dance day was replaced by a second day of bands from 2006 onwards, although there was a dance-orientated ‘Outdoor Stage’ between 2007 and 2012. The ‘dance day’ was effectively reinstated for the 2013 event in Northern Ireland, with a day of electronic music being held on the Friday of the weekend. This approach has been repeated in most years since.
The next edition of the event was scheduled to be held between May 22 and May 24, 2020 in Dundee, with Camperdown Park becoming the first site to host the event twice. The event however was cancelled in reaction to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic.
However, in late April 2020 it was announced that there would be a virtual version airing on Radio 1 on the weekend Friday 22nd - Sunday 24 May 2020.
Venues
Tickets
Tickets to the festival are, notably, free but are usually now restricted to one pair per person. Prior to 2006, a ticket booth would be set up in an easy location in the centre of the hosting city, and anybody who wished to obtain a pair of tickets would queue up, before a Radio 1 DJ gave them out, on a first-come first-served basis. The theory there was that the majority of tickets would go to local residents, as people from further away would not make the journey. However, as more and more 'non-local' residents came to the giveaways, and the capacity at the events grew year-on-year, it was decided that a different system was needed. From 2006, therefore, pairs of tickets have been given away through an online lottery. People wishing to attend register on the BBC Radio 1 website and pairs of tickets are then randomly allocated and given out. In order to make sure that those who live locally get the majority of tickets, the applications are split into categories of 'local postcodes' and 'other postcodes' and the majority of the tickets are reserved for the former.Despite the tickets being free, some people often attempt to sell them on eBay, and in recent years this has meant that various security measures have been introduced, most notably the barcodes on tickets which are scanned at the gate, the rule that the person whose name is registered on the ticket has to be in attendance and, from 2012, passport-style pictures being required as part of the application process. Tickets are also given away as prizes via various competitions held on Radio 1 in the weeks running up to the event, which is usually the only way in which members of the public can obtain passes for both days of the event. For the 2013 event, no pre-registration was necessary, and instead all tickets were given away on a 'first come first served' basis - albeit still with the skewing of 90% of tickets being held back for residents of Northern Ireland. After an initial 24-hour delay due to technical difficulties, the tickets all sold out within an hour. 2014's event in Glasgow saw the 'first come first served' ticket release return with no pre-registration needed. 50% of tickets were reserved for residents within the boundaries of Glasgow City Council with a further 45% reserved for those in the rest of Scotland. However, for the first time ever, members of the public could obtain tickets to all three days of the festival. This led to complaints from some disappointed fans who were left without tickets to any day while others bagged tickets for the entire weekend.
For the 2006 event in Dundee, less than half of the tickets were given to local residents, and allegations were made of postal workers stealing tickets.
May 2003
On 3 and 4 May, the One Big Weekend was held in Manchester.| Saturday 3 May | Sunday 4 May |
| Judge Jules | The White Stripes |
| Paul van Dyk | Dirty Vegas |
| Rob Tissera | Aqualung |
| Eddie Halliwell | The Coral |
| Good Greef Crew | Feeder |
| Badly Drawn Boy | |
| Stereophonics |
September 2003
On 13 and 14 September, the One Big Weekend held in Cardiff.| Saturday 13 September | Sunday 14 September |
| Basement Jaxx | Pink |
| The Chemical Brothers | Travis |
| Erick Morillo | Dido |
| Seb Fontaine | The Darkness |
| Lottie and Yousef | Starsailor |
| Sander Kleinenberg | The Thrills |
| Hybrid | Kosheen |
| Time Flies DJ |
April 2004
On 24 and 25 2004, the first of two in that calendar year - was held at Prehen Fields, Derry. It featured the following line-up:Line-up
Saturday 24 April| Main Stage |
| Faithless |
| Pete Tong |
| Seb Fontaine |
| Judge Jules |
| Fergie |
| Armin van Buuren |
| Agnelli & Nelson |
