When is hackney big weekend

The festival always attracts big UK and worldwide artists, so if you want to see the new names who'll dominate the next 12 months this is the place to be. There will be live music across six stages and you will be able to keep up to date with all the weekend's festivities on Radio 1, BBC Three on TV, on the Red Button and live here on the Hackney Weekend website. You'll be able to watch every single stage right here on bbc. But as is a very special Olympic year, it felt right to celebrate in East London with an even bigger party.

Nothing we've done so far as been as huge as the festival due to happen in Hackney this summer. It's time to get excited. And you can watch it all live right here on bbc. Leona returns to the Hackney Empire, where she started performing, to explain why E8 is so special to her.

Trevor takes us to his most influential Hackney spots, to explain what this East London Borough is all about. Billed as the largest event the network has ever mounted, BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend was a spectacular hour free festival with the vast majority of the , tickets reserved for local residents. Radio 1 used its considerable heft to assemble a staggeringly star-crammed bill of music A-listers.

Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video. Local girl Leona Lewis opened the main stage on Saturday and confirmed that she may be irredeemably bland but she sure can sing. Rizzle Kicks ' infectious wholesome rap charmed more than Example's aerobic rave-pop, while the inexplicably popular Ed Sheeran spent much of his set giving the crowd extremely well-spoken singing lessons.

The ubiquitous will. Saturday main stage headliner Jay-Z 's star wattage is so great he was able to drop cameos by Rihanna, MIA — who suffered the indignity of a non-functioning microphone — and regular sparring partner Kanye West into his set.

Sunday nodded towards the local east London grime scene via Labrinth's symphonic techno-rap and Professor Green's shrill narratives. Plan B overcame technical hitches to confirm he is an extraordinary talent, switching easily between mellifluous Motown soul and the hardcore rap of thrilling riots-referencing recent single Ill Manors.

After mood-dampening showers, the sun came out in time for Jessie J to surpass her utterly generic material with a personality-plus performance.