Black Eyed Peas announced as headliners for SMK Live
The trio will play their only UK show this year in Milton Keynes.
After announcing day one of their first-ever festival, which saw Clean Bandit, Ella Henderson, Jax Jones, Moonchild Sanelly and Basement Jaxx announced, SMK Live have revealed its day two line-up, with iconic Los Angeles trio Black Eyed Peas taking headline duties.
Joining them is self-confessed Milton Keynes lover Cat Burns, who found herself in the comments of a TikTok about Milton Keynes, proclaiming there’s lots to love about the city, including the vast amounts of parks and greenery. The London-raised singer-songwriter was recently spotted dining at Warbler on the Wharf with her friends, a picturesque pub-style restaurant a short walk from Willen Lake.
Proving her statement to be true, she joins the many faces spotted in Milton Keynes, including Tom Hardy, who won gold at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship at Oakgrove School back in 2022, Rod Stewart, whose son was playing hockey here and Warwick Davis, who bolted past me in Centre:MK on a segway, most likely because he was acting in a theatre show around the corner. I also once bumped into Joey Essex in WHSmith, Gok Wan gave me a Haribo in Waterstones, and I accidentally walked right into Fleur East in HMV, after she had been signing CDs.
As if the line-up wasn’t already thrilling enough, Maryland-born Jalen Ngonda is set to bring his soulful, luscious soundscapes to Stadium MK. Jalen grew up in America and planned to attend a New York performing arts school at the age of 19, before discovering the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, with the school itself having heard his music and encouraged him to apply. He booked a one-way flight to Liverpool, and now Jalen is 32 and resides in London, and released perhaps one of the best albums of 2023, his debut, Come Around and Love Me. Jalen is an incredible performer, and one that I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing live before, when he played his biggest headline show to date — a sold-out Eventim Apollo. Read my full review here.
Complementing Jalen and Cat with ease is the next artist announced: Maverick Sabre, whose honest song-writing on his debut album, Lonely Are The Brave, brought him a BRITs Rising Star nomination in 2012, losing out to Emeli Sandé and being nominated alongside Michael Kiwanuka, with all three of them going on to prove themselves. In 2024, Maverick Sabre released his fifth studio album, Burn The Right Things Down, noted by Rough Trade as his most ambitious and honest album yet.
Taking on hosting and performing duties is Big Narstie, the British author and rapper who made a name for himself as an internet personality, collaborating with British staples Professor Green and N Dubz early in his career, and later collaborating with the likes of Robbie Williams and Craig David.
Taking place inside the home of MK Dons, Stadium MK is a 30,000-seater stadium, which opened in 2007 after two years of construction, and MK Dons’ home was the Hockey Stadium for several years before the stadium was built. The stadium has played host to the likes of Ne-Yo and My Chemical Romance, but this festival will be the first of its kind to take place at the stadium.
Despite taking place inside a seated stadium, the festival will offer street-food villages, activation zones, live DJs and singers, as well as the two stages for the main performers.
A standing ticket for the entire weekend costs £95, with single-day standing tickets costing £76. The festival also have four different hospitality packages on offer, which start from £130 and can be purchased here.
All tickets can be purchased here.
