BBC Radio 2 in the Park’s stars Owain Wyn Evans, Shaznay Lewis, Travis and Rylan on how the first day went

Today marked the first full day of the highly anticipated musical festival Radio 2 in the Park. taking place in Moor Park in Preston.

After a successful warm up party featuring the Radio 2 DJs last night, the gang geared up to do it all over again but this time alongside a whole host of music stars.

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Our celebrity reporter Aimee Seddon headed down to Moor Park today to join in with the celebrations and she even had the chance to talk to some of the stars taking to the two stages.

Take a look at what they had to say below....

Travis

I managed to chat to Travis before they went on stage so the first question had to be how they were feeling.

Andy replied: “We feel very excited, it's a massive stage and we haven't played on a stage like that for a long time so it's going to be great. It's really great to be back out touring because our previous record was during lockdown so we never got to tour! Being back out you realise how much you missed it so all shows are good but this a special one”

Q) How do you feel about being the first on?

Dougie: “Well we've had some practice recentlt because we warmed up for the Killers on their UK tour and it was great. When you open, there's no pressure and all the audience are in the perfect state- they're not knackered, they're not steaming drunk, they're actually in the zone.”

Q) Can you describe the set?

Dougie: “Old and new”

Andy: “and short”

Dougie: “yeah we've got thirty minutes to try and cram it all in!”

Q) Well what's the vibe of the set?

Dougie: “Hopefully they won't be using their sleeping bags yet or their hammocks, we're a very good warm up act.”

Andy: “Hopefully they'll be singing!”

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What song usually gets the crowd going?

Dougie: “Sings good, driftwood's good, just all the older songs that people have grown up with. I think we have a lot of songs that are embedded into the culture of our county and we feel very lucky to have that.”

Andy: “One of things we’re surprised at is when we play a new song-our tenth album came out in July - and that goes down really well. We’re always like wow.”

Q) Have you performed in Preston before?

Dougie: “Years ago, I think ‘97 but I can't really remember. My memories of Preston are going through it from Scotland on My way home to Walsall, where I grew up. You would always be out looking at the beautiful countryside so then to be here actually on the ground is amazing after all these years.”

Q) What are you expecting the audience to be like?

Dougie: “Anywhere north of London is kind of much warmer, people are friendlier, it seems to be the further up you get…”

Andy: “the enthusiasm heightens. In any of the Northern cities, you get that feeling that people just want to have a good time.”

Q) Will you be able to stay after the acts?

Andy: “We're at the mercy of the bus driver but we're going to try to persuade him to stick around. I want to see Sting because the first time we ever did anything on TV was Later with Joel's Holland in 1997, before we even had a record deal, we were completely unknown, and Sting was playing that night so it would be great to see him again.”

Q) You've been around since the 90s so how does it feel to still perform on huge stages in front of thousands?

Dougie: “Like Bono once said - I hate name dropping - we're still getting away with it! That's all we can say, all the bands, what a job to have, to be able to go up and sing on a platform. It's a really lovely thing to be able to do and not a day goes by where we take that for granted. We're the luckiest band in the world.”

Q) Why should people go back to listen to the Travis set on BBC Sounds?

Dougie: “Because Travis is a live band, there's no backing track. A lot of bands play with backing tracks and that's fine but I like to see a band - for want of a better word- s*** themselves on stage, look at each other and wonder who's going to be the first person to mess up. That gives the set a bit of energy.”

Q) And have you got anything else exciting lined up after Radio 2 in the Park?

Dougie: “There's a couple more singles to come out from the new album and of course we're touring at the end of the year.”

Andy: “Yeah UK tour in December after we come back from South Afrrica and it should be really good. We're playing up and down, finishing up in Glasgow but also playing Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Wolverhampton and all other places.”

Q) Any final thing to say to our readers in Lancashire?

Dougie: “Our drummer Neil actually lives in Lancashire, he's been here ages. He always sends us pictures of his epic hikes and it's some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen. Neil takes selfie and we're just like ‘where are you? It looks like a different world!’ So it's just lovely to be here finally.”

Owain Wyn Evans

The North West’s favourite weatherman turned DJ spoke to us after his DJ set which kicked off the whole day.

How was your set?

Owain: “It was great fun and obviously the sun is shining - I always know what the weather is going to be doing in the North West and in Preston of course, my time doing the weather here- and the crowd were great, it was exactly what I was expecting from the gorgeous people of Preston.”

What sort of music did you play?

Owain: “It was mostly 80s, 90s and noughties kind of vibes going on because I was on before Travis… so you kind of have to play things ad a DJ that pleases everyone- it's like playing a great wedding disco, I guess that's how I look at it. So I had a bit of ABBA in there, a bit of Gina G in there - because you've got to have a bit of pop, haven't you - and some good 90s dance songs as well.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing this weekend?

“I’m so excited to see so many of the artists! It's a really great list of artists this year here in Radio 2 in the Park in Preston. I can't wait to see the Pet Shop Boys though, I have lived them for so many years and their songs are a bit of soundtrack I guess to my life. They're unapologetic, they're great. I played some of their songs in my DJ set earlier.”

What's it been like having all the Radio 2 gang together?

“It’s been lovely having the whole of BBC Radio 2 gang together because we don't see each other very often, not all of us. If I'm down in London I'll see Zoe perhaps whose on after me or if I'm covering for someone, I'll see whoever’s around me but everybody's so busy and I do the show from Cardiff now so I don't get to see as many of the presenters unless we are all in the same place as each other,,, so Radio 2 in the Park is always a lovely event to do because enough get to see everyone, have a good old laugh and a catch up!”

Q) What do you make of the chosen location, Preston?