| Tall Paul |
Sunday 25 April
September 2004
On 18 and 19 September 2004, the final 'One Big Weekend' under that name - and the second of that calendar year - was held at Perry Park, Birmingham. It featured the following line-up:Line-up
Saturday 18 September| Main Stage | Second Stage |
| Tiesto | Groove Armada |
| Fat Boy Slim | David Guetta |
| Deep Dish | Darren Emerson |
| Judge Jules | Xpress 2 |
| Dave Pearce | Yousef |
| Steve Lawler | Mylo |
| Nick Fanciulli | Behrouz |
| Mutiny | |
| Josh 'Rinse' Roberts |
Sunday 19 September
2005
On 7 and 8 May 2005, the Big Weekend was held at Penshaw Monument in Herrington Country Park, Sunderland, and featured artists included:Line-up
Saturday 7 May| Main Stage | Second Stage |
| Foo Fighters | Mauro Picotto |
| Kasabian | Pete Tong |
| Natalie Imbruglia | Judge Jules |
| Chemical Brothers | Fergie |
| Battle | Shapeshifters |
| KT Tunstall | |
| Rooster | - |
Sunday 8 May
2006
In 2006, the Big Weekend was held in Camperdown Park, Dundee on 13 and 14 May 2006 and featured artists which included:Line-up
Saturday 13 May| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage |
| Paolo Nutini | The Fratellis |
| Corinne Bailey Rae | Mystery Jets |
| Gnarls Barkley | Boy Kill Boy |
| Orson | Dirty Pretty Things |
| Razorlight | Bloc Party |
| Muse | Primal Scream |
| The Streets | |
| Snow Patrol | |
| Mylo |
Sunday 14 May
| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage |
| The Feeling | The View |
| The Ordinary Boys | Hot Chip |
| Sugababes | We Are Scientists |
| Feeder | Yeah Yeah Yeahs |
| Editors | The Kooks |
| Pink | The Zutons |
| Keane | |
| Franz Ferdinand |
Many of the BBC Radio 1 DJs including Pete Tong, Tim Westwood and Chris Moyles attended too, and held a number of competitions so that people could win tickets. In addition, Radio 1 also created a virtual festival experience in the virtual reality application Second Life. Avatars on the BBC Radio 1 islands could watch the event on live screens while the audience could see their virtual counterparts on massive stage side screens at the real event in Dundee. The event was hailed as the first ever festival with a professional line-up to take place in a virtual universe.
2007
On Saturday 19 May and Sunday 20 May, Radio 1's Big Weekend was held in Moor Park in Preston.For the first time in the history of the event, all tickets had barcodes and were scanned on arrival at the park. The barcodes contained information such as name and address of the winner of the tickets. Having the barcodes meant that Radio 1 could cancel lost or stolen tickets and issue new ones to those affected. In an effort to stop people buying tickets from eBay or through other mediums, the public was told they would be asked to prove their home address if their tickets were thought to be suspect. However, the BBC decided to scrap this idea on the day as they thought it would cause angry scenes if people were to be turned away.
At the close of entry on 8 May 2007, over 450,000 people registered for a chance to get tickets for the 2007 festival. On Tuesday 8 May on The Chris Moyles Show, Chris announced that a further 5,000 tickets will be available taking the total for both days being 35,000.
Tickets were also given away in an alternate reality game online using Radio 1 fan forums. The situation surrounded a man called Paul Denchfield who was supposedly sacked from the station. Throughout the run up to the event 'Frozen Indigo Angel' would appear in various places online and on-air, with it being the player's mission to hunt down tickets.
The line up was as follows:
Line-up
Saturday 19 May| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | Outdoor Arena |
| Scissor Sisters | Groove Armada | Westwood |
| Razorlight | Gossip | MistaJam |
| Kasabian | LCD Soundsystem | Seamus Haji |
| The Fratellis | CSS | Meck |
| The Fray | Biffy Clyro | Groove Armada |
| Natasha Bedingfield | Cold War Kids | Judge Jules |
| The Twang | The Pigeon Detectives | Tim Deluxe vs The Audio Bullys |
| Jamie T | Simian Mobile Disco | |
| Annie Mac |
Sunday 20 May
| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | Outdoor Arena |
| Kaiser Chiefs | Bloc Party | Bobby & Nihal |
| Stereophonics | Maxïmo Park | Rob Da Bank |
| Mika | Klaxons | Zane Lowe & Mark Ronson |
| The View | Dizzee Rascal | Klaxons |
| Rihanna | Get Cape Wear Cape Fly | Pete Tong & Vernon Kay |
| Mark Ronson | The Enemy | David Guetta |
