The BBC’s biggest ever free ticketed music festival will be held in east London in the build-up to the 2012 Olympic Games. Taking place on Hackney Marshes, Leona Lewis and Plan B have already been confirmed for the two-day event.Some 100,000 tickets are being made available for the BBC Radio 1 Hackney Weekend 2012, which takes place on June 24th and 25th. The majority of these will be allocated to people living in Hackney and the surrounding boroughs.
News that Glastonbury, which traditionally runs at the same time in June, is taking a break until 2013 should only serve to enhance the weekend’s popularity.
The event, more than double the capacity of previous Big Weekends, will feature six stages of music and forms part of the London 2012 Festival, the UK-wide cultural celebration in the build-up to the Olympic Games.
Over 80 international and UK artists, bands and DJs will take part in the festival, making it the biggest multi-artist line up ever for the station. The six stages will include the Radio 1 Main Stage, the 1Xtra Arena, the In New Music We Trust Stage and the BBC Introducing Stage.
Plan B commented: “It’s great to have a musical celebration in the area where the Olympics are being held and that it’s Radio 1 who are bringing it to east London.”
Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s controller Andy Parfitt added: “This is the most ambitious event in the station’s 44 year history.
“We aim to enhance the overall London 2012 summer with a celebratory event aimed specifically at the thousands of young people who live in the boroughs directly surrounding the Olympic Park.”
The public service broadcaster added that further announcements relating to tickets sales and the line-up will be made over the coming months.