Hackney weekend where is it

Meet the Hackney Ambassadors. Leona Lewis Leona returns to the Hackney Empire, where she started performing, to explain why E8 is so special to her. Trevor Nelson Trevor takes us to his most influential Hackney spots, to explain what this East London Borough is all about. Plan B Ben Drew talks about his manor, Forest Gate, and how it has shaped him into the person he is today.

Billed as the largest event the network has ever mounted, BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend was a spectacular hour free festival with the vast majority of the , tickets reserved for local residents. Radio 1 used its considerable heft to assemble a staggeringly star-crammed bill of music A-listers.

Reading this on mobile? Click here to view video. Local girl Leona Lewis opened the main stage on Saturday and confirmed that she may be irredeemably bland but she sure can sing. Tweet 0. Pin it 0.

Sort by Relevance Newest first Oldest first. Support us The coronavirus outbreak meant that the Hackney Citizen was unable to print a monthly newspaper for three months. Thank you for your support, and stay safe. The Hackney Citizen team. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. It's not the latest rapper, however. Singer and band leader D'Banj is introduced as "the Nigerian answer to Michael Jackson", and proceeds to unleash Afrobeat party music on to the marshes.

It's not just Hackney's sizable Nigerian population singing along, though. D'Banj's recent breakout tune, Oliver Twist, is a singalong for all. On the main stage, rapper Nicki Minaj, all Rapunzel tresses and bondage bodysuit, alternates between her hardcore raps rudest words left out and more anodyne pop hits. More amusing is the discovery that — even in — people still turn up in their numbers to watch DJs play records. The R1 DJ stage is perhaps the loudest stage here, drawing a crowd of a few hundred, many brandishing miniature vuvuzelas branded with Radio 1 hip-hop DJ Tim Westwood's name.

A much-rumoured appearance by Cheryl formerly Cole fails to materialise during Calvin Harris's set. Headliner Jay-Z, however, plays host to a veritable crowd of stars. Sunday's headliner Rihanna makes a swift appearance at the start of the set, followed by MIA, who performs her hit Paper Planes to a delirious crowd. Her microphone then packs up. With hits such as 99 Problems and Empire State of Mind, Jay-Z — a drug dealer-turned-rapper-turned-mogul — doesn't really need much help to close a festival.

But the last third of his set finds him joined by Kanye West, his former beatmaker-turned-pop star, with whom he has recently toured as Watch the Throne. The threatened rain lashes down, but few mind.