| Just Jack | CSS | Trophy Twins |
| Calvin Harris | M.I.A | Fergie |
| Tylor Leigh | ||
| Dave Pearce |
2008
In 2008, the festival was held over the weekend of Saturday 10 May and Sunday 11 May, at Mote Park in Maidstone, which can hold up to 20,000 people. 85% of tickets went to people living in Kent, 10% went to those living in areas bordering Kent, including parts of Sussex, Surrey, Essex and London, and the other 5% were handed to others living across the United Kingdom. Concern was raised after a large number of locals commented that even those living within the close vicinity of the park did not receive tickets, with some in the Medway towns winning multiple times.Line-up
The full line-up was announced on BBC Radio 1 on Monday 21 April 2008.Saturday 10 May
| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | Outdoor Stage | BBC Introducing Stage |
| Madonna | Editors | Fatboy Slim | White Lies |
| Usher | The Futureheads | Chris Moyles vs Judge Jules | James Yuill |
| The Fratellis | We Are Scientists | Zane Lowe vs Scott Mills | Magistrates |
| Scouting for Girls | Foals | Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso | AG Dolla |
| Duffy | Vampire Weekend | Count & Sinden | Fighting With Wire |
| The Feeling | Paramore | Dave Spoon | Natty |
| Robyn | The Ting Tings | Annie Mac | It Hugs Back |
| The Hoosiers | Nic Fanciulli | Folk Face | |
| Eddie Halliwell | Jaguar Skills | ||
| Kissy Sell Out |
Sunday 11 May
| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | Outdoor Stage | BBC Introducing Stage |
| The Kooks | The Raconteurs | Zane Lowe | Golden Silvers |
| The Enemy | The Zutons | Pendulum | Twisted Wheel |
| Nelly | The Wombats | Justice | Ebony Bones |
| Goldfrapp | Hot Chip | Vernon Kay vs Pete Tong | Outl4w |
| The Pigeon Detectives | Gallows | Dave Pearce | Chipmunk |
| Newton Faulkner | Pendulum | Basshunter | Kate Goes |
| OneRepublic | Justice | Rob Da Bank | Tom Williams & The Boat |
| Adele | Black Kids | Kutski | Wing |
| MistaJam | |||
| Wiley | |||
| H "Two" O ft. Platnum | |||
| Jodie Aysha | |||
| Cameo vs DJ Q |
The national newspapers had also reported that Justin Timberlake could be a special guest - performing with Madonna. Although this later turned out to be untrue. Pendulum were hailed as one of the festivals' best acts, outshining even Madonna and packing the INMWT tent.
- On the main stage on 10 May 2008, Paul Schrader, Chris Carmack and Rachel McAdams appeared whilst doing promotional work for Tarzan.
Headline sets
2009
The 2009 event was held in Swindon.Line-up
Saturday 9 May| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | Outdoor Stage |
| Snow Patrol | Basement Jaxx | Annie Mac |
| Kasabian | Jack Peñate | Nerm and D-Code |
| Dizzee Rascal | Doves | Kutski |
| The Script | Friendly Fires | Pete Tong vs Vernon Kay |
| Calvin Harris | Deadmau5 | 2ManyDJs |
| Chris Moyles | Florence and the Machine | Zane Lowe |
| The Wombats | The King Blues | Rob da Bank |
| Daniel Merriweather | Fightstar | Tim Westwood |
| The Saturdays | - |
Sunday 10 May
| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | Outdoor Stage |
| The Prodigy | The Enemy | Judge Jules |
| Lily Allen | Maxïmo Park | Jaymo and Andy George |
| Ne-Yo | Gossip | Kissy Sell Out |
| Franz Ferdinand | Enter Shikari | Chase & Status |
| Akon | Tinchy Stryder | David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland |
| Scouting for Girls | Chase & Status | Chris Moyles vs Tim Westwood |
| Alesha Dixon | Ladyhawke | Fabio & Grooverider |
| N-Dubz | White Lies | BBC Radio 1Xtra - MistaJam featuring Wiley, Skepta, Bashy, Chipmunk and Doneao |
| Little Man Tate | Trevor Nelson and Jaguar Skills |
2010
On 24 February 2010, it was announced on The Chris Moyles Show that the 10th Big Weekend would take place on the Faenol Estate near Bangor, Wales on Saturday 22 May and Sunday 23 May 2010. Pixie Lott also performed on the show and was announced as the first act on the bill and Lostprophets was announced while they were on tour. Jaguar Skills announced on his website that he would be playing at the event, but he was not on the announced line-up. On the morning of 26 April 2010, the full main stage and INMWT stage listings were announced during the Fearne Cotton Show.20,000 pairs of free tickets were made available to the public for each day of the weekend. Applicants were able to register for tickets to the event on the Radio 1 website from 26 April 2010 until 3 May 2010.
