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Leicester to take the crown for Radio 2 festival’s post-COVID return
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 13 June 2023
The BBC has announced that Radio 2 will stage its “biggest ever live music event outside London” this September when the Radio 2 In The Park event arrives in Leicester. The city’s Victoria Park to be more precise. Tears For Fears and Kylie Minogue will headline.
Radio 2 staged an annual event in London’s Hyde Park from 2011 to 2019. The first edition post-pandemic was meant to take place in September last year, with the big old show relocated to Leeds. But then the Queen died and the whole thing was called off at the last minute.
This means that the return of the BBC station’s own festival will now take place this September. You know, dead kings permitting. And rather than Leeds, it is Leicester that will host the proceedings. Poor old Leeds.
Helen Thomas, Head Of Radio 2, says: “I’m THRILLED to officially announce today that Leicester will host this year’s Radio 2 In The Park, our much-anticipated live music weekender”.
You won’t actually have to be in Leicester to catch performances from Tears For Fears, Kylie Minogue, Bananarama, James Blunt, Busted, Pretenders, Rick Astley and more. Because, obviously, the BBC will be broadcasting it all as well.
“We hope it will bring together music lovers from across the nation”, Thomas goes on, “whether joining us in Leicester or tuning in wherever they are – with our brilliant family of Radio 2 presenters sharing all the infectious energy of the event on and off stage”.
Adds Leicester’s City Mayor Peter Soulsby: “We’re very excited to be welcoming Radio 2 In The Park to Leicester this summer. Victoria Park has a proud tradition of hosting these big events and they are always a tremendous boost to the area”.
So, good news for fans of big events and tremendous boosts. Who don’t live in Leeds.
