Radio 1's Big Weekend

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Radio 1's Big Weekend
Location(s) United Kingdom (touring)
Years active 2003 - present
Founded by
Date(s) varies
Genre(s) Popular Music
Website http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend

Radio 1's Big Weekend (previously known as One 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 is the biggest free ticketed music event in Europe and always includes a host of new artists.

The festival was a spin-off of Radio 1's touring summer roadshow, "One Big Sunday", where every 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. A show in Falkirk in 1999 attracted in excess of 500,000 people, 450,000 above the expected amount. People eventually had to be turned away.

Originally a 'One Big Weekend' would run twice a year. The Saturday was dedicated to dance music and the Sunday to bands. But since 2005 the dance day has been replaced by a second day of bands. In 2005 the dance music took place on a second stage on the Saturday only[1] and in 2006 it took place off site at a club on the Saturday night[2].

Contents

[edit] Events

Venue Date Website
Manchester, England 3 - 4 May 2003[3]
(3rd May cancelled due to waterlogged venue)		 link
Cardiff, Wales 13 - 14 September 2003 link
Derry, Northern Ireland 24 - 25 April 2004 link
Perry Park, Birmingham, England 18 - 19 September 2004 link
Penshaw Monument, Herrington Park, Sunderland, England 7 - 8 May 2005 link
Camperdown Park, Dundee, Scotland 13 - 14 May 2006 link
Moor Park, Preston, Lancashire, England 19 - 20 May 2007 link
Mote Park, Maidstone, Kent, England 10 - 11 May 2008

link

[edit] Tickets

Tickets are free and are obtained through a lottery. People wishing to go, register on the BBC website and pairs of tickets are then randomly allocated and given out. However, in order to make the event more accessible to those who live locally, the majority of the tickets are given to people who live near the location. Despite the tickets being free, some are sold on eBay and fetch prices of around £50-£400. Some tickets are also given away as prizes via various competitions held on Radio 1 in the weeks running up to the event.

[edit] 2008

In 2008, the festival was held over the weekend of Saturday 10th May and Sunday 11th May, at Mote Park in Maidstone, which can hold up to 20,000 people[4]. 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[5]. 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.[6]

[edit] Line-Up

The full line-up (except for Paramore) was announced on BBC Radio 1 on Monday 21st April 2008[7].

The national newspapers have also reported that Justin Timberlake could be a special guest - performing with Madonna. [8] Although this later turnt out to be untrue. Rather surprisingly, Pendulum were hailed as one of the festivals' best acts, outshining even Madonna and packing the INMWT stage.[9]

[edit] 2007

On Saturday 19th May and Sunday 20th 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[10]. 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 (May 8) 2007, over 450,000 people registered for a chance to get tickets for the 2007 festival. On Tuesday May 8th 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 a 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[11].

The line up was as follows:

[edit] Line-Up

[edit] 2006

In 2006, the Big Weekend was held in Camperdown Park, Dundee on the 13th and 14th May 2006 and featured artists which included:

[edit] Line-Up

Many of the BBC Radio 1 DJ's 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[14]. 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. [14].

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ BBC - Radio 1 - Radio 1's Big Weekend
  2. ^ BBC - Radio 1's Big Weekend 2006 - Dance Party
  3. ^ BBC - Radio 1 - One Big Weekend
  4. ^ Big Weekend venue announced
  5. ^ BBC - Radio 1's Big Weekend - Tickets - FAQs
  6. ^ Kent Online
  7. ^ Unofficial Mills | Radio 1's Big Weekend 2008 Line-Up
  8. ^ Unofficial Mills | Justin to join Madonna at the Big Weekend?
  9. ^ Skiddle|Pendulum outshine Madonna
  10. ^ BBC - Radio 1's Big Weekend - Tickets FAQs
  11. ^ Unofficial Mills | Frozen Indigo Angel?
  12. ^ BBC - Radio 1's Big Weekend - Artists
  13. ^ BBC - Radio 1's Big Weekend - Artists
  14. ^ a b BBC NEWS | Technology | BBC starts to rock online world

[edit] External links


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