Bluedot festival is finally set to return next weekend after two years of cancellations.
The much-loved festival marries together the worlds of music and science and takes place at arguably the most beautiful location in the UK.
Some of the world’s biggest artists will be performing beneath the awesome sight of the 76-metre-wide Lovell Telescope, which will be lit up with projections as a huge digital artwork for the first time.
Bluedot will be back between 21 and 24 July for its fifth instalment.
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Here’s everything you need to know about the massive festival near Greater Manchester.
Who are the headliners?
Bjork and Metronomy will both headline Bluedot 2022. Credit: Supplied
This year, headliners at Bluedot will include Groove Armada (as part of the band’s final live tour), post-rockers Mogwai, and Metronomy.
In a UK festival exclusive, Bjork will perform a uniquely commissioned performance with the Halle Orchestra to close the festival.
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Bluedot’s now-traditional opening concert on the Thursday evening will see Mercury-nominated Hannah Peel and Paraochestra take to the stage.
Also confirmed on the bill are psychedelic space rockers Spiritualized, current chart-toppers Yard Act, Warp Records mainstay Squarepusher, multi-instrumentalist composer Anna Meredith, the legendary likes of A Certain Ratio and Tim Burgess, and techno producer and creator of the official theme for the 2023 Women’s World Cup Kelly Lee Owens.
Bluedot 2022’s science programme will welcome key speakers including Radio 4’s Jam Al-Khalili, British filmmaker David Olusoga, space scientist Monica Grady, and many more.
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Comedians such as Desiree Burch, Olga Koch, Robin Ince and Ahir Shah will also be making appearances as part of the culture programme.
How much are tickets?
Bluedot Festival. Credit: Lucas Sinclair
There are still some tickets available for Bluedot festival.
Last release weekend tickets for adults are £205.25 including booking fees (then it’s £87 for 11-15 year olds, and £27.50 for children aged between six and 10 years old).
If you want to add on early Thursday entry, it’s £31.90 for adults.
You can also add on access to the VIP Village for £110.00 including booking fees.
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Where is Bluedot festival and how do I get there?
Bluedot Festival. Credit: George Harrison
Bluedot takes place at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
If you’re making your own way there, you’ll need to use the postcode SK11 9DW.
There are also coach travel packages available with National Express from cities around the UK.
What are the gate times?
The weekend campsite will open from midday on Thursday 21 July for those with a Thursday add-on ticket. For everyone else, it will open from 9am on the Friday.
For Friday, Saturday and Sunday, gates to the festival will be open between 9am and 9pm.
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What’s the camping situation?
Bluedot Festival. Credit: Scott Salt
There are several camping options to choose from at Bluedot, and general weekend tickets include access to the standard camping site.
There are also a limited number of boutique campsites at The Colony, which are selling out quick – you can browse remaining availability at discoverthebluedot.com/accommodation.
Bluedot has included family-only areas within the standard campsite for those bringing children, and space for live-in vehicles.
Bluedot is a fully cashless festival across its bars, food stands, merchandise and other points of sale, in a bit to improve customer experience with faster service and shorter queue times.
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Unlike 2019, the festival won’t be operating a payment wristband system and will instead just be using standard payment methods.
That means all major credit and debit cards can be used, either as contactless or chip and pin, as well as wearable forms of payment like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Featured image: Lucas Sinclair
Audio
Mani from The Stone Roses is throwing a fundraising party with his wife following cancer diagnosis
Daisy Jackson
Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield and his wife Imelda are throwing a massive fundraising night to raise money for The Christie and The Stockport Charitable Trust.
The wife of the Stone Roses legend was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2020, and has been undergoing gruelling treatment and surgeries ever since.
The pair, who have nine-year-old twins together, will curate an evening of first-class entertainment at The Kimpton Clocktower Hotel’s ballroom in Manchester city centre.
This is The One: Let’s Kick Cancer’s Arse will be taking place during Mani’s birthday week, with raffle and auction prizes donated by bands, footballers, actors, venues and promoters.
Imelda and Mani will throw the fundraising party together. Credit: Supplied
Imelda is an events agent who says: “Both charities have supported me through my journey. Cancer affects not just the person who has it, but everyone around them, and I hope that by investing in some more research, we can help alleviate some of the devastation caused to families.”
Mani added: “When life deals you a pair of twos, you must get your game face on! The past two years since my wife’s diagnosis have been brutal in so many ways, but it’s also opened our eyes to so many things.
“This disease needs to be eradicated – we feel duty bound to do our bit to achieve this. So everybody, get on board, dig deep, help out, we will win!”
Credit: Twitter, Imelda Mounfield
By the time Imelda was diagnosed with bowel cancer, it had already spread to her liver and a small nodule in her lung, she wrote on her own JustGiving page.
She said: “I underwent emergency life-saving bowel surgery at it perforated. I had Covid and appendicitis for my first 3 chemo sessions, which were missed.
“I thought I was going down to the theatre to confirm appendicitis. Nobody heard anything for 9 hrs. Hence I woke with no small colon and an ileostomy stoma instead.
“Fast forward 6 months of treatments and breaks while they considered surgery, I had the right side of my liver removed.
“We were just on the mop-up stage of chemo when a scan revealed another tumour in the liver and several nodules on my lungs.
“I’m looking at other treatment centres and treatments privately as I’m nowhere near giving up this fight.
“Think positive thoughts into the universe for me to beat this. I’ve got twin boys aged 9 who I’m fighting for to be their mummy to be there for many years to come.”
This is The One: Let’s Kick Cancer’s Arse will take place at The Kimpton Clocktower’s ballroom on Friday 18 November.
Featured image: Paul Husband
Audio
A live orchestra is performing Kanye West’s ‘best’ album in Manchester next month
Emily Sergeant
One of Kanye West’s most-critically acclaimed albums is set to be performed by a live orchestra right here in Manchester next month.
And tickets are going on sale very soon.
There aren’t many artists in recent times who could be considered quite as polarising or who divide opinion like Kayne West, but despite how controversial his public persona has been over the last decade, and most-recently within the last few years, he is still widely considered to be one of the most influential hip hop musicians of all time, as well as often being voted as one of the greatest musicians of his generation.
But in typical Kanye fashion, his music often divides opinion just as much as his public persona – especially aomng fans, who will usually debate his best songs and albums, but rarely come to an agreement as to what they are.
One of the albums generally-considered by critics to be the best of West’s discography though is his 2010 album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’.
One of Kanye West’s most-critically acclaimed albums is set to be performed by a live orchestra / Credit: The Blues Kitchen Manchester
And if that’s the album you were expecting it to be, then you might want to add the date Friday 2 December to your diary, as that is when a live orchestra will be setting up at The Blues Kitchen to perform a “reimagining” of the LP in full.
Smash-hits like ‘Power’, ‘Runaway’, and ‘Monster’ are just some of the tracks from the album set to be performed during the set.
In a description for the upcoming event, The Blues Kitchen Manchester said: “Kanye’s career-defining record, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, is widely seen as one of the last decade’s greatest albums [so] we’re incredibly excited to re-interpret this cult classic with a 13-piece orchestra formed of the UK’s finest classically trained musicians, using a unique musical score.”
‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ will be performed in full right here in Manchester / Credit: The Blues Kitchen Manchester
On top of the influential album being performed in full, fans can also expect to hear “some extra Kanye classics to finish off the night” too.
Re:imagine My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy will be live at The Blues Kitchen Manchester on Friday 2 December, and tickets are set to go on sale at 10am next week on Tuesday 16 August.
Daisy Jackson -
20th July 2022 
