Years & Years, Catfish and the Bottlemen added to Radio 1's Big Weekend

  • Published
Years & Years
Image caption,

Years & Years won the BBC Sound Of 2015 poll

Years & Years and Catfish and the Bottlemen have been added to the line-up for Radio 1's Big Weekend in Norwich.

The station's flagship event will be held at Earlham Park in Norwich on 23-24 May.

Taylor Swift and Florence and the Machine are also performing at Europe's biggest free ticketed music event.

The full line-up will be announced in April with 50,000 tickets available from next Tuesday.

Lead singer from Catfish and the Bottlemen, Van McCann, told the Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw: "I never really got onto [festivals] until we did Reading and Leeds, T in the Park and Big Weekend last year.

Catfish and the Bottlemen
Image caption,

Catfish and the Bottlemen performed at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Glasgow last year

"That was the when we realised how serious people were into the band and how much people had invested into it.

"So I love 'em. I can't wait. It's going to be so good."

They'll be performing on the In New Music We Trust stage on Sunday 24 May.

They will be available on a first-come-first-served basis but will include a booking fee of £3.50.

You'll need to register in advance, with 25,000 tickets available for each day of the event.

Olly Alexander from Years & Years also talked to the Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw.

Taylor SwiftImage source, Getty Images

Talking from LA, he said: "It's going to be amazing. We're going to hunt down Taylor [Swift] and we can go shopping in Norwich. That's not going to happen.

"I'm excited. It's going to be really, really good."

Years & Years will be performing on the In New Music We Trust stage on Saturday 23 May.

Tickets will be available online at Radio 1's website and once booking opens, a link will appear to a secure site hosted by See Tickets, which is handling the ticketing process on the BBC's behalf.

There will also be a phone number to call for anyone without internet access - 0844 858 9071 (calls cost 6p a minute plus standard network charges) - but don't call before 8am on 31 March otherwise you'll be charged anyway.

Big Weekend this year will feature three stages including the Main Stage, In New Music We Trust Stage and the BBC Introducing Stage.

Fifty-five per cent of tickets will be reserved for people living within the area covered by Norwich City Council.

Florence Welch from Florence and the MachineImage source, Getty Images

Another 20% will be reserved for residents with a Norwich (NR) postcode, but outside the area covered by the City Council.

Then another 20% will be reserved for residents in the surrounding East Anglian region with Ipswich (IP), Colchester (CO), Cambridge (CB) and Peterborough (PE) postcodes with the remaining 5% for other audiences across the UK.

In the lead up to Big Weekend, for the fourth year running, Radio 1 and BBC Learning will also open the doors to Radio 1's Academy.

The station hopes to inspire local 16-19-year-olds to take the next step in their careers by inviting them to attend a series of radio shows, masterclasses and Q&As.

Radio 1's Big Weekend will also host a number of acts who've come through BBC Introducing.

Big Weekend, which will be will be produced in partnership with Norwich City Council, will be broadcast live on Radio 1, 1Xtra and streamed on the Radio 1 website.

Highlights will also be broadcast live on BBC Three.

Last year's Big Weekend was opened by One Direction and headlined by Coldplay and Katy Perry.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat, external on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat, external on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat, external on YouTube

Around the BBC