BBC Radio 1‘s Big Weekend will be held in Luton this year, it has been announced.
Stockwood Park will host the annual festival from May 24-26 2024, where over 100,000 music fans are expected to attend.
For the first time, this year will see all four stages – Radio 1 Main Stage, Radio 1’s Future Sounds, Radio 1 Dance and BBC Introducing – running across all three days.
The festival will showcase around 100 acts, with the full line-up and ticket details set to be announced in the coming months.
#BIGWEEKEND NEWS‼️
We’ll be heading to Luton and taking over Stockwood Park for THREE DAYS on Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May.
Full lineup and ticket info coming soon. pic.twitter.com/iW2juixeF2
— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) January 29, 2024
In a statement, Breakfast Show host 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, added: “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.”
Last year’s Big Weekend was hosted in Dundee, where the likes of The 1975, Jonas Brothers, ArrDee, Mimi Webb, FLO, Romy and more performed.
The announcement comes after it was revealed that the organiser behind Reading & Leeds, Radio 1’s Big Weekend and other events submitted plans for a three-day festival in Luton.
Festival Republic manager director Melvin Benn applied to stage the event in Stockwood Park, which was later approved.
In a statement, the council said: “The application was agreed with minor amendments.”
BBC Radio 1 said in their announcement that they’re “working closely with Luton Council to ensure that Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2024 is a safe and secure environment for all those attending the festival”.
Cllr Hazel Simmons MBE, Leader of Luton Council, said in a press statement (via Radio 1): “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.”
BBC Radio 1 will broadcast live from the festival site across the weekend, and performances will be available to listen to live and on demand on Radio 1’s iPlayer channel and BBC Sounds.
