We’ve always wanted to go to Radio 1 Big Weekend, but it hasn’t been local enough over the years, so when they announced Liverpool we were determined to go. Even though we weren’t part of the postcodes that got 90% of the tickets, we somehow managed to get through for the general admission for the Saturday.
The value for money is incredible, when we first got tickets it was based on Sam Fender, Wolf Alice and Blossoms, which for £37.50 was incredible on its own. But when you add the Ed Sheeran secret set and Sugababes it takes it to a new level. It was honestly one of the best festival days I’ve ever experienced!
The setup was really impressive, with a well spread out site and plenty of room around the main stage, though the second stage and dance stage were in a separate part of the park, which made them quite compact if busy. There were a decent number of bars and food stalls, though the food wasn’t as good as other festivals, and the bar queues were minimal most of the time.
Sefton Park benefits from having Lark Lane next to it. We’d never been there before despite being relatively local, and it seems to be a great place to go out. It was buzzing before the festival.
The transport also worked really well for us, with St Michael’s station being only a short walk to the festival.
The DJ’s playing sets of classics between the live acts was a nice touch, we really enjoyed that and it passed the time nicely.
Ed Sheeran
We knew there was a “Special Guest” at 1.15, so we made sure we were in the area early in case it was someone big, but we had no idea how big it’d be! There were a couple of rumours on the Facebook group so we made our way in after a couple of drinks on Lark Lane, and the official app notification came through confirming Ed Sheeran as we got through the gates!
As Greg James put it when introducing him, “one of the biggest artists in the world”! You don’t usually expect the secret guest to be THAT big, especially in tent venue.
We got in about half an hour before he started and got an incredible spot about 5 rows from the front to the left of the stage. The organisation was really good, you could see how many security staff were there, waiting to shut off the field when the tent got too full. We expected it to get uncomfortable but we had loads of space around us the whole time, which made it all even better.
We’d never seen Ed Sheeran before, so his set was everything we could’ve wanted. Hit packed and with a crowd in full voice. I was really impressed with how he uses his loop pedals to make it sound like a full band, and how intimate he makes the gig feel with the way he talks to the crowd.
‘Castle on the Hill’ was a great opener and “The A Team” sounded amazing so many years after we first heard it. For me, ‘Photograph’ and my favourite ‘Perfect’ back to back were the highlights as its just Ed and a guitar, with the crowd as very loud backing singers.
He’d used his entire 45 minutes and still hadn’t played two of his biggest songs, and they let him stay on to do ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Bad Habits’, which the whole set had been building up to. In the end we got nearly an hour for a surprise set by the biggest artist playing all weekend. What a start to the day!
Sugababes
It was onto Sugababes after this for our first announced set of the day. We’d seen them at Neighbourhood Weekender a couple of years ago and were quite disappointed, but that was down to the crowd there just not being interested.
It was a completely different story here. The sun was shining and the crowd were really up for it, loudly singing to every song but especially ‘Push the Button’ and ‘About You Now’ at the end. It was the perfect festival set, everyone knew every song. Also a shout out to their cover of Lorde’s ‘What Was That’, which sounded great.
Blossoms
I’ve seen Blossoms so many times now, and they’re one of my favourite bands, but I really struggled with this one, mainly because of the crowd. For some reason, it seemed like everyone was there and nobody was interested where we were stood. Luckily we realised that standing in the middle isn’t a great idea for the later acts, but it kind of ruined the atmosphere a bit for us at Blossoms. It happens sometimes at a festival
It was great to hear ‘The Honeymoon’ for the first time after all its recent radio play though!
Wolf Alice
Luckily the crowd thinned out for the later acts, with many heading to the dance area and second stage. It’s been 3 years since Wolf Alice played any major shows and it’s great to have them back.
They kicked off with the catchy new single ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, then mixed up songs from all three of their albums. ‘Delicious Things’ and ‘How Can I Make It OK?’ from the Blue Weekend album somehow sounded even better than on the album, ‘Bros’ was as anthemic as always and ‘Play the Greatest Hits’ was a surprise addition that added a different element to the slightly mellow set.
Ellie Rowsell’s voice sounded perfect and the band sounded great, and the new song ‘Thorns’ gave us another preview of the forthcoming new album The Clearing. If these first two tracks are anything to go by, we’re in for a treat in August.
My personal favourite ‘The Last Man on Earth’ was played, quite surprisingly for me as its a bit mellower, followed by what is probably their most well known song ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’, which got the crowd really into it.
I’m not sure the Liverpool crowd knew many of the songs, but the sound was brilliant so it was a great way for them to come back into the limelight.
Sam Fender
What a show this was. For some reason, he kept saying how nervous he was but there was definitely no need, the crowd were completely behind him. Weirdly, the last time we saw both him and Wolf Alice was at Glastonbury in 2022 a couple of hours apart, and its clear he has grown as a performer even since that incredible Pyramid Stage set.
Even though he had a new album out, the first three were all classics ‘Getting Started’, ‘The Borders’ and ‘Will We Talk’, with the crowd getting involved from the start.
I’ve always loved how he chats to the crowd like he’s just talking to mates at the pub, and that hasn’t changed despite the number of festivals he’s headlined.
‘People watching’, ‘Arm’s Length’ and ‘Little Bit Closer’ from the new album sounded strong, as did b-side ‘Tyrants’.
But the biggest reactions of course came for ‘Seventeen Going Under’ and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’, his two biggest anthems, which came with flames shooting from the stage and a big firework display at the end. The crowd keep the simple singalong parts going long after he finishes them, and it was just such a feel-good atmosphere. He’s clearly a worthy headliner of any festival.
Overall, Radio 1 Big Weekend is a well organised festival with great sound systems and huge acts for a bargain price. Food was bit basic, but otherwise a perfect festival day!
