The Biggest Weekend consisted of festivals hosted by the big BBC radio stations, Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 6. Radio 3 also hosted a few acts at some of the festivals, which I will get to in a minute.The festivals were held in 4 different cities; one for each country of the United Kingdom: Coventry and Perth, hosted by Radio 2, Swansea, hosted by Radio 1, and Belfast, hosted by Radio 6.
Belfast
Belfast was among one of the first sites to welcome musicians to their Biggest Festival, hosted by Radio 6. On the Friday, Belfast was host to big acts including Manic Street Preachers, who sang their biggest hits, such as Motorcycle Emptiness, You Stole The Sun From My Heart and A Design For Life, as well as the title track from their latest album, International Blue. Also playing on the Friday were acts including Beck, Courtney Barnett, Orbital and Public Service Broadcasting.
On the Saturday, it was mainly about the rock acts, in the form of Franz Ferdinand, Underworld and Ash (what a throwback!). However, there was also a selection of non-rock acts, including First Aid Kit, Nenah Cherry and Goldie.
Perth
Perth also started on Friday and, compared to Belfast, Friday's acts were more classical based and these acts were hosted by Radio 3. Violinist Nigel Kennedy, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. However, we also had singers, in the form of jazz musician Jamie Cullum, Evelyn Glenn and Danielle De Niesse.
Saturday was in the same league as the Saturday at Belfast, as in it was mainly pop and rock acts, and this was hosted by Radio 2. We had the likes of modern acts, in the form of Emeli Sande, Amy Macdonald, The Shires and Julie Fowlis, and retro acts, in the form of Squeeze and Simple Minds. In terms of the headliner, it was Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds who had the coveted slot, performing songs from the new album, Who Built the Moon? as well as classic Flying Birds hits (I couldn't be bothered to right the whole band name again), such as AKA...What a Life. Of course, it wouldn't be a Noel Gallagher show without Oasis songs, so he performed Little By Little, The Importance of Being Idle, Half the World Away, Wonderwall, Go Let It Out and Don't Look Back In Anger. Also, funny that Noel headlined this considering who was headlining at Coventry....
Speaking of which...
Coventry
Some of Coventry's acts were the same as Perth's. However, unlike Perth, the music started on the Saturday, featuring the likes of Snow Patrol, who have just released their new album, into the Wilderness, Paloma Faith, Stereophonics, Billy Idol, UB40 and Tears For Fears. Also, like Perth, Coventry had Jamie Cullum and a Gallagher brother...in the form of Liam Gallagher (hence why I said it was funny that Noel was headlining Perth considering who was the headliner in Coventry). During his set, he performed songs from his latest solo album, As You Were, and, of course, some Oasis songs. He had a different selection to Noel, choosing to sing the more rockier songs, such as Some Might Say, Supersonic and Live Forever, which had some sort of poignancy, considering it was 1 year after the Manchester attack earlier that week.
On Monday, the Biggest Weekend closed with some more classical acts, with the host radio station being Radio 3. Performers included Strictly Come Dancing with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Milos, who performed a beautiful version of The Beatles' Here Comes the Sun, Eliza Carthy and the Hayward Band, Angelique Kiojo and Good Penguin. Like Perth, the headliner was Nigel Kennedy.
Swansea
I saved the best until last, in my opinion, purely because the acts are those that I would choose to listen to. Okay, to be honest, I like any kind of music (except classical...I have been to listen to some pieces of music but I wouldn't think "hey I fancy putting on some classical music on") but the Swansea festival had so much variety and the acts were more my era!
Swansea had THE biggest artists ever across the weekend...Sam Smith anyone? What about Ed Sheeran? Oh...and the princess of pop at the moment...Taylor Swift. In addition, we also had the likes of *takes deep breath* Camilla Cabello, Craig David, Shawn Mendes, George Ezra, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, and the headliners in the form of Sam Smith and Florence and the Machine...and this was just the main stage! On the Other Stage (yes, that really is its name) there was Bastille, James Bay, Christine and the Queens, Wolf Alice, Churches, Sigrid, Stefflon Don and Panic at the Disco.
There were notable highlights in Swansea. One particular highlight was the fact that Ed Sheeran and Anne Marie had both travelled from Manchester to perform and then had to travel back to Manchester, due to Ed Sheeran's World Tour ( Anne Marie is the support act). However, it was totally worth it for them to come over and perform because they were amazing (slightly biased as I'm going to see them in June!)
Another highlight, filled with poignancy was Rita Ora's tribute to Avicii, who sadly died recently. His last single, Lonely Together, just happened to include vocals from Rita. Yep, she did stumble on her words but it shouldn't matter because it was a perfect tribute to the late DJ.
Two highlights for the price of one come in the form of Bastille. Firstly, Dan Smith, the frontman, joined Craig David to perform I Know You. Secondly, Bastille did their first live performance of their new single, Quarter Past Midnight.
Finally, we had the live returns, in the UK of Florence and the Machine, who are due to release their new album, High as Hope, and have just announced and released tickets for an arena tour to support the album, and Taylor Swift, who had a massive comeback in the form of her album Reputation.
All in all, whilst I think everyone is going to miss Glastonbury this year, the Biggest Weekend was a perfect substitute. However, considering it was a substitute for Glastonbury, the only thing that I didn't like was the fact that it wasn't on the last weekend of June a.k.a Glastonbury weekend. Maybe I'm just being picky? Yep...I am.
Anyway, bring on next year's Radio 1's Big Weekend and, most importantly, Glastonbury 2019!
Em x
