IT’S NEVER GRIM UP NORTH: BBC RADIO 1 BIG WEEKEND IN SUNDERLAND

FESTIVAL REVIEW | BBC RADIO 1 BIG WEEKEND | HERRINGTON COUNTRY PARK, SUNDERLAND | 22 – 24 MAY by Isobel O’Mahony & Kayleigh Nickson

There’s nothing like a festival up North, so Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland was always destined to be one for books.

But the range of artists, genres and pure celebration of just great music made it a historical one for both the city and the BBC. From the Introducing Stage, to the New Music tent and finally the insanely packed Main stage, Herrington Country Park put on one hell of a party, and crowds were jumping through the whole weekend, despite glaring sun and record-breaking temperatures.

Now covered in blister plasters and recovered from said jumping, here are Northern Exposure‘s top picks from the weekend that gave us new favourites, music legends and pretty painful sunburns. 

Friday: Radio 1’s Dance party explosion 

It’s impossible to throw a festival celebrating the best of pop without paying your dues to dance music. It’s the backbone of the charts really, always there when it’s needed, and Radio 1’s Dance Party day had some huge names on the bill.

On the Introducing stage Newcastle DJ Ellie Scougall definitely caught our attention, particularly a remix of Disclosure’s ‘Latch’, she definitely brought the party on stage. In the New Music tent, German DJ Marlon Hoffstadt, aka DJ Daddy Trance (incredible name by the way) was super high energy and hits like“It’s That Time” and “Makina Time” were huge with the crowd. Later on, past D&B DJ Notion took to smash the stage, after having a huge year with chart topper “The Days” with singer Chrystal, and did not disappoint.

As for the main stage Radio 1 DJ Charlie Hedges was a great addition to every day’ line up, bringing classic dance tracks to life. Australian producer Sonny Fodera’s set started off the live broadcast of the weekend and his big tracks and sampled snippets really rallied the field.

Fodera brought out Poppy Baskcomb for “Think About Us” (what a tune) and fellow main stage act Clementine Douglas for “Tell Me” and“Asking”. Later, Poppy Bascomb was brought out again by MK for his new song “Zone”, the “17” DJ also bringing throwback dance classics. “Losing It” creator FISHER warmed up the crowd before the headline slot, tune“Spotlight”, that samples Goyte’s hit“Somebody that I Used to Know”, being a big highlight of the day.

When it was his time, Fatboy Slim showed Sunderland why he’s still the master. Coming out to an acapella Bohemian Rhapsody snippet, he had our attention and walked us through the biggest tracks of his career.

Top moments were “Role Model”,“Star 69” and an incredible rendition of Underworld’s “Born Slippy.NUXX” with the vocals replaced by “Mr Brightside”. There has to be a note for the man’s performance too, it wasn’t just a man in front of the decks, he knows his et list and gives it as much power as he can. 

Friday had the park constantly jumping and the music was non-stop. It’s hard to put so much dance music into a few words, cause it’s all about feeling. Standing under burning sun, against thousands of others equally as happy people and dancing your heart out as the festival gods intended. 

Saturday: A pop girlies dream day

Saturday is where the pop girls really won. Radio 1 presenter, and North East local, Mia Beth opened the main stage with a stunning mix of old and new pop (although the young girls in the crowd not knowing The Vaccines or The Courteeners did make me feel unbelievably old).

Ellie Goulding officially kicked off the day with her classics like  “Lights”, “Burn”, which of course had the stage go up in pyro flames, and dance tune “Miracle”, dedicated to her son who was watching her for the first time. Goulding treated the crowd to some new stuff too which seemed already a hit with the crowd.

Later on the main stage,Louis Tomlinson came out for a solo set, alongside a great band (big shout out to his ace drummer) and brought tunes from his new record How Did I Get Here? To Sunderland. New songs like“Lemonade”, “Jump The Gun” and“Palaces” were for-sure crowd pleasers, but his One Direction nod with“Night Changes” hit everyone (even the boyfriends and dads) straight in the heart. Kayleigh seemed to be the only one unphased in the entire park.

With mesmersing harmonies and dapper suits, Swindled are definitely the best dressed band of the BBC Introducing Stage if not all of Sunderland. It was very clear that they were estatic to be there and for the festival to be in their hometown.

One of the biggest stand out’s from the weekend, on the Introducing Stage, was another Sunderland native Tom A Smith. He is an absolute powerhouse of a performer , with an equally energised band, and is in dire need of a big stage slot to show people exactly what he can do. He even brought out the legendary Rowetta (Peter Hook and The Light, Shed Seven, Happy Mondays) for the tune“Put On A Record Tommy” which was a really fun moment. We danced our absolute socks off and will 100% be seeing him again. The crowd at the smallest stage in the field was overflowing and we believe that he could’ve filled up the bigger New Music Stage. Who knows, maybe in the near future he will be headlining the main stage.

