The BBC at Festivals

With a breadth of media outlets attending the UK’s festivals each year, there is one broadcaster who stands in the forefront with the greatest presence at the country’s summer events. As one of the largest broadcasters in the world, the BBC is representing the British media worldwide, with their coverage of such events providing overseas viewers with a sense of our first-class festivals to rival the European and US counterparts like Snowbombing and Coachella.

As summer is fast approaching, the impending festival season is becoming increasingly anticipated, as it does year upon year. It is with no doubt that most of us will be unable to attend all of the festivals we wish to, resulting in relying on television, radio and online sources to provide us with all of the excitement from the events.

Over the upcoming four months, the BBC will bring us coverage of four of the top UK festivals, including what can arguably be described as the ‘Power 3’ of festivals.

Glastonbury, T In The Park and Reading & Leeds festival are undeniably three of the biggest music events of the calendar both in size and popularity. With multiple stages, there is something for everybody, with the BBC’s broadcasting outlets providing a sense of this.

In 2013 and post-Olympics Britain, the technological availability and advancements that the BBC are open to has allowed for an increase in output, which these festivals will make use of.

BBC Online was subject to a vast expansion in 2012 in order to show numerous events at the London Olympics. These capabilities will spread to this summer’s Glastonbury Festival in Worthy Farm, Somerset from 26th to 30th June, with plans in place to have cameras streaming live footage on its digital media players throughout the entirety of the weekend.

A statement released from the BBC at the start of the year by then Acting Director General, Tim Davie said, “[Our] ambition this year is to offer music fans unprecedented coverage of live music.”

“On desktop, mobile, tablet and connected TVs, we will bring BBC audiences closer to the music they love by offering a full performance or festival-goer experience for those who can’t be there.”

Not only do the BBC deliver content to viewers, they also deliver in providing festivals with highly sought-after performers. The ‘BBC Radio 1 & NME Stage’ at Reading & Leeds Festival as well as T In The Park is a renowned attribute of the festivals’ line-ups, presenting attendees with an abundance of the artists that listeners are accustomed to hearing every day on Radio 1. Fans of Bastille, Skrillex, Alt-J, Jake Bugg and BBC Sound of 2013 winners, Haim, will be pleased to see such acts at Reading & Leeds on the Radio 1 & NME Stage on the weekend of the 23rd – 25th August.

The long-standing BBC Introducing scheme also comes alive during festival season, with Reading, Leeds and T In The Park holding a stage specifically for the programme, which seeks to highlight and support under-the-radar artists into the public eye.

The BBC’s festival coverage will all commence on in the last weekend of May, when Radio 1 take their annual Big Weekend to Northern Ireland. This year the event will take place in Derry-Londonderry and for the first time, the festival will consist of three days of music starting on Friday 24th May. Olly Murs and Two Door Cinema Club are the only acts announced so far, with the rest of the line-up being announced at the start of May. All we do know is that the Main Stage will focus on dance music, with other stages being run by Radio 1’s sister-station, 1Xtra, and In New Music We Trust.

From delivering a vast extent of coverage of the summer’s hottest festivals, to organising their very own, the BBC are the leaders in supplying the nation with the musical highlights of the year. Without them, we would be left very out of pocket in our quest to experience the musical moments that they manage to deliver to our eyes and ears through the media.