Earlier this year, BBC Radio 1‘s seminal festival, Big Weekend UK, bit the dust just like most other 2020 festivals due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. While many prospective patrons were devastated about the cancellation, the radio giant and event organizer is stepping up to give fans the next best thing as BBC Radio 1 will be hosting the festival virtually from May 22 – 24 with an A-list assortment of live sets from home as well as archived sets.
Virtual Big Weekend will host a variety of stages with the Radio 1 Dance Stage starting the festivities on Friday, May 22, with a heavy-hitting lineup of sets from Disclosure, Camelphat, The Black Madonna, Jamie Jones, and a Fatboy Slim b2b Eats Everything. On Saturday and Sunday, the Radio 1 Stage will feature at-home sets from headliners Sam Smith and Jonas Brothers as well as Anne-Marie, Lauv, Rita Ora, Niall Horan, and Rex Orange County.
The headliner stage is where BBC Radio 1 is pulling out all of the stops and digging into the archives to provide arguably one of the biggest lineups for a virtual festival in quarantine. Saturday will be led off by Katy Perry‘s 2014 performance before heading into a slate of Coldplay‘s 2016 set, Ed Sheeran in 2018, Billie Eilish in 2019, Calvin Harris from 2014, and more. For Sunday, fans will be able to enjoy Rihanna‘s 2012 performance, Lady Gaga from 2011, Muse and Foo Fighters 2015 sets, and more.
The virtual festival will also be airing archived performances from A$AP Rocky, Snoop Dogg, Dizzee Rascal, Alicia Keys, and more on the 1Xtra Stage as well as home performances from the next generation of artists via the BBC Music Introducing Stage. BBC Radio 1’s Virtual Big Weekend will be airing on BBC Radio 1 airwaves as well as streaming on the BBC iPlayer. Performances kick off on Friday, May 22 with at 7:30 p.m. BST / 2:30 p.m. EST / 11:30 a.m. PST and continues on Saturday, May 23 and Sunday, May 24 starting at 11:30 a.m. BST / 6:30 a.m. EST / 3:30 a.m. PST.
Full lineup and set times can be found here.