Owain: “I was so thrilled when I heard that Radio 2 in the Park was happening here in Preston. I still have a bit of my heart in the North West because I spent so many years up here when I worked on North West Tonight and obviously Preston was in our patch and I did work on Radio Lancahsire. It's just a really special part of the world so I was absolutely delighted!”

Q) Why should people listen back to Radio 2 in the Park on Sounds or tune into the station once the festival is over?

Owain: “BBC Radio 2 is such a great station, when I was offered this job with my own show, it was like a dream come true because we play more music, we have great guest, we've got a great roster of presenters as well, myself included now obviously, and it's just a station that you can switch on and always smile to and that's one of things that I absolutely love about it. You'll always hear a song that you know and that you like and with Radio 2 in the Park, you can catch up with the performances there are happening on the main stage and also on Iplayer, we've got great Iplayer content this year because q s aradio DJ, it’s all about the hearing, all about the music, we're live on Radio 2 all weekend but you can go back and watch the performances and so much effort has been put into the staging and the tech this year, it looks sensational so please do go back and watch the sets!”

Shaznay Lewis

All Saints icon turned solo star sat down for a group interview after her set and although our reporter unfortunately turned up a little late we caught the end of her description of why Radio 2 was great at least!

Shaznay: “I think probably what made it so great is that it’s just one stage… there's not too much walking around and going to other things. I reckon that’s a bonus.”

Q) Will you be sticking around after your set?

Shaznay: “I’ve got the kids with me and my mum with me! She’s 83 so she’ll be too tired.”

Q) How did you find Preston as a location choice?

Shaznay: “It’s been brilliant! The last location was Leicester so it’s great, they’re obviously picking perfect locations for it, everyone’s come out. It’s been great Preston, I think it’s going to be one of my top.”

Q) What was the audience like?

Shaznay: “They were brilliant but like I said, I think a lot of that's probably to do with everybody just being able to just stay in one place and see all these great acts at the same stage, instead of having to move around and I think the times that we're living in now, everybody's just wants to have a good time and a lot of these artist, a lot of their catalogue are songs that people really know and resonate with. I heard Travis earlier and I was singing along, it’s great.”

Q) How does it feel to have people still singing along to your songs at festivals after all these years?

Shaznay: “It feels great. To think I wrote some of these songs 25 years ago and they’re still resonant. They still get a really good response and I don't get bored of them because every experience is actually always different. It's nice because everyone's obviously been on a journey with some of these songs as much as we have.”

Q) Would you come back and do another Radio 2 in the Park if you were asked?

Shaznay: “Yeah definitely, Radio 2 have been amazing.”

The fabulous Rylan spoke to us in between his two Rybiza Anthem sets...

Q) How are you finding Radio 2 in the Park so far?

Rylan: “It’s been so fun. Obviously we launched last night, and I am not in the best of state after last night but it was incredible. I did my DJ set and it was just so fun, the crowds were just amazing. And today, obviously the masses have turned up. Yeah, it's just vibes, unreal.

It's the first time they've done a DJ night, was it needed?

“We were all like ‘wait what? Just the DJ tent? Okay, yeah, maybe it could work.’ It has to happen every year, because it was so good! I can't believe how many people turned up on a Friday night in a park.”

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Q) You sang with Pixie Lott earlier, how was that?

“That was really, really fun. So I know Pixie away from work and yeah she rung me on Wednesday, and she was like ‘you're gonna come sing with me’. She’s just literally moved up the road from me… I thought she wanted some sugar and she's like ‘No, seriously, come do Cry me Out’ -because we did it for karaoke- and I was like, ‘are you alright? Have you had a bang to the head?’

Q) How did you rehearse?

Rylan: “We didn’t! I've been so busy. I've been like, on air here so literally I just did a quick change, put my ears in and went on.”

Q) How were you feeling about singing on stage?

Rylan: “Just normal. I mean, I've not performed for over a year, but it was really, really fun, I loved it.

“I don't get nervous about DJing and don't get nervous about presenting but singing. I suppose I still havelike little butterflies, but no, I just think that I'm not doing open heart surgery so no one will die - fingers crossed- unless it's me falling off the stage!

Q) What do you think of people coming to see you specifically?

Rylan: “I think it's crazy. There’s so many amazing acts on the stage and then there’s like, people with Ryland T shirts and I'm like, What is going on? I don't get it, but I love it.”

Q) You started on X Factor, went on to Big Brother and now you’re a Radio 2 DJ, what’s that been like?

Rylan: “A couple of years ago we did this big campaign saying like ‘Radio 2, part of the family’ and it really does feel like that. The one thing that most people come up to me in the street is ‘Oh, I love your radio two show’ I think it really hit for me during lockdown, we were like people's friends during that time, because no one was leaving the house but we were classed as key workers so we had to keep going and oh my god, like the amount of messages I got from people saying like ‘I live on my own and not having you lot, I don't know what I would have done.” You don't realize how powerful radio- hearing someone’s voice- is to someone's ears.”

Vernon Kay told me that we should expect chaos from you and Scott Mills throughout the weekend, has that happened or you planning something?

Rylan: “Oh yeah, me and Scott are terrible, hence the reason why we do Eurovision- I'm surprised that we've not been barred from certain countries over the years! Me and Scott, we're like the terrible two show, and Scott's Mr Goody Two Shoes but then when he's around me, I lead him astray and I love it.”

How's Preston been as a venue for your chaos?

Rylan: “Preston's been amazing. The park is incredible. The layout is great. The fans are amazing. The first time we did this was last year in Leicester so to be here at Preston and knowing what we're all doing now, knowing what to expect, it's just exceeded expectations!”