BBC Selects Ticketmaster As Exclusive Ticket Agent For The Biggest Weekend

BBC – Scone Palace in Perth
The Scottish location for The Biggest Weekend

Ticketmaster today announced that it signed a deal with the BBC, making it the exclusive ticketing agency for The Biggest Weekend Festival, May 25-28.

The festival takes place in four UK cities over the same weekend: Swansea in Wales, Perth in Scotland, Belfast in Northern Ireland and Coventry in England. The confirmed lineup includes Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran for Swansea’s Singleton Park, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds for Perth’s Scone Palace, Snow Patrol for Coventry’s War Memorial Park and Beck for Belfast’s Titanic Slipways.

Ticketmaster came out on top in a competitive tender process arranged by the BBC. The Live Nation company will handle all 175,000 tickets that go on sale Monday, Feb. 12. The fact that Ticketmaster has local offices in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast might have helped the BBC’s decision.

Of the 175,000 tickets available, 20,000 are for Perth, 18,000 for Belfast, 26,000 for Swansea, and 25,000 for Coventry – all per day, of course. A first batch of tickets has been reserved for residents of the respective council area as well as people living in the wider surrounding area of each event. Those will go on sale Feb. 12 until midday Feb. 19. Day tickets are sold for £18 ($25) plus £4.50 ($6.30) booking fee. In case there are still tickets left after phase one, they will be made available for everyone, no matter their location.

– The Biggest Weekend
May 25-28, in four UK cities

By its own accounts, Ticketmaster UK celebrated its “biggest ever festival and stadium season” in 2017, with 142 box offices across the country and more than three million tickets scanned. Andrew Parsons, Managing Director of Ticketmaster UK, said, “Arguably the biggest event of 2018, BBC Music’s The Biggest Weekend will bring the world’s top artists to audiences across the UK. We are incredibly proud that Ticketmaster’s experience in facilitating events of this scale has been recognized in such a way, and our teams right across the country look forward to providing fans with a seamless ticketing experience.”

The BBC announced The Biggest Weekend last summer, mainly because Glastonbury is taking a time out in 2018. There are currently no plans to turn it into a regular event.