‘GORGEOUS’ SET FROM SUPERSTAR TAYLOR SWIFT
Highlights from the Biggest Weekend festival
IN wellies with faces covered in glitter, they trudged in their thousands through the turnstiles and headed straight for the very front.
There, they saw the biggest musical event ever witnessed in Swansea.
Never has such a stellar lineup of world-class stars gathered in the city to entertain us. And boy, did we have fun!
The excitement began the second Radio 1 announced over the BBC airwaves in January that the location for this year’s Biggest Weekend event was... Swansea! The city was still getting over the disappointment of being beaten to the 2021 City of Culture title by Coventry. So the news that two of the biggest stars on the planet – in the form of Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift – were coming to Swansea was the perfect tonic.
From that point on, the bigname announcements just kept coming. On Saturday, the waiting was over as around 26,000 people streamed into Singleton Park to enjoy the first of two days of sparkling entertainment.
Not normally a concert-opener, Ed Sheeran kicked things off in style, before rushing off to Manchester for the latest leg of his UK tour.
He wasn’t sure anyone would be there, with it being so soon in the day.
“Hello, how’re you feeling? Thank you for turning up so early, part of me thought it might be empty!” he told the crowd, before launching into hits such as A-Team and Shape of You.
Anne Marie and Jess Glynne came next, before Liam Payne got the crowd a little teary with some oldschool One Direction hits to a background of the boys back together again.
George Ezra, Years & Years, Clean Bandit and Craig David followed, before Sam Smith wrapped up the first day.
There were also a multitude of other acts on the Other Stage and the BBC Introducing stage, including Sigrid, Chvrches, Wolf Alice, Bastille, Astroid Boys and Bad Mannequins. On Sunday, on the two smaller stages were acts including Jessie Ware, J Hus, James Bay, Rachel K Collier, Boy Azooga and Swansea’s own Trampolene.
While on the main stage Rita Ora in a slinky black and white outfit kicked things off, followed by Niall Horan, Demi Lovato, Jason Derulo, Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes, Thirty Seconds to Mars, the one and only Taylor Swift and Florence + the Machine.
Thankfully, despite warnings of
heavy rain showers and even thunder and lightning, the sun shone on Swansea for most of the weekend, leaving Big Weekenders needing more sunscreen than sou’westers.
Emily Summers, 21, travelled to Swansea from Gloucester for the Biggest Weekend.
She said: “We were here yesterday as well as today. George Ezra was my favourite yesterday. I’m looking forward to seeing James Bay and Taylor Swift.
“They are both on the same time so we will have to run between each stage.
“I’m glad the rain has held off. It’s been a great weekend so far.”
Mother Sarah Davies and daughters Emily and Esme were in the crowd enjoying themselves and had also been to both days.
They said: “It’s been a really good atmosphere, I can’t think how to put into words. George Ezra has been the highlight for us.
“Something like this will be good to promote Swansea a bit more and bring people to Swansea.”
Ashleigh Parry, 24, from Ammanford, and Liam Butler, 23, from Cardiff, said: “We are here just for today, we have come to see Taylor Swift and Florence + the Machine. We will probably stay by the main stage all day, although Jax Jones was awesome on the other stage earlier.
“We actually don’t care if it rains, as we are having such a great time and we are just going to go with the flow.”
And partners Dafydd Williams, 25, and Dylan Lougher, 26, of the Swansea Valley, said: “It’s a great layout here. It’s actually quite nice the stage is in one place and calmer areas elsewhere where you can come and recharge.
“Everyone says it’s so bizarre people like this coming to Swansea. Living in Swansea, you take it for granted with Mumbles etc, but once they see the setting they may come back.”
Radio 1 DJ Greg James, who has spent much of the past seven days in the city thanks to his involvement in the Radio 1 Academy events last week, said he’d been to Fiction nightclub in Little Wind Street, where Annie Mac held her Rave Lounge, and the Last Resort in High Street.
He said of the experience: “It’s a beautiful day and I feel that it’s been a really successful Big Weekend. We’ve had a really good time.”