“It’s so important to have things like this in Sunderland cause everyone needs to know that we’re the best. There’s nowhere like Sunderland.” 

Tom A Smith

Nothing but Thieves has had a chokehold on me for years and I almost missed my all time favourite song “Amsterdam” because they opened their set with it which was a strange way to start, nevertheless, I had never ran so quickly to catch the set and dance along with the crowd. They also performed some of their most popular hits including “Sorry” and “Particles”, every note of his voice giving me chills.

On the New Music stage, Mitski and Rachel Chinouriri were the biggest highlights of the day for me. Mitski’s international acclaim was not lost on the festival, capturing people with her intriguing, transcendent sounds. It was Chinouriri’s first time performing in England in a while after supporting Florence and the Machine in the US. The singer’s angelic vocals and powerful stage presence brought in a huge crowd, and the artist herself was overwhelmed by the love and support in the audience, getting teary on stage at the homecoming.

“Love is the currency, you can underspend it but you can’t overspend it.”

Rachel Chinouriri

Lola Young was catapulted into stardom with hit “Messy” but her main stage set showed she is way more than the one track. Tunes “Conceited”, “One Thing” and “d£aler” were personal favourites, but her new song “From Down Here” was incredibly vulnerable and beautiful. It’s sad when you know a crowd is there for one specific song despite the artist having so much to give. “Messy” was of course a brilliant time live, but Young deserves her flowers for everything she does (her vocals are seriously unbelievable). 

Big props to the Radio 1 presenters and DJ’s who held many of the stages down in between big sets. Jeremiah Asiamah was an absolute ray of light and was spinning the crowd crazy with random chart pulls and unexpected transitions. If you’ve seen any videos of a huge crowd singing Miley Cryus’ “The Climb” on Sunday, that was his genius.

This was all before the current pop princess herself, Zara Larsson, made her entrance. She practically owned the charts in the 2010s, and it was great to see both new and old fans showing up for her set. Larsson put on a SHOW and this new album, with tracks like “Pretty Ugly” and “Midnight Sun”, has propelled her full steam ahead towards a legacy in the pop world. The visuals, the choreography and the ten out of ten vocals really instilled her place as a headliner. 

Sunday: Best day yet?

Sunday felt like a day for everyone. There was top tier lyricism, vocals, performance – and was probably the stand out day to me. Niall Horan opened the main stage, to an insane crowd, and 

It was great to see so many incredible women on the line up this year, I don’t have to tell you how rare female acts are in festival season, and pop trio Flo were one of the acts that fully encapsulated femininity. They were strong, talented, beautiful and owned the new music tent. Seeing both young girls and young women fully losing themselves to the music was really something, and props to them for doing it in what was genuinely melting heat. 

Jorja Smith’s Lost & Found is one of the biggest records of the 2010s for me, its social commentary and musicality was vision-changing at the time. Her “party set” on the New Music stage merged her intelligence for master songwriting with songs like “Teenage Fantasy”, her talent for a catchy track like “Be Honest” and her ability to carry a tune and rally a crowd. She’s a generational musician and she proved it on Sunday.

CMAT is forever changing the game, and is one of the truly best artists of the past few years. Her, and the very sexy CMAT band, always put on an incredible show and get the whole crowd going no matter what. She has a voice like no other on the bill, and the nature of her music is one you can;t ignore. Tracks like “EUROCOUNTRY”, “Stay For Something” and “The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station” were big with the audience and no matter what any sad little life online says, she was incredible and looked bloody gorgeous doing it. 

I basically lived in the New Music tent on Sunday, with names like Holly Humberstone taking to the stage. Who could blame me? Her new record , Cruel World, was like she took her sound and turned up the vulnerability and power to eleven. “To Love Somebody”, “Beauty Pageant” and older favourite “The Walls are Way Too Thin” were highlights for sure, and gold stars for set design too.

Despite my love for the pop and rock girls, jazz quintet Ezra Collective were probably my top set of the weekend. I can’t tell you the specific set list, because I was dancing so hard I think my circulation was cut off. They are indescribable, which is what you want from a gig really. 

“We need to remember how precious things like this are.”

Ezra Collective

Olivia Dean first played BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in 2023 on the Introducing stage. On Sunday, her full 180 shoot to headlining the final main stage act was nothing short of brilliant and absolutely deserved. Her presence, her commentary and of course the music showed Sunderland why she has had the appraisal she has, and her modern rawness and romanticness is the wholesome joy perfect for the end of such a magical weekend.

You can catch all the action from Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland across BBC TV, radio and online.