Sunderland Radio 1 Big Weekend: Olivia Dean to Close
Olivia Dean will headline the final day of the sunderland radio 1 big weekend, closing out Sunday alongside Niall Horan and Kehlani in a bill that now completes major headliners for the three-day festival. The announcement frames a weekend of pop, R& B and dance at Herrington Country Park from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 May and signals heavy local ticket demand and staged allocations.
Sunderland Radio 1 Big Weekend Lineup
Sunday’s main stage will feature Olivia Dean, Niall Horan and Kehlani, while Saturday’s headliners include Zara Larsson, Louis Tomlinson and Lola Young; Friday’s Dance Party billing names Fatboy Slim and Sonny Fodera. Other confirmed acts across stages include CMAT, Myles Smith, Ezra Collective, Flo, Jorja Smith, Nothing But Thieves, Skye Newman, Ellie Goulding, James Blake, Mitski and Rachel Chinouriri among roughly 100 acts.
The pattern suggests organisers have stacked each day to appeal to distinct audiences—dance-led sets on Friday, mainstream pop on Saturday and a mixed R& B and singer-songwriter focus on Sunday—broadening the festival’s reach across different fan bases.
Olivia Dean’s headline Sunday
Dean’s slot will be her first UK headline set, and she arrives on the bill after a month in which she won four Brits including best British artist and best album for The Art of Loving, plus a Grammy for best new artist; she is also up for four Mobo Awards. Niall Horan will release a new single, Dinner Party, later this month, his first solo song since his last album in 2023.
The figures point to a strategy of pairing artists with recent awards and fresh releases to maximise media attention and ticket uptake for crucial weekend dates.
Herrington Country Park dates
The festival will take place at Herrington Country Park from Friday 22 to Sunday 24 May, with tens of thousands expected and organisers lining up about 100 acts across three days. Tickets for the first day have already gone on sale, and Saturday and Sunday tickets will go on sale from 17: 00 GMT on Wednesday (12: 00 pm ET), with local residents getting priority.
The ticket allocation details—30% of the 31, 000 general admission tickets per day reserved for Sunderland City Council residents, 60% reserved for the wider North East Combined Authority region and the remaining 10% open to anyone in the UK—point to a deliberate local-first policy intended to concentrate attendance and economic benefit within the region.
Saturday and Sunday tickets going on sale from 17: 00 GMT on Wednesday (12: 00 pm ET) is the next confirmed development; if the 30% Sunderland and 60% regional reservations hold, the data suggests most weekend attendees will be local or regional, leaving limited availability for national buyers.
