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unning and jumping about to win medals is all very well, but 2012 isn’t only about sport. Plastic pint glasses, lazy sunny days and big speaker systems get their share of the action this year too, and nowhere more so than at London’s Hackney Marshes.

Here the year’s explosion of every kind of cultural expression reaches its musical pinnacle at BBC Radio 1’s biggest ever free live music event: Hackney Weekend 2012.

With over 100 artists taking part, Radio 1 will have something for everybody. There’ll be plenty of chart-toppers, from Florence and the Machine to Tinie Tempah, all across six stages over the weekend of 23 and 24 June.

For a number of the artists billed this will be a homecoming gig. Plan B and Leona Lewis originally hail from Hackney, so you can expect an even livelier show from both.

We should repeat, this is the biggest live show in the history of BBC Radio 1 and, tied to the mass of cultural goings on during 2012, the atmosphere will be electric. Hackney Marshes will be a waving sea of excitement fuelled by some of the best-selling music in the world. You’ll be hard pressed to have more fun anywhere else.