Following the announcement that BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend is heading to Liverpool for its flagship festival in May, Liverpool’s Director of Culture, Claire McColgan CBE, looks at the importance of staging these major events and what it means for the local music scene.
Over the last few years Liverpool has cemented its reputation as the city for major music events.
In 2023 we hosted the biggest and best ever Eurovision. Last year we captured the attention of the world with our Taylor Town extravaganza on the back of Taylor Swift choosing Liverpool for her only English dates outside of London. In the summer we have Bruce Springsteen and Dua Lipa bringing their musical magic to the city, and let’s not forget we are lucky enough to have an incredible existing programme of annual music events which we love in the city such as On The waterfront and Sound City.
So, it’s safe to say we are delighted to be adding to that stellar line-up, and are so excited that the BBC is bringing one of its flagship festivals – Radio 1 Big Weekend – to Liverpool in May.
Taking place in the gorgeous surroundings of Sefton Park between 23 and 25 May the event will bring big names, musical stardust and glamour to the city for one glorious weekend.
It will also play an important part in Liverpool’s UN Accelerator City programme – a pioneering initiative that sees the city trial innovative ways to rapidly decarbonise the live music and TV/film industry. When it comes to Big Weekend, the City Council will work closely with the BBC to see where changes and improvements can be made to make the whole production as environmentally friendly as possible.
The benefit of hosting these huge events is multi-layered. It confirms Liverpool’s status as a music and also showcases the incredible talent that is consistently emerging from the City.
We have recently had the announcement of a successful MusicFutures bid, but what does that mean? In a nutshell this puts us in the driving seat to boost the music industry, create jobs, and position the Liverpool City Region as the UK’s leading centre for music innovation.
There can be a tendency to focus on Liverpool’s rich musical heritage, but it’s rich musical present and future is far too exciting to ignore. Events like Radio 1 will help us give equal exposure to the diverse music offer that is here now. After all, artists that have been on our own LIMF Academy programme, such as Michael Aldag, Jalen NGonda, Tonia, and Koj – have already featured on Radio 1 or 1Xtra. Other artists such as Red Rum Club, Keyside, and Jamie Webster have similarly made a big splash on BBC Radio 1, 2 and BBC 6Music.
Having worked closely with the BBC in recent years on the Eurovision and the BBC 6 Music Festival, they know they are in safe hands with Liverpool.
We are a city that knows how to run major events ensuring that everyone has the most fun possible while remaining safe. And the BBC know that Liverpool, more than any other city in the UK, is a Music City. We are England’s only UNESCO City of Music and we really value and celebrate music more than anywhere else.
And of course, Liverpool is a city that loves to party so what better place to host the Big Weekend?
In recent years the city has seen the world’s biggest promoters choose the city for key events and with events like Eurovision, UN Accelerator City and Big Weekend the media coverage allows us to sell the city to the world.
This positive coverage of the city helps attracts visitors and boosts our visitor economy and can influence students and businesses in their decision on where to locate.
The economic benefits of an event like the Big Weekend are clear, particularly around hotel and hospitality spend but for an event like this we would expect significant increase in spend around the Sefton Park area as well as in the city centre.
Quite simply, It’s soft power in action.
For me, I would love to see more of our young people inspired by the brilliant talent on stage on Sefton Park and want to get into music.
But just as importantly it would be great if they could see the amount of people working behind the scenes on an event like this, and realise that you can develop an exciting career as an event manager, or a sound or lighting technician, or a rigger.
A key mission for us as an inclusive City Council over the next few years is to ensure that our young people have the opportunity to develop the skills they need to start on such a rewarding career path.
We’re at an exciting point in our continuing evolution as one of the most lauded music cities in the world, and it’s going to be a year where Liverpool takes centre stage and proves once again why it shines as a global hub for music and creativity.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.cultureliverpool.co.uk ’
