London’s well-known Hyde Park comes alive with the sound of music for three weeks every summer. The British Summer Time festival has lived at the park since 2013 and has seen many stars perform across its stages. The festival has become a must-see music event that incorporates a range of different genres to suit every attendee.
2022 saw a continuation of the event, and fans of the festival are already looking forward to enjoying all that it has to offer in 2023.
- 500, 000 people attended the 2022 event.
- 64% of the lineup acts for 2022 were men, compared to 28% of women.
- 20% of men and 20% of women reported liking the BST festival in 2022.
- The festival increased from six to nine shows in 2022.
- 70, 000 people attended Open House programs and activities in 2022.
- Mobile data use doubled in 2022 compared to 2019.
- Adele performed for the first time in five years at the 2022 festival.
Who Was At The British Summer Time Festival In 2022?
More than 500, 000 people attended the British Summer Time (BST) festival over the three weeks it took place between the 24th of June and the 10th of July in 2022. It was further estimated that around 65, 000 people attended per day.
The performances were held on the Parade Ground on the eastern side of Hyde Park and included headliners like Elton John, Adele, The Eagles, Pearl Jam and Duran Duran.
The lineup for 2022 was one of the biggest across all the shows in the history of the festival. The highest number of tickets, 530, 000, were sold across nine shows. 2022 also saw the highest number of sponsors.
64% of the acts were male-identifying in the BST festival’s lineup, and 28% of the acts were female-identifying.
Demographics Of BST Festival Fans In 2022
YouGov is a site that uses a nationally representative sample to measure popularity scores for a host of things in the U.K. They noticed that the BST festival had maintained steady popularity over the years, with 20% of participants reporting that they liked the festival in 2022, compared to 21% in 2021 and 18% in 2020.
- 38% of participants had heard of the festival.
- 20% liked it, 4% disliked it, and 14% felt neutral towards it.
- Most people who had heard of the festival were Millennials (52%), 35% were Gen X and 32% were Baby Boomers.
- Most of the people who liked the festival were also Millennials (31%), followed by Gen X (20%) and then Baby Boomers (13%).
The site also gathers data about the gender and political views of its participants:
- 39% of men and 37% of women said that they had heard of the BST festival in 2022.
- 20% of men and 20% of women reported liking the BST festival in 2022.
- 18% of people who liked the festival considered themselves politically conservative, 27% labour, and 25% liberal democrat.
Changes To BST Festival In 2022
2022 saw some big changes for the BST festival:
The festival increased from six to nine shows, and the event ran over three weeks instead of two. This increase will be in place for the next three years, with the possibility of an extension.
Seven shows were allowed with a new capacity of 65, 000, and two shows had to have a capacity of 50, 000.
A new contract with Royal Parks was signed, allowing the festival to stay in Hyde Park until 2027 with the possibility of an extension.
Residents around Hyde Park were concerned that the new contract, which enables more summer festivals, would encourage more disorderly conduct and add to the noise levels. Some complained of festival goers peeing in the streets near their houses. But the festival’s producers say that the longer contract will allow them to invest more into the festival to make it better.
2022 saw changes to the Great Oak Stage, which became much bigger than it had ever been to include more screens and a new Great Oak tree. The bigger stage means that more stadium-level-touring productions can be included in the festival, which opens the event to a broader range of touring artists.
The Summer Stage became the Birdcage Stage, which was a completely new creative installation. Other creative areas had also been uplifted.
Open House 2022
Open House is a free midweek program that takes place alongside the BST festival every year. It attracted a further 70, 000 attendees to the event in 2022 and offered free entertainment and activities between the bigger shows.
The program was curated on a larger scale than in previous years in 2022 and included the following activities:
- A street food market
- Crafts and upcycling sessions
- Chef’s table
- Over 60s tea party
- Yoga
- Theatre
- Outdoor cinema
- Music workshops
- Joe Wicks attempt at the largest HIIT workout
Memorable Performances From 2022
Elton John headlined the festival on the 24th of June as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour- marking one of his last performances before his retirement.
For his performance, he partnered with Vodafone to perform an AR show which paid tribute to the efforts of healthcare workers during the pandemic. The performance had a time-synced 3D show that needed to be viewed through a special app during the performance of his song ‘I’m Still Standing’.
Vodafone reported download speeds as high as 202Mbps, which was why Elton’s AR experience could be enabled. They further noted that mobile data use at the festival had doubled in 2022 compared to 2019.
Adele headlined on the 1st and 2nd of July with an all-female lineup behind her. It marked her first public concert in 5 years, and around 65, 000 people watched her perform hits like ‘Rumour has it’, ‘Skyfall’, and ‘Hello’.
Performances To Look Out For In 2023
2023 will mark 10 years of the BST festival, and some big names will be there to celebrate the occasion between the 24th of June and the 8th of July.
Take That will make their comeback at the 2023 BST festival after four years of not performing. It will also be their only UK show for the year that they will be reuniting.
BLACKPINK will be the first K-pop act to headline a major UK music festival on Sunday, the 2nd of July at the BST festival in 2023.
Other acts to look out for include Bruce Springsteen, PINK, Guns n Roses and Billy Joel. Now that’s quite a line-up!
Sources:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/entertainment/explore/music_festival/British_Summer_Time_Festival
https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park/things-to-see-and-do/events-in-hyde-park/bst-hyde-park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Summer_Time_(concerts)
https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/british-summer-time-festival-hyde-25182228
https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/london-mega-festival-faces-backlash-22902956
https://www.timeout.com/london/news/london-music-festivals-representation-women-063022
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/adele-bst-hyde-park-festival-performance-1235110245/
https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/take-that/bst-hyde-park-2023-tickets/