Stockwood Park in Luton will play host to BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May with over 100,000 music fans expected to attend the live music spectacular, which has in the past hosted the likes of superstars Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus and Stormzy.
The acts for this year’s festival are yet to be announced, but tickets for the three-day event from May 24–26 will be geographically weighted, with a share of tickets ring-fenced for Lutonians, with full details to be released by the BBC in March.
The festival is expected to provide a major boost to the local economy, with huge demand for tickets ensuring the event sells out almost immediately every year. Last year’s festival generated £3.7 million for the host city of Dundee.
This year, Radio 1’s Big Weekend will be supersized with four stages running across three days: Radio 1 Main Stage, Radio 1’s Future Sounds, Radio 1 Dance and BBC Introducing. Radio 1’s flagship festival will showcase around 100 acts, from the biggest stars in the world to new and emerging artists.
It also means that Luton Carnival, which usually takes place on the Sunday of the late May Bank Holiday weekend, will move to Monday May 27, effectively provided the town with four days of partying.
Radio 1’s Big Weekend kicks off the UK’s festival season by bringing some of the biggest UK and international artists to cities that may not otherwise host such a large scale event.
Greg James said: “Radio 1’s Big Weekend is our favourite time of the year and we love taking it somewhere new every year. This year is the turn of Luton to experience the full Radio 1 treatment. It’s a simple mission really: we just want everyone who comes along to have the best time.”
Aled Haydn Jones, Head of Radio 1, said: “Radio 1’s Big Weekend always kicks off the UK festival season in style and I’m so excited that this year, it will be a three-day, four-stage, live music spectacular for our listeners to enjoy. We have some incredibly exciting ideas in the pipeline as well as some of the biggest artists to announce in the coming months, I can’t wait to celebrate in Luton.”
Cllr Hazel Simmons MBE, Leader of Luton Council, said: “The fact that BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, one of the UK’s largest and most popular music festivals, has chosen Luton is fantastic news for our town, especially our young people, and will showcase all the wonderful things about Luton.
“Not only will this event give a multi-million pound boost to Luton’s economy and provide a number of opportunities for local young people and businesses, with tens of thousands in attendance and millions tuning in across the BBC, it gives us an opportunity to step forward and showcase the very best of our ambitious, brilliantly vibrant, wonderfully diverse and transforming town.”
The full line-up and ticketing details to be announced on Radio 1 in the coming months. BBC Radio 1 will broadcast live from the festival site across the weekend, with performances and tracks available live and on demand across Radio 1’s iPlayer channel and BBC Sounds.
