The BBC has rescheduled Radio 2 In The Park to September, so that it avoids clashing with other local events.
The festival was set to take place in Sterling between August 7 and 9, but will now be taking place the following month, organisers have confirmed.
This, they revealed, was due to complaints from other musical events and festivals being held in the area. The decision was reached in partnership with the Scottish Independent Festival Association (SIFA), and came after “listening to concerns about the impact of staging it in August”, according to BBC News.
The line-up for the festival’s 2026 edition has not yet been confirmed, nor have the exact dates in September that it has now been rescheduled for.
Radio 2 In The Park moved from its permanent home in London’s Hyde Park in 2022 and has since taken place in Chelmsford, Leicester and Preston. The 2026 event will be the first major BBC Music event to be held in Scotland since the Radio 1 Big Weekend was held in Dundee three years ago.
“Our aim has always been to bring a brilliant event to Stirling, providing value for Scottish audiences and making a positive impact on the local community,” said head of Radio 2, Helen Thomas, in a new statement.
“Whilst tickets are yet to go on sale, we appreciate this may affect the plans of some people who were ready to join us in August, and we are sorry if this is the case. It is why we wanted to confirm the change as soon as we could,” she added. “We’re excited to be bringing the very best of Radio 2 to Stirling and we’ll have announcements on the amazing artists who’ll be joining us very soon.”
Previous headliners have included Pet Shop Boys, Bryan Adams, Manic Street Preachers, Sting, Tears For Fears and Kylie Minogue.
As for the decision to bring the 2026 edition to Scotland, a SIFA spokesperson said (as per BBC News): “Scotland is a wonderful place to host events of every scale, and the Scottish independent festival sector is a much-loved part of the cultural and economic life of communities right across the country.”
They also added that they were “grateful to the BBC for the thoughtful way they’ve engaged to consider the right timing and structure for this event”, and a spokesperson for Stirling Council said they were “delighted” to host the event for the first time.
Previous editions of the festival have had performances available to watch live on demand services on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer. More details about the line-up, rescheduled dates, and plans to livestream performances are expected at a later date.
