Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
Huge names for city gig
A HOST of stars will perform when BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend comes back to Dundee after a 14-year absence.
Artists such as Biffy Clyro, Calvin Harris and Harry Styles are among the first wave of acts announced for Camperdown Park on May 22, 23 and 24.
Also performing are rapper AJ Tracey, former Fifth Harmony member Camila Cabello and singer Dua Lipa.
Local listener Carys Boyle announced the first six artists live on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show this morning – and confirmed the location as the City of Discovery.
It’s the first time the Big Weekend has ever returned to the same city more than once.
The Tele understands BBC bosses have been impressed by how the city has changed in recent years.
Council leader John Alexander has hailed the “incredible opportunity” to host the festival again. It’s expected to provide an enormous boost for the local economy.
He said: “Radio 1’s Big Weekend will showcase Dundee not only to the tens of thousands of people who attend, but also the millions who will watch and listen through the BBC.
“We expect a huge economic boost for the area as the event has been worth millions of pounds to previous host locations.”
Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Greg James said the Camperdown gig was “a brilliant opportunity to shout about our Scottish listeners and demonstrate how much we love them”.
Referring to the chant favoured by hyped-up Scots at gigs, he added: “I can’t wait to be made to apologise for the first ‘here we, here we…etc.’ that we hear on air.”
Former One Direction star Styles said: “Yes Radio 1! Absolutely thrilled to be back at Radio 1’s Big Weekend, it’s the start of the summer and the crowds in Scotland are always insane. See you soon, Dundee!”
Meanwhile, Dundee bakers Clarks has also been called in to help announce the show with their biggest ever Dundee cake, weighing 32kg (70lbs) – beating their own record set in 2017.
The gargantuan cake – measuring 20 inches across – took seven hours to bake yesterday afternoon.
The cake was placed in the window of their Crichton Street store this morning. The shop is offering free Dundee cake to passing punters for the whole of today.
Bakery boss Jonathon Clark was flabbergasted by the approach from the broadcaster – and initially thought he was being tricked.
He said: “I thought it was a joke – I got this call from the BBC saying they wanted to make the biggest Dundee cake for the biggest event in Dundee this year.
“I just said yes right away. We were so honoured to have been chosen by BBC Radio 1 to do this.”
Dan Bunce, operations manager at Clark’s, added: “There’s a lot of hype around Dundee at the moment and we reckon they had such a good time here in 2006, they had to come back.”
Hints that something big was planned emerged i n early December when Festival Republic – who partner with the BBC to deliver the practical side of the festival – applied for permission to hold an event in Camperdown Park.
Full ticketing details will be announced in the coming weeks, along with announcements of other acts set to appear at the festival, which will be streamed live on BBC Radio 1’s iPlayer channel and the audio app BBC