BBC Music announces "biggest ever" music event to fill Glastonbury’s gap year

In 2018, BBC Music will host The Biggest Weekend, a one-off festival to fill the Glastonbury-shaped hole in our lives.

Worthy Farm, the site of Glastonbury, will be enjoying its traditional fallow year so that the ground can recover from the debauchery of thousands of festival-goers.

The Biggest Weekend is a four-day event that will take place on the late May bank holiday weekend (25th-28th) in four locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A whopping 175,000 tickets will be made available across the four sites, which is more than the number sold for Glastonbury.

The BBC promises to bring "the biggest artists in the world" to the event – but headliners won't be announced for some time yet.

Coverage of The Biggest Weekend will be “similar to that offered around Glastonbury” and broadcast live on four different radio stations and two television channels.

Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3 and 6 Music will all broadcast on the airwaves, while BBC2 and BBC4 will lead the TV coverage. All the sets will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

Bob Shennan, director of BBC radio and music, said the Corporation "has a strong history of bringing the nation together for some special moments, and this is the biggest single music event ever attempted by the BBC".

"We will be celebrating the diversity of music from four different corners of the country, bringing the best UK music to the world and the best global music to the UK."