Bluedot 2023 at Jodrell Bank
Johnny James, Managing Editor
Offering 21,000 welly-clad revellers a unique collision of entertainment and information, Cheshire’s award-winning Bluedot Festival is back with a line-up featuring a UK exclusive from Pavement.
Located on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Jodrell Bank Observatory, Bluedot is a weekend-long festival of live music, science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks, bringing to Cheshire a huge mix of artists, speakers, scientists and performers.
The Festival has revealed the line-up for its sixth edition, whose headliners are lo-fi pioneers Pavement, cultural icon Grace Jones and electropop queen Róisín Murphy.
Also announced are electronic music legends Leftfield, Mercury prize winners Young Fathers, art rockers Django Django, feted post-punk four piece Dry Cleaning, Malian desert blues pioneers Tinariwen and experimental rockers Black Country, New Road, plus a Sunday Closing Party headlined by Annie Mac.
Nubya Garcia, Georgia, Max Cooper (3D AV), David Holmes, Beak>, Gwenno, Teleman, CMAT, Lava La Rue, Big Joanie, Skinny Pelembe, Scalping, Westerman, Belief, Pictish Trail, Divorce, Madmadmad and Radiophonic Workshop also join the first wave of the Festival’s music line-up.
Bluedot has also announced the first headline names from its science programme, which features expert talks, demonstrations and debates celebrating cutting-edge science. Guests include BBC Sky at Night’s Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock and renowned climate change researcher and author Mike Berners-Lee, whose How Bad Are Bananas? was named by The Independent as one of its 10 recommended “best books to help you live more sustainably”. UK Space Agency’s Libby Jackson OBE and The Open University’s Professor of Planetary and Space Science Monica Grady CBE will also return to the festival.
The culture and comedy line-up includes a David Bowie special edition of Adam Buxton’s Bug!, a screening and in-conversation with Moonage Daydream director, writer and producer Brett Morgan and an afternoon with White Rabbit Books featuring talks with Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite, Lias Saoudi of Fat White Family, and 90’s icon Miki Berenyi, whose book Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved Me From Success was named Rough Trade’s book of the year for 2022.
For younger adventurers, there’s plenty of exciting and interactive entertainment from Our Kids Social Silent Disco, Pop-Up Puppet Cinema and the ever popular Jedi Lightsaber Training and gourmets will delight in the VIP Village curated by Manchester-based food charity Eatwell and featuring some of the very best food and drink brands in the region including Dishoom, Caroline Martins, Where the Light Gets In, Another Hand and more.
Festival director Ben Robinson said: “As we announce the line-up for the 6th edition of Bluedot it’s with great pride in the team behind the show. From day one the festival has been ambitious in its programming and mission. Looking at the scale of iconic talent, breadth of genres & one off moments it really has matured into a very special vent. Thanks to everyone who’s continued to support the idea of Bluedot, we look forward to gathering together again beneath the telescope with you all.”
