Faron Mackenzie: Celebs Rumors

The grand return of the BBC’s 1Xtra Live event, due to take place at London’s Wembley Arena next month, has been cancelled. A statement on social media yesterday blamed “changes to artists’ schedules and increasing financial costs” for the decision to call off the show.The first edition of BBC 1Xtra’s annual event since before the pandemic, this year’s 1Xtra Live was also due to celebrate the radio station’s recent 20th birthday. Announcing the 2022 show last month, Faron McKenzie – Head Of BBC Radio 1Xtra – said: “With BBC 1Xtra turning 20 this year, this 1Xtra Live is going to go all the way off! We’re going to bring new and emerging talent together with the hottest UK artists and best international acts for the biggest birthday bash of the year!”But, alas, no.

BBC has cancelled this year’s edition of 1Xtra Live due to artists’ changing schedules and “increasing financial costs”.Announced last month, the 2022 instalment of the annual event – which celebrates the best of Black music – had been set to take place at the OVO Arena Wembley in London on Saturday, October 15.It would’ve further marked BBC Radio 1Xtra’s 20th anniversary. “We’re going to bring new and emerging talent together with the hottest UK artists and best international acts for the biggest Birthday bash of the year,” said Faron McKenzie, Head Of 1Xtra, previously.Today (September 5), organisers have announced that 1Xtra Live 2022 will no longer be taking place as planned.“Due to some significant changes over the past few weeks, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s 1Xtra Live, which was due to be held on 15th October in London,” the official update read.“A combination of changes to artists’ schedules and increasing financial costs means that we are not able to put on the event to the standard we expect from ourselves and more importantly, to the standard our audience expects from us.”The message concluded: “We are working hard to deliver something special for later in the year, which we’ll announce soon.” You can see the statement in the Instagram post beneath.A post shared by BBC Radio 1Xtra (@bbc1xtra)1Xtra Live hasn’t taken place since 2019 due to the COVID pandemic.

BBC Radio 1Xtra has confirmed that its 1Xtra Live event will return later this year for the first time since before the pandemic. Taking place at the Wembley Arena in London on 15 Oct, the all-star concert will also celebrate the BBC station’s 20th birthday, which is actually this month.Confirming all this, Head Of BBC Radio 1Xtra, Faron McKenzie, says: “With BBC 1Xtra turning 20 this year, this 1Xtra Live is going to go all the way off! We’re going to bring new and emerging talent together with the hottest UK artists and best international acts for the biggest birthday bash of the year!”“Having been away since 2019”, he adds, “there are new artists and genres which our audience have never seen perform live at this iconic event before.