Radio 1 reveals free Olympic music festival in Hackney

BBC Radio 1 have announced that Plan B and Leona Lewis will appear at their annual free music festival which will be held in east London in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.

BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend will take place at Hackney Marshes, East London. The two day free festival for 100,000 will take place on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2011.

The event will have more than double the capacity of previous Big Weekends, and will feature six stages of music. Artists already confirmed are Leona Lewis, and Plan B, with the aim that they'll be joined by over 80 international and UK artists, bands and DJs. For the line-up details, as available please click here

The Big Weekend is run in a different location within the United Kingdom each time. It is the biggest free live music event in the UK and always includes a host of new artists. This year's Radio 1 Big Weekend was held in Carlisle and featured performances from Lady Gaga and Foo Fighters.

The announcement was made during a special simulcast broadcast by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra from the Olympic Park. BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend 2012 will be part of the London 2012 Festival, the UK-wide cultural celebration in the build-up to the Olympic Games. Plan B who will return to BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend after playing it this year in Carlisle said, "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."

Tickets will be free and are obtained through a lottery. Further announcements about tickets will be made over the coming months. The majority of the tickets for BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend 2012 are being allocated to people living in Hackney and the surrounding boroughs.

Roger Mosey, the BBC's director of London 2012, said, "This is the most ambitious event in the station's 44-year history. But it's not just about music. This morning at the launch event, Leona was accompanied by her fellow Hackney star Phillips Idowu to make sure sport is high on the agenda, and our hope is that young people in the Olympic boroughs who may not have been able to afford or obtain tickets for the Games will be able to get to the concerts instead.

"There'll be a programme of local engagement too - with Radio 1 and 1Xtra linking to schools, colleges and community organisations in Hackney and the surrounding boroughs.

"This supplements what we're doing in the BBC London 2012 project with our apprenticeship schemes, work experience and youth reporting. Some of these are spreading across the country - and Radio 1 does, of course, have a strong record of taking the Big Weekend all over the UK including Dundee, Derry, Bangor and Sunderland.

"I first wrote about the Cultural Olympiad and music almost 2 years ago, and it's cheering to see that ideas are now becoming reality, especially on such a grand scale.

"Next from us you can expect to hear about some classical music events UK-wide, and then a range of TV and radio programmes that will complement the main Festival. The message should be getting clearer that the Olympic year will offer something for everyone."

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