Live Review | Radio 1 Big Weekend | Sunday

radio 1The weather forecast was looking bleak as the grey clouds lined the sky, but the weather wasn’t enough to dampen anyone’s spirits at Big Weekend.

A few bleary eyed tired faces were wandering the green feeling the effects of the night before, but sure enough after a few pints and a sing-a-long, it seemed it was easy enough to forget any tiredness.

Feeling on the sleepy side ourselves, it wasn’t until The Vamps final song that we made our way through Glasgow Green, providing a little moment for a pop sing along.

Next up we caught Sam Smith who took to the In New Music We Trust stage and out of all the acts we had caught in that space so far, it was by far the busiest. His vocals were flawless and the crowd were jumping and singing along to every track, despite Sam himself not being a dynamic character on stage. It was not until he began working his way through his discography that you realised how many hits the singer has produced including Money On My Mind and La La La.

John Newman danced his away around the main stage showcasing some rather interesting moves as a little further over in the BBC Introducing tent Royal Blood packed out the tent to the extent all exits packed around the doorways trying to squeeze inside to catch a proper look at the band.

Mdnght provided a great beat to move along too while waiting on the grass outside the Introducing tent as Rita Ora paraded around the main stage.

Back in the New Music Tent London grammar took to the stage with extremely strong vocals, but creating a strange atmosphere for a festival. Their album is perfect to chill out too, but the songs we caught seemed just a little too slow to work within a packed tent vibe.

Quite a large crowd gathered for The 1975 who performed a strong set on the main stage mixing up their single releases with a few tracks from their album. The crowd was jumping, singing and dancing along to the band’s two chart-topping singles Sex and Chocolate, but it has to be said that despite the majority of the crowd not knowing the lyrics to other tracks, songs like Heart Out still managed to get them moving with the help from the band’s onstage energy and charm. You’d never have guessed the boys had just flown in from America and it’s clear to see why they’ve managed to gain attention for their live sets. They know exactly what they’re doing and exactly how to make a festival crowd happy.

You Me At Six had a few sound issues down the front of the tent as the vocals were far too quiet on the opening tracks. Despite this, the band had full energy from the first to the last song and their older tracks proved most popular including Mr Reckless and Stay With Me and once they solved the sound problems, they managed to maintain a strong crowd for the set.

Stepping away from the rock and into the urban as Tinie Tempah started the main stage party again with the crowd jumping, singing and dancing along.

As the rain began to fall, we popped into the BBC Introducing tent and luckily caught Little Shoes Big Voice with Emily Harvey’s beautiful voice creating a totally chilled back atmosphere. The tent was so quiet you could hear the rain beating against the roof as the acoustic guitar provided a relaxing background to take a moment to chill out from the madness.

Co-headliner of the main stage Paolo Nutini strolled on to the stage with his smooth vibe and performed an extremely strong set managing to keep the crowd engaged throughout his full set list, despite mixing up new and older songs. His dance moves, vocal talent and stage presence was enough to sway any previous opinion you may have had of the singer. As he raised his pint glass in the air and smiled at the crowd, it’s nice to see Paolo back where he belongs. And as he walked off the stage and the ‘one more tune’ chants began, it seems the crowd are more than happy to have him back.

For the first time across the weekend, we spotted the tent full sign lit outside Kasabian set as festival goers relived the past with the band’s hit songs.

Headliner on the Sunday night was Katy perry who within the first song had warriors dressed with light-up mohicans, large projection screens and a giant silver prism. She changed her outfits repeatedly throughout her set creating a full-scale production and her vocals shone through in her acoustic mix up of The One That Got Away and Thinking Of You. From guitar flame throwers, light up skipping ropes and of course, fireworks, Ms Perry certainly knows how to put on a show.




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