Radio 1’s Big Weekend UK 2020 to go ahead remotely

Sam Smith, Biffy Clyro, Anne-Marie, Young T & Bugsey and Rita Ora are the first artists to join the bill for BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend UK 2020 which is now taking place remotely over the Bank Holiday weekend (Friday 22 – Sunday 24 May).

It was originally planned to take place in Dundee’s Camperdown Park, but was cancelled in March after restrictions were put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Each of the five artists announced today will be performing new live sets and there are expected to be over 100 artists taking part, with more being announced in the coming weeks.

The weekend will include 50 new live sets recorded by artists from their own homes and around 50 from previous Big Weekends. The performances will be from five virtual stages: the Radio 1 Stage, the Radio 1 Dance Stage, the Headliner Stage, the 1Xtra Stage and the BBC Music Introducing Stage.

You’ll be able to be at the festival from the comfort of your own home by tuning in to Radio 1 across the weekend, with full sets available on BBC Sounds.

Biffy Clyro say: “We are delighted to be performing at Radio 1’s Big Weekend UK 2020. As much as we’d love to be performing live on stage, this will be a whole new experience for us and we cannot wait!”

Anne-Marie says: “I’m so excited that Radio 1’s Big Weekend is happening this year, even though it’ll be from my living room I still can’t wait!”

Rita Ora says: “I’m so excited to take part in Radio 1’s new Big Weekend 2020 with all of you!!”

Greg James says: “I’m so pleased we can bring the listeners a brand new version of our Big Weekend this year. It’s our absolute favourite event of the year and we love saying thanks to our listeners for being such a big part of the radio station.

“It’ll be a great opportunity to re-live some of our favourite performances from over the years and although it’ll be a technical nightmare, having some new performances from artists’ houses will be great for everyone to have something fun to watch and listen to over the Bank Holiday Weekend. And if it all goes wrong, we can just blame the pandemic and say that at least we tried.”

? #BigWeekend UK 2020 is GO! ?

Surprise! We’re bringing Big Weekend to wherever you are, with our first remote festival on the 22nd, 23rd & 24th May.@AnneMarie@BiffyClyro@RitaOra@SamSmith@YoungTandBugsey

will all be playing brand new sets, plus more to be announced! ? pic.twitter.com/r0bLJ8bPZ4

— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) May 5, 2020