BBC to revive Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq’s ‘The Evening Session’

The show is part of a series of programmes celebrating 20 years since Britpop

Presenters Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley are to revive their much loved 1990s radio show The Evening Session to celebrate 20 years since the emergence of the Britpop scene.

The new programme will be broadcast nightly on Radio 2 for one week, from April 6 to 11. The shows will see artists including Chvrches and Sophie Ellis-Bextor performing cover versions of songs from the era, reports the BBC.

The show will also see guests including Gaz Coombes of Supergrass and Louise Wener of Sleeper sharing their Britpop memories.

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About the reunion, Jo Whiley said: “I will always jump at the chance to work with Steve. He is my radio ‘other half’ and we did fight the Britpop wars together after all. It was a great time to be a DJ on UK radio but, as ever, when you’re in the eye of the storm, you are blissfully unaware. It’s only in hindsight that you appreciate what a privilege it was to live and work through such an exciting time for British music.”

Lamacq added: For me, this is the week 20 years ago that the musical tectonic plates shifted. On the Tuesday, Oasis played live on Radio 1 for the first time and on the Friday morning we heard the news of Kurt Cobain’s death. It was as if one scene had announced it had arrived, as another began to lose its way.”

The week-long revival is part of a series of programmes on Radio 2, BBC Radio 6Music and BBC Four. Britpop At The BBC includes a range of documentaries, interviews with key Britpop artists and a Top 40 Countdown of listener-voted songs that sum up Britpop. Guests on Steve Lamacq’s 6Music show include Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, Creation Records’ Alan McGee and Food Records’ Andy Ross. Mark Radcliffe hosts a documentary about Oasis titled Oasis – What’s the Story?. TV channel BBC Four will host a Britpop-themed evening on April 11. Click here for full details of the season, visit

Lamacq and Whiley co-hosted The Evening Session – then in its original home on BBC Radio 1 – from 1993 to 1997. Whiley left that year and Lamacq continued to host until 2002. The pair reunited for a one-off show on BBC 6Music in 2010, in a programme that found them selecting their favourite live acts from the Evening Session programmes. Synonymous with the Britpop scene, the show was the place to hear new music from the likes of Blur, Pulp, Oasis, Menswear, Elastica and many more.

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