Line-up
Saturday 22 May| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | BBC Introducing Stage | Outdoor Stage |
| Florence & The Machine | Faithless | Frankie & The Heartstrings | Westwood + Kelly Rowland |
| Dizzee Rascal | MGMT | The Joy Formidable | Target & Cameo + Roll Deep |
| Alicia Keys | Ellie Goulding | What Would Jesus Drive? | Ras & Seani B + Chiddy Bang & Skepta |
| Lostprophets | Tinie Tempah | Menis | MistaJam + Professor Green, Blame & Wiley |
| Cheryl Cole | Bombay Bicycle Club | I Am Austin | Pete Tong vs Vernon Kay |
| Chipmunk | Hadouken! | The Wonder Villains | Faithless DJs |
| Thirty Seconds to Mars | Stornoway | Alan Pownall | Zane Lowe |
| Justin Bieber | Example | Y Promatics | Rob da Bank |
| Scouting For Girls | Pegasus Bridge | Toddla T & Alex Metric | |
| Annie Mac |
Sunday 23 May
| Main Stage | In New Music We Trust Stage | BBC Introducing Stage | Outdoor Stage |
| Pendulum | Vampire Weekend | Beatbullyz | Westwood + Scorcher |
| Rihanna | You Me At Six | Envy | Semtex & Robbo Ranx |
| Biffy Clyro | Sub Focus | Tempa T | Bailey & Fabio |
| Kesha | Plan B | UTE | Rampage & MistaJam + Devlin & McLean |
| JLS | Marina & The Diamonds | My Tiger My Timing | Chris Moyles vs Westwood |
| Paramore | Crystal Castles | Pete Lawrie | Tiesto |
| Jason Derulo | Kids In Glass Houses | We Are Animal | Judge Jules |
| Paolo Nutini | Delphic | Django Django | Jaymo & Andy George |
| Pixie Lott | Yr Ods | Kissy Sell Out | |
| Huw Stephens |
Live Lounge Tent
| Diana Vickers |
| Ellie Goulding |
| Lostprophets |
| Joe McElderry |
| Florence and the Machine |
| Example |
| Biffy Clyro |
| Taio Cruz |
| Kate Nash |
2011
The announcement of location and dates for Radio 1's Big Weekend 2011 was made by Scott Mills on 30 March 2011, with his breakfast show being broadcast from Trinity School, Carlisle that morning. Over 750,000 people applied for tickets to the event.20,000 pairs of tickets were available for the two-day event with the usual allocation policy applying. It was announced that the priority areas for tickets would be the borders of Carlisle, Cumbria, the Scottish Borders and the North East of England.
As usual, competitions to win VIP tickets were run on various Radio 1 shows in the weeks leading up to the Big Weekend.
Line-up
Headline sets
TV & radio coverage
Radio 1's Big Weekend 2011 was streamed live on the Radio 1 website. The headliners of each day were broadcast live on BBC Three and BBC HD. The Big Weekend was also broadcast live on BBC Radio 1. Highlights of the event were also broadcast on BBC Three and BBC HD during the week following the Big Weekend.2012
On 23 May 2011, it was announced that for 2012, Radio 1 would be replacing the Big Weekend with a 'Hackney Weekend' to form part of the London 2012 Festival, in the buildup to the 2012 Olympics.The festival duly took place on the Hackney Marshes over the weekend of 23 and 24 June 2012.
50,000 people attended each of the two days in 2012, meaning a total of 100,000 people visited the site over the weekend: more than double the previous highest attendances. Due to the upgraded scale of the festival, the number of stages were increased and, for the first time, the Main Stage was outdoors rather than inside a tent.
Florence + The Machine were initially announced as playing on Saturday 23 June, but a double booking at another European festival meant that they actually performed on Sunday 24 June.
The Ting Tings were initially announced as to be playing on Saturday 23 June, but due to logistical reasons beyond their control they had to pull out of the bill.
On both days of the festival, a number of unannounced special guests performed with artists on the bill, the most noteworthy of which were Rihanna, M.I.A. and Kanye West appearing as part of Jay-Z's headlining set on Saturday; and, in turn, Jay-Z went on to return the favour and make a special multiple-song contribution during Rihanna's own headlining set the next day.
