The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton from 2009 until 2015, and then by Clara Amfo from May 2015 to August 2021. Since September 2021 the segment is now hosted by Rickie Haywood-Williams, Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges.
It exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format. The Live Lounge itself is also a physical room in the Radio 1 studios, from where some of the performances are broadcast; however, due to its size, many are done from the BBC Maida Vale Studios. From 2009, Trevor Nelson began hosting Live Lounges on his BBC Radio 1Xtra show, and was replaced in that slot by DJ Ace in 2017.[1]
The songs chosen as cover versions are often a completely different genre to that which the artist usually performs, and offer a new perspective on the original. Jamie Cullum's cover of Pharrell Williams's "Frontin' led to Cullum being signed to Pharrell's label Star Trak when played to him at a later visit to The Jo Whiley Show, and was added to his 2003 album Twentysomething.
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IRE [2] | |||||||||||||
| Volume 1 |
| 1[3] | — | |||||||||||
| Volume 2 |
| 1[4] | — | |||||||||||
| Volume 3 |
| 2[5] | — | |||||||||||
| Volume 4 |
| 1[6] | — | |||||||||||
| Volume 5 |
| 1[7] | — | |||||||||||
| The Best Of |
| 2[9] | — | |||||||||||
| Volume 6 |
| 1[11] | — | |||||||||||
| BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2012 |
| 1[13] | — | |||||||||||
| BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2013 |
| 1[15] | — | |||||||||||
| BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2014 |
| 1[17] | 2 | |||||||||||
| BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2015 |
| 1[19] | 2 | |||||||||||
| BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2016 |
| 2[21] | 8 | |||||||||||
| BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2017 |
| 2[23] | 7[24] | |||||||||||
| BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge 2018 |
| 6[26] | 18 | |||||||||||
| 6[28] | |||||||||||||
| "—" denotes album that did not chart or was not released | ||||||||||||||
Over the years of Live Lounge, various Radio 1 features have involved this segment, these include:
On 27 January 2011 BBC Radio 1 launched a new extended version of the popular Live Lounge dubbed 'Live Lounge Special with...' or sometimes referred to as 'Live Lounge XL'. The extended live lounge performance differs from the normal performance with an interview at the very beginning of the set rather than at the beginning of each track. Then the artist performs 5 or 6 tracks uninterrupted, which can include a cover.
| width=15% | Broadcast Date | Artist | Set List | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowspan='6' | 27 January 2011 | Rowspan='6' | Adele | "Rolling in the Deep |
| "Don't You Remember" | ||||
| "Promise This" (Cheryl Cole) | ||||
| "Hometown Glory" | ||||
| "Chasing Pavements" | ||||
| "Someone Like You" | ||||
| Rowspan='7' | 30 September 2011[29] | Rowspan='7' | Cee Lo Green | "Bright Lights Bigger City" |
| "It's OK" | ||||
| "Inhaler" (Miles Kane) | ||||
| "I Want You" | ||||
| "Cry Baby" | ||||
| "Forget You" | ||||
| "Crazy" (Gnarls Barkley)/"Natural Blues" (Moby) | ||||
| Rowspan='6' | 25 November 2011[30] | Rowspan='6' | Florence and the Machine | "Shake It Out" |
| "What the Water Gave Me" | ||||
| "Take Care" (Drake) | ||||
| "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" | ||||
| "Dog Days Are Over" | ||||
| "No Light, No Light" | ||||
| width=15% | Broadcast Date | Artist | Set List | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowspan='5' | 19 March 2012[31] | Rowspan='5' | Katy Perry | "Part of Me" |
| "The One That Got Away" | ||||
| "Firework" | ||||
| "Thinking of You" | ||||
| "Paris" (Jay-Z & Kanye West) | ||||
| Rowspan='6' | 13 June 2012[32] | Rowspan='6' | Usher | "Scream" |
| "U Remind Me" | ||||
| "Yeah!" | ||||
| "OMG" | ||||
| "Pumped Up Kicks" (Foster the People) | ||||
| "Climax" | ||||
| Rowspan='6' | 25 September 2012[33] | Rowspan='6' | Mumford & Sons | "Roll Away Your Stone" |
| "Below My Feet" | ||||
| "The Cave" | ||||
| "Tessellate"(Alt-J (∆)) | ||||
| "Ghosts That We Knew" | ||||
| "I Will Wait" | ||||
| Rowspan='6' | 28 September 2012[34] | Rowspan='6' | Muse | "Madness" |
| "Uprising" | ||||
| "Follow Me" | ||||
| "Panic Station" | ||||
| "Sign o' the Times"(Prince) | ||||
| "Starlight" | ||||
| Rowspan='5' | 12 December 2012[35] | Rowspan='5' | Ben Howard | "Esmerelda" |
| "Only Love" | ||||
| "Keep Your Head Up" | ||||
| "Oats In The Water" | ||||
| "Figure 8"(Ellie Goulding) | ||||