BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend 2013

Florence + the Machine

flickr- Jason Persse

Londonderry's Ebrington Square was chosen to host the largest free music festival in Europe for 2013.

The event is organized by the BBC's Radio 1, a radio station whose roadshow summer tours during the 1970's through to the 1990's served as inspiration for the current two-day festival. 

The initial roadshow format involved various live acts performing every Sunday in different towns around the country throughout the summer months. However, when a show in 1999 attracted more than 500,000 people, the organizer's decided to change the scope and scale of the festival. 

Instead of taking place throughout various weekends, the idea for One Big Weekend was born. 

Never one to forget their roadshow origins, organizer's kept the festival as free as it ever was, although it is now a ticketed event. A limited number of tickets keep the crowd capacity under control. With the current system, people can apply for tickets through an online lottery. However, priority is given to those who live locally, which requires people to indicate their postcodes in their ticket applications.