Reflecting on the first BBC 6 Music Festival

On Friday 28 February, at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, BBC 6 Music launched it's first festival. The station's editor, James Stirling, looks back over the two day event, which included a live performance of Everyday Robots by Damon Albarn, featured below.

Now that the dust has settled and we’ve had a chance to recover, I’m really pleased to share some thoughts on the first 6 Music Festival. An explanation as to how it came to be seems like a good place to start. 6 Music has been going for 12 years now and it seemed like the right time to host a two-day event showcasing everything we do on a daily basis at the station. Our aim was simply to celebrate the unique world of 6 Music with a live audience, but equally for those either at home or on the move. Thankfully, the BBC Radio iPlayer app makes that goal easy these days. 

Of course, music is key to 6 Music, but we’re so much more than that too. So, along with three stages for live artists in the main Festival, we programmed a free Festival Fringe which showcased spoken word, a photography exhibition, a cinema screen, a collection of Independent Record Stores from around the UK as well as some amazing live performances.

Location too was really important when we were developing plans for the Festival. Musically, Manchester is such an important UK city. It has internationally recognised, genre-defining artists whose work spans the six decades of music you'll hear when listening to the network. We work closely with our colleagues at BBC North and over 30% of 6 Music shows are broadcast from Media City UK in Salford. Manchester was therefore a natural choice. We found a fantastic space - the Victoria Warehouse in Trafford - which worked as a venue, big enough to hold the audience, artists and stages. Across the Festival and Fringe, there were five stages in total. All looked wonderful, particularly the trees on our largest stage - certainly worth a look.

As Editor my role was to plan and oversee the production, joining together the various teams we had on site and at our broadcast base. A successful event takes a lot of co-ordination from all involved, especially given that the Festival content had a huge presence on the 6 Music website and Red Button as well as on the radio. Apart from the practical challenges of hosting 40 artists over five stages, we had 22 hours of live broadcasting from site. It can be difficult to work outside the comfort of a purpose-built studio - but the BBC has the best technicians and engineers in the world. That made the job a lot easier. 

We knew there was an appetite for the Festival and this was reflected in the speed that the tickets were snapped up. And it helped contribute to a very special atmosphere on site over the two days with both the main Festival and the Fringe going down very well with those who came along. It was great to spot friends of the station, actor Cillian Murphy who recorded a show for us last year and voice of the Festival radio trail Maxine Peake. But a big challenge, and arguably the most important one, was to bring the Festival alive for those at home. The regular 6 Music programme schedule was transformed for two days, with the majority of our presenters teaming up tag-team style. Both the Festival and the Fringe were brought to life for the audience at home as the team explored the venues. Our presenters were key to this and were excellent at bringing the Festival to life for listeners wherever they were and I think that was reflected in the many messages we received from our audience at home saying how much they were enjoying the coverage. Plus what we did online as well was crucial. We’re really proud of the 6 Music Festival website – which we designed to look equally amazing whatever device you're using, from smartphone to tablet or computer. It was vital in helping us reach audiences who couldn’t be at the Victoria Warehouse to enjoy the Festival in person, offering audio on-demand, live video, galleries and the like. All the things you’ve come to expect from us, but all contained in one easy-to-access location – a window on a really special event for the station.

There were many highlights of course, but for the record, my personal favourites were: John Cooper Clarke’s two sets at the Fringe (hilarious), Franz Ferdinand, The National, Wild Beasts, Drenge and Damon Albarn on the main stages, the photography exhibition which documented a year in the life of 6 Music by Jason Joyce, the record stores, who came and traded for two days and all of the 6 Music presenters who performed DJ sets at the silent disco or on the main stage. The sight of a few hundred people wearing glowing wireless headphones, bobbing up and down to Don Letts spinning tunes is one I’ll remember for a long time, as will the sight of the Radiophonic Workshop performing the Doctor Who theme tune, which we played on Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone show. It was also incredibly exciting to see thousands of our listeners in one place, which we hadn’t witnessed before.

Initial indications of the numbers who heard or watched it are very positive. So, from my point of view the Festival was a roaring success.

We’ve collated some amazing photo galleries on the website where you can also enjoy many of the highlights from the Fringe and watch all 24 main stage performances until Thursday 1 April.

And as for plans for another festival … you'll just have to watch this space.

James Stirling is Editor, BBC 6 Music.

• Listen to tracks from artists featured in the festival on the BBC Playlister.
• Read Jen Macro's blog about performing live on Marc Riley's 6 Music show.
• See more blogs about 6 Music.
• Follow @BBC6Music on twitter