Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Mark Savage
- Role, Music correspondent
The Pet Shop Boys and Sting have been announced as the headliners of BBC Radio 2 in the Park in Preston this September.
The festival will also see performances from the Manic Street Preachers, Sugababes, Craig David, Snow Patrol, Travis and Sister Sledge.
For the first time, the festival will span three days, opening with a Friday night “pre-party” featuring DJ sets from Radio 2 presenters like Sara Cox and Vernon Kay.
The event takes place in Preston’s Moor Park from 6-8 September, with tickets on sale from 08:15 on Tuesday, 4 June.
Image source, Getty Images
It is the Pet Shop Boys’ second time headlining the festival – having first topped the bill in Hyde Park in London five years ago.
“That was a great night,” singer Neil Tennant told Radio 2 breakfast show host Zoe Ball. “I think it’s good, though, that we’re going up north.”
The band will perform the greatest hits set from their ongoing Dreamworld tour, which includes singles like Suburbia, Rent, Left To My Own Devices and It’s A Sin.
“There’s a possibility we might have a special guest,” said Tennant, but “they haven’t agreed to it yet”.
The band will close the festival on the Sunday night, with Sting topping the bill on the Saturday.
The singer-songwriter will perform with his new trio, dubbed Sting 3.0, playing stripped-down and reworked versions of his biggest hits.
“I want to give a full picture of my entire career, so of course I will sing Roxanne, of course I will sing Message In A Bottle, and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, but there will be some deep cuts too,” he told Ball.
“I’ve never been to Preston in my life so I’m really looking forward to it, I really am!”
Image source, Getty Images
Radio 2 In The Park started in 2011 and was previously a one-day festival in Hyde Park.
It moved out of the capital in 2023, when Kylie Minogue topped the bill in Leicester’s Victoria Park.
Last year also saw James Blunt crowd-surfing all the way to the back of the crowd in an inflatable dingy, and Hanson joining Busted on stage for a version of MMMBop.
The full line-up of this year’s event is as follows:
- Sting
- Sugababes
- Snow Patrol
- Craig David
- Kim Wilde
- Pixie Lott
- Shaznay Lewis
- Travis
- Pet Shop Boys
- Manic Street Preachers
- Sister Sledge feat Kathy Sledge
- Paul Heaton
- Gabrielle
- Shed Seven
- Delta Goodrem
- Haircut 100