BST Hyde Park 2026 got underway in London over the weekend, with Garth Brooks and Ateez opening the summer run as the first headliners. Jim King says the series is already tracking as one of the strongest in the event’s history, with the best part of 500,000 people expected across the full bill.
That is the scale behind the launch: half a million tickets and a line-up that stretches from country to K-pop. King, chief executive of AEG Presents UK and European Festivals, said the last five years have been incredibly strong, but this year still sits near the top because demand has held up across the booking cycle.
Garth Brooks and Ateez
Garth Brooks coming back after so long gives the opening weekend a different kind of weight, while Ateez arrived after being really keen to play. King called the pairing a strong sign for the series, and the mix matters because BST has built its summer on pulling together acts that do not usually share the same bill.
That range is the point of the 2026 run. The opening weekend sets the tone for the rest of the season, and the schedule now moves quickly into Maroon 5 on July 3, Mumford & Sons on July 4, Duran Duran on July 5, Pitbull on July 10, and Lewis Capaldi across July 11 and July 12.
500,000 across Hyde Park
King said, “Last year was, in some ways, unrepeatable, because we sold every single ticket.” He added, “But I think this year still ranks as one of the best that we've ever had.”
He also said, “we'll have the best part of 500,000 people coming again, which is incredible and I think it's a testament to the artists that we've got.” For readers tracking demand rather than just the poster, that is the key operating number: the run is not being sold as a single headline date, but as a season-long draw spread across multiple sellable nights.
July 10 to July 12
King singled out Pitbull, saying, “Pitbull headlining, selling out 70,000 people in the middle of Hyde Park is an amazing achievement for anybody, so I think it's a strong year in many ways.” He was just as direct about Lewis Capaldi, saying, “It's a really powerful message that he's coming here to Hyde Park and selling 100,000 tickets.”
The second Capaldi date was added early, with King saying, “We added it pretty much straight away – I think it was on day one of the onsale.” He also said, “It was strong through the presale, but we always thought there was potential for two shows, so we added it super-early.” That is the practical signal in this booking: the market is rewarding the acts that can scale beyond one night, and BST Hyde Park is leaning into that demand rather than waiting for it to cool.
For anyone deciding where the pressure points are, the answer is on July 10 through July 12. Pitbull and Capaldi are the clearest tests of the summer, and the 2026 launch suggests BST Hyde Park is not chasing volume for its own sake; it is selling across a run that has already been built to clear 500,000.