Line-up
Saturday 23 JuneHeadline sets
2013
The new Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Nick Grimshaw announced that the Big Weekend would return to Derry in May 2013 to celebrate its title of UK City of Culture 2013, the same city that hosted the first of the two 2004 Big Weekends. For the first time, the Big Weekend extended to a third day - which focused on dance music. Alongside that initial announcement were the confirmation of the first two acts, Olly Murs and Two Door Cinema Club, with the rest of the line-up being announced by Grimshaw during another Radio 1 Breakfast Show on Monday 6 May. Both of the stages were in Ebrington Square - unlike recent Big Weekends there was no BBC Introducing Stage or Live Lounge Tent at this event. The '1Xtra' and 'In New Music We Trust' stages from Hackney 2012 were combined into a single venue.Line-up
- Due to issues at Heathrow Airport, two acts on the bill for Friday were unable to attend the event: those being Angel Haze and AlunaGeorge. Further acts also had their performances affected by the flight disruptions but were still able to appear: J. Cole was forced to substitute his band for a backing track, and Rudimental's equipment was stuck in London, forcing them to use the equipment of Chase and Status.
- The above tables do not always represent the stage orders - for example, Two Door Cinema Club opened the Main Stage on Saturday, as opposed to The Saturdays, who in fact performed second on the day. Similarly, 30 Seconds To Mars opened the Main Stage on Sunday.
Headline sets
2014
On 30 January, Nick Grimshaw, Rita Ora and Paolo Nutini announced that the 2014 event would be held in Glasgow to celebrate the 2014 Commonwealth Games. For the first time, the event took place in two different locations in the same city. The Friday night of the event was held in George Square and was dedicated to dance music. The remaining two days followed the traditional format of the Big Weekend and took place at Glasgow Green. Coldplay, Rita Ora, Paolo Nutini, Pharrell Williams and The 1975 performed. On 31 March, 60,000 weekend tickets for the event sold out in 30 minutes. The Main Stage lineup was announced on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show on 28 April 2014. It was announced that Katy Perry would headline on the Sunday night while One Direction and Kings of Leon would open the Main Stage on the Saturday and Sunday respectively. Local Scottish band Baby Stange performed on the BBC Introducing Stage.Line-up
Headline sets
2015
On 23 January, Nick Grimshaw announced on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, that the 2015 event would be held at Earlham Park in Norwich, Norfolk, next to the University of East Anglia, taking place on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May. On 31 March, 50,000 tickets went on sale and sold out within 40 minutes. The full lineup for main stage and the INMWT tent was announced on 20 April, Muse headlined on the Saturday and Foo Fighters on the Sunday. The majority of acts for the BBC introducing stage were announced on 22 April with the remaining acts announced on 4 May.Line-up
- Due to his vocal cord operation, Sam Smith's performance on Sunday was cancelled and replaced by Catfish and the Bottlemen.
2016
Line-up
Controversies
had their set cut short due to "safety concerns". Frontman Tyler Joseph climbed a mast whilst singing "Car Radio", which prompted BBC officials to appear and cut his microphone off, and ask bandmate Josh Dun to stop drumming. They could not continue with their set and had to leave the stage.2017
For 2017, the event was held at Burton Constable Hall approximately 9 miles north-east of Hull. The location was confirmed the morning of 23 January, acts confirmed include Kings of Leon, Little Mix and Stormzy. On 16 March 2017, it was announced Katy Perry will be headlining the Saturday night.Line-up
Headline sets
2018
In order to take advantage of the absence of the Glastonbury Festival in 2018, 4 separate Big Weekends were held simultaneously between 25 and 28 May. Stylized as "BBC Music's Biggest Weekend", events were held in Swansea, Coventry and Perth and Belfast. Tickets sold out for the Swansea, Perth and Coventry Big Weekends.Line-up
BelfastPerth
Swansea
Coventry
2019
On February 27, Greg James announced on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show that the Big Weekend would be held in Stewart Park, Middlesbrough, England for 2019 with Miley Cyrus, The 1975, Little Mix, Mabel, Zara Larsson and Khalid performing.2020
On January 27, Greg James announced on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show that the Big Weekend would be returning to Camperdown Park in Dundee in 2020 with Dua Lipa and Harry Styles headlining. With Camperdown Park having previously hosted the Big Weekend in 2006, it will be the first time the same venue has hosted the event twice - and the second time the Big Weekend has visited the same city twice, after Derry in 2004 and 2013.On March 13, 2020, it was announced that the Big Weekend had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, in late April 2020 it was announced that there would be a virtual version airing on Radio 1 on the weekend Friday 22nd - Sunday 24 May 2020. The new Big Weekend festival featured newly recorded mini sets from the artist's homes as well as re-airings of full sets from previous Big Weekend performers over four "virtual stages".
- Artists in italics have recorded new performances for the 2020 Big Weekend.