Leona Lewis and Plan B sign up for Radio 1′s Hackney Weekend

East End girl ... Leona Lewis will join Plan B, DJ Trevor Nelson and 80 other acts at Radio 1's Hackney Weekend in June 2012. Photograph: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

This article titled “Leona Lewis and Plan B sign up for Radio 1′s Hackney Weekend” was written by Sean Michaels, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 24th May 2011 10.16 UTC

Leona Lewis and Plan B will appear in a free concert at Hackney Marshes, scheduled to coincide with the 2012 Olympic Games in London. BBC Radio 1′s Hackney Weekend will take over the last weekend in June, traditionally the Glastonbury festival weekend, as Glasto takes a one-year break.

Lewis and Plan B will join DJ Trevor Nelson and 80 other acts at the east London bash, allegedly the Olympics season’s first major event. It is the “biggest show in [Radio 1] history,” Lewis said in a statement. “To be part of this event is so important to me.” More than 100,000 tickets will be available for the concerts, which span six stages.

Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt emphasised the scale of this special Big Weekend, which will double the capacity of previous events. “This is the most ambitious event in the station’s 44-year history,” he said. The majority of tickets will go to people living near Hackney, and Trevor Nelson will also lead a talent search among east London musicians and DJs. “We aim to enhance the overall London 2012 summer with a celebratory event aimed specifically at the thousands of young people who live in the boroughs directly surrounding the Olympic Park,” Parfitt said.

This year’s Radio 1 Big Weekend took place in Carlisle, 14-15 May. Lady Gaga and Foo Fighters headlined the festival, for which 750,000 people applied for 20,000 tickets.

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