{"id":131784,"date":"2025-05-25T22:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T22:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/131784\/"},"modified":"2025-05-25T22:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T22:50:11","slug":"mumford-sons-bring-unforgettable-weekend-in-sefton-park-to-a-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/131784\/","title":{"rendered":"Mumford & Sons bring unforgettable weekend in Sefton Park to a close"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sefton Park welcomed thousands of fans and some of the world’s biggest musicians<\/p>\n

22:34, 25 May 2025Updated 22:39, 25 May 2025<\/p>\n

The city became a sea of music, colour and dancing with around 100,000 fans attending Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival. If we have learned anything from the crowd’s response, and what the acts have said about the city, it proves nobody throws a party quite like Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Four stages dotted around Sefton<\/a> Park welcomed music industry heavyweights, up-and-coming local musicians, and even a few surprise appearances from the biggest stars in the world. Local band The Wombats<\/a> set the tone on Friday with lead singer Matthew Murphey telling the crowd: “I used to come here a lot as a kid.”<\/p>\n

During the Liverpool band’s performance, a number of people dressed in wombat costumes joined them on stage to dance and get the crowds going – before they revealed themselves to be BBC<\/a> Radio 1 DJs in disguise.<\/p>\n

British singer Tom Grennan closed the first evening but not before recruiting pop icon Mel C of Spice Girls fame to join him on stage. During the performance, Tom darted back stage to change into an Everton FC shirt while Mel wore a red Liverpool FC top.<\/p>\n

\"MelMel C performs on stage with Tom Grennan at Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival in Sefton Park on Friday(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Together, they stood side by side to the number 97 – a tribute to the 97 Liverpool fans who lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster. Taking a pause from the music, Tom addressed the crowd with heartfelt words about “uniting the city”.<\/p>\n

Shortly after gates opened at 11am on Saturday, BBC Radio 1 DJ and Breakfast host Greg James announced the ‘special guest’<\/a> who was set to open the New Music Stage at 1.15pm. The surprise announcement was met with huge excitement from fans, as Greg revealed Ed Sheeran would be performing.<\/p>\n

Addressing the crowds, he said: “Liverpool how are we feeling? Now I’m glad you turned up, I know this was a secret. But I’m going to play some songs that I hope you know, and if you don’t… it’s going to be a long hour for you.<\/p>\n

“I just thought ‘it’s Liverpool, it’s Saturday, if I play at night time your energy might be gone but if I catch you first I’m going to get all the Liverpudlian energy first.”<\/p>\n

\"EdEd Sheeran surprise guest at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend at Sefton Park, Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Saturday was a mixed bag of rain and shine but it failed to put a dampener on the sprits of festival goers. People ditched their short shorts and crop tops in favour of rain coats and parkas, dancing the night away to a soundtrack of Aitch B2B AJ Tracey, Blossoms, Wolf Alice and Sam Fender. Between sets, Sugababes member Mutya Buena said: “We always love Liverpool crowds. It’s always a great crowd to perform to.”<\/p>\n

Wavertree<\/a> rapper Koj blew the roof off the Introducing Stage with his hip hop, rap and grime sound fusion. Koj credited the city with a “love thy neighbour” energy that is difficult to find anywhere else. He told the ECHO: “A wise man once said ‘if you give Liverpool a party they will love you’ and it couldn’t be truer.<\/p>\n

“We love a party, we love a parade, we love all that stuff and I think there’s a certain energy here – working class and a love thy neighbour thing. There’s an energy and a passion you don’t get in many other places.”<\/p>\n

\"TateTate McRae performs at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend at Sefton Park, Liverpool(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

The start of the final day saw international pop star Tate McRae draw an audience of thousands despite her 1:30pm call time. Getting the audience pumped, she said: “Liverpool – how are we feeling? I\u2019m so happy to be here. You ready to dance and sing? You seem like a fun crowd. Let’s do it.”<\/p>\n

The festival’s energy was palpable despite the heaviest rain of the entire weekend appearing during Haim’s Radio 1 Main Stage set. The band of sisters refused to let the weather<\/a> get the better of their set and instead embraced the elements, even dousing themselves in bottled water to speed up the process.<\/p>\n

Alana Haim said: “Are you guys going out after this, like, what are we doing after this? Can someone take us to a pub? We just got here. We’re ready to party. We’re all in this together now. Maybe if we play loud enough, the sun will open up.”<\/p>\n

\"HaimHaim performance at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend at Sefton Park, Liverpool. Photo by Colin Lane(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

The festival was concluded by Little Mix star JADE taking over the New Music Stage for her first ever solo performance. The red and white carnival tent was packed to the brim with hundreds of fans and even more standing outside to watch the vocalist performing on-screen.<\/p>\n

Indie-folk band Mumford & Sons had the pleasure of closing the festival’s Main Stage. Bidding farewell to a historic bank holiday weekend, the crowd became a spectacular sea of light as thousands shined their phone torches to create a dazzling display of unity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sefton Park welcomed thousands of fans and some of the world’s biggest musicians 22:34, 25 May 2025Updated 22:39,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[192,15118,15119,748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-131784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-bbc-radio-1","10":"tag-bbc-radio-1-big-weekend","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-liverpool","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114570921592776403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}