The station’s annual flagship live music event will take place from 27 – 29 May 2022, with over 70,000 Radio 1 fans expected to attend across the weekend.

Radio 1’s Big Weekend kicks off the UK’s festival season each year, bringing some of the biggest artists on the planet to towns and cities around the UK. From Miley Cyrus in Middlesbrough to Stormzy in Hull, Ed Sheeran in Glasgow, Camila Cabello in Swansea and Biffy Clyro in Derry~Londonderry, music fans around the UK have seen superstar acts perform on their doorsteps. The festival shines a light on the surrounding area and provides a major boost to the local economy, with huge demand for tickets ensuring the event sells out almost immediately every year.

In 2020, the then-newly emerging pandemic meant Radio 1 were the first to bring the idea of a virtual festival to life, with brand new live sets recorded by artists from their own homes. The 2021 event took the form of a four-day live music spectacular, with over 100 live performances for fans to enjoy with friends and family in parks, on beaches, in pub gardens or from the comfort of their own homes across the weekend.

In 2022 the festival will return to the field, with performances to air across Radio 1, BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer. Full broadcast information, along with line-up and ticketing details, will be announced soon.

Aled Haydn Jones, Head of Radio 1, says: “Radio 1’s Big Weekend always kicks off the UK’s festival season in style, so we’re delighted to be bringing it back to the field again for 2022. We’ve got some incredibly exciting ideas in the pipeline for the event this time around, and we can’t wait to bring some of the biggest artists on the planet along with us when we head to Coventry in May.”

Cllr George Duggins, Leader of Coventry City Council, says: “We’re incredibly pleased that next year’s Radio 1’s Big Weekend will be held in the city’s War Memorial Park. Hosting a major international event like this, which features some of the biggest names in the music industry, provides another fantastic opportunity to showcase Coventry and is the perfect way for our city to finish its year as UK City of Culture.”

For more information about Coventry please visit the council website.