Radio 2 is bringing its flagship Radio 2 in the Park live music extravaganza to City Park in Stirling this weekend, with highlights and headliners coverage on BBC 2 from 9pm on Saturday and Sunday nights as well as more extensive weekend-long coverage on iPlayer, BBC Sounds and, of course, Radio 2.
The festival has previously been held in Chelmsford, Preston and Leicester, with tens of thousands of people attending.
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The weekend live performances from some of the world’s most popular pop stars, all introduced by your favourite Radio 2 presenters, and joining the aformentioned local favourites Deacon Blue, Texas, Lulu and Simple Minds will be the likes of Appleton, Blue, Cast, James Blunt, Level 42, Jack Savoretti, ABC, The Script, Emeli Sandé and this year’s Saturday headliner, the ‘queen of funk’ Chaka Khan – local legends Simple Minds take the Sunday headline slot.
Saturday’s BBC 2 coverage kicks off with a highlights package at 9pm, promising a packed first day of incredible music from Texas, Lulu, Jack Savoretti, ABC, The Script and Emeli Sandé, before handing over to Chaka Khan’s headline set at 10pm, where we can expect the usual powerhouse vocals and five decades worth of soul and funk hits on the stage. Sadly, at the time of writing there was no indication that Khan will be revisiting her finest BBC moment, the surreal Wild West shoot out scenes from underrated 90s BBC 2 cult sketch show Big Train.
Sunday’s TV coverage takes on a slightly different format, with Simple Minds’ headline set opening proceedings at 10pm, so don’t you forget about that, before handing over to the highlights at 11.15pm, featuring performances from Deacon Blue, Appleton, Blue, Cast, James Blunt and Level 42.
Stirling Council Leader, Cllr Susan McGill said: “We can’t wait to welcome fans and artists to our amazing city for an unforgettable celebration of world-class live music set to the stunning backdrop of Stirling Castle. While Stirling has a proud track record of successfully staging major music events, Radio 2 in the Park will be our biggest one yet – so this is incredibly exciting news and a huge boost for the city and the wider region. We will see you there!”
This marks the biggest Radio 2 live music event in Scotland since BBC Music’s Biggest Weekend in May 2018 at Scone Castle, Perth.
