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Bluedot
Setting up the 2016 festival. Bluedot takes place against the backdrop of the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory (JBO) in Cheshire.
StatusDefunct
GenreMusic festival, Science festival
FrequencyAnnual
LocationsJodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Inaugurated22 July 2016 (2016-07-22)
Most recent
21 July 2023 (2023-07-21)
Attendance15,000 per day[1]
Websitediscoverthebluedot.com

Bluedot was a music, science and culture event held annually in July from 2016 to 2023 at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, combining music, live science experiments, expert talks and immersive artworks.[1][2][3]

The event is endorsed by the University of Manchester,[4] current owners of the observatory.[5]

Dark grey and black static with coloured vertical rays of sunlight over part of the image. A small pale blue point of light is barely visible.
The 1990 Pale Blue Dot photograph[6]

The festival is named after Pale Blue Dot, a famous 1990 photograph of planet Earth popularised by Carl Sagan.[7]

In May 2022, it was announced the live entertainment platform, Superstruct Entertainment has acquired a majority stake in Bluedot.[8]

After heavy rainfall affected the festival in 2023, organiser announced that the event would have a fallow year in 2024 to allow "a period of rest during which the soil will recover and regenerate[9]". The festival has yet to return.

Musical performances

[edit]

Since 2016, acts performing at the bluedot festival have included Orbital, Underworld, Alt-J, Goldfrapp, Jean-Michel Jarre,[1][2][3] The Chemical Brothers,[10] Gary Numan and The Flaming Lips.[11]

Kraftwerk headlined Saturday at the 2019 event, alongside New Order and Hot Chip.[12][13]

The 2020 festival was due to feature Björk, Groove Armada and Metronomy,[14] however the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15] The acts were rescheduled to headline the festival in July 2021. However, the festival was cancelled for a second time due to COVID-19, citing the lack of insurance from the British government to cover financial losses if the event were to be cancelled for COVID-19-related reasons.[16][17][18] Bluedot returned in July 2022, with Björk headlining.[19]

Taking place in 2023, the final festival was headlined by Grace Jones.[20][21]

Science talks

[edit]

The festival has included talks and demonstrations from

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 "Bluedot". Bluedot.
  2. 1 2 Heward, Emily (2017). "Review: Bluedot Festival day two at Jodrell Bank". manchestereveningnews.co.uk. Manchester Evening News.
  3. 1 2 Martin, Daniel (2016). "Bluedot festival review – cosmic vibes permeate rave revival". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ "bluedot 2019". events.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  5. ↑ "Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics | The University of Manchester". www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  6. ↑ Staff (12 February 2020). "Pale Blue Dot Revisited". NASA. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  7. ↑ Sagan, Carl (1990). "The Pale Blue Dot". youtube.com. YouTube.
  8. ↑ "Superstruct acquires UK festival Bluedot". IQ Magazine. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Rain-hit Bluedot to take fallow year to allow site recovery, organisers say". BBC News. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Bluedot Festival 2018: Review - The Skinny".
  11. ↑ Wray, Daniel Dylan (23 July 2018). "Bluedot festival review – Gary Numan makes waves at science-pop mashup". The Guardian.
  12. ↑ Moore, Sam (21 November 2018). "Kraftwerk announce huge 2019 UK festival show as Bluedot headliners". nme.com. NME. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  13. ↑ "2019 Lineup". Bluedot Festival. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Line-Up". Bluedot. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  15. ↑ Heward, Emily (16 April 2020). "Bluedot postpones 2020 festival to next year". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  16. ↑ "More than a quarter of UK music festivals cancelled over insurance fears". The Guardian. 4 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  17. ↑ "Covid: Bluedot festival cancelled over 'lack of government support'". BBC News. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  18. ↑ "Alert: 76% of UK Festivals Could Cancel If the Government Doesn't Step in". Vice.com. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  19. ↑ "Bluedot 2022 – Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
  20. ↑ "Bluedot Festival 2023 Lineup". discoverthebluedot. Archived from the original on 20 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  21. ↑ "Bluedot festival: who is headlining Manchester festival with Grace Jones, tickets, prices". nationalworld. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  22. ↑ "Science In The Soul: Richard Dawkins in Conversation with Jim Al-Khalili – Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
  23. ↑ "Teresa Anderson – Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
  24. ↑ "Sarah Bridle – Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
  25. ↑ "Philippa Browning – Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
  26. ↑ "Richard Dawkins".
  27. ↑ The Infinite Monkey Cage The Universe: What Remains to Be Discovered? 2016-08-01 Episode webpage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07mwqft Media file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0438870.mp3
  28. ↑ "Tamsin Edwards". discoverthebluedot.com.
  29. ↑ "Tim O'Brien – Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
  30. ↑ "Lisa Harvey-Smith – Bluedot Festival". Bluedot Festival.
  31. ↑ "JESSICA WADE & MELISSA CASTRILLÓN". discoverthebluedot.com.
  32. ↑ "Heather Williams". Bluedot Festival. Retrieved 4 March 2019.


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