Radio 1’s Big Weekend puts Mitski, MUNA, James Blake and Florence Road into Saturday’s discovery mix

BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend continues on 23 May at Herrington Country Park in Sunderland, and the Saturday lineup gives the day a major indie-pop and alternative live-music hook. While the Main Stage leans toward big pop names such as Zara Larsson, Ellie Goulding, Lola Young, Louis Tomlinson, Nothing But Thieves and Skye Newman, the New Music Stage is where the indie digest angle becomes especially strong.

Saturday’s New Music Stage includes James Blake, Mitski, MUNA, Florence Road, Wasia Project and Erin LeCount, making it one of the more interesting mainstream-platform showcases of the weekend. This matters because Radio 1’s Big Weekend is not a tiny tastemaker festival, but it still gives new and alternative artists a large national broadcast and streaming platform.

Mitski and MUNA bring deeply devoted indie audiences into a mass event setting, James Blake bridges electronic soul and experimental pop, and Florence Road and Wasia Project represent the kind of younger acts that can benefit from being placed in front of a broader audience. For 23 May, this is one of the biggest live-news stories: a pop festival day with a surprisingly strong alternative spine. Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/how-to-watch-radio-1s-big-weekend-2026 ; Additional source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_1%27s_Big_Weekend