One of the country’s best-loved festivals has revealed its line-up for 2023, with Bluedot welcoming headline performances from the likes of Grace Jones and Roisin Murphy.
The popular music and science event, which takes place every July at the beautiful Jodrell Bank Observatory, will also include a UK exclusive from Pavement.
The multi-award-winning Bluedot has announced its first wave of artists for its 2023 festival, featuring Leftfield, Young Fathers, Django Django, Brett Morgen, Annie Mac, Chris Lintott, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Tinariwen and many more.
This year’s massive line-up of global music talent will perform in front of the iconic backdrop of the 76-metre-wide Lovell Telescope, which last year was lit up with projections as a huge digital artwork for the first time.
Already announced are the BBC Concert Orchestra and Max Richter for Bluedot 2023, which will take place between 20 and 23 July.
Bluedot 2022. Credit: Supplied
Saturday will be headlined by lo-fi pioneers Pavement with their only UK performance of 2023. The group headlined Primavera last year before embarking on a completely sold-out UK tour that took in four nights at London’s Roundhouse.
The legendary Grace Jones will be taking to the Bluedot stage performing songs from her six-decade-long pop career, including hits like Slave To The Rhythm and Pull Up To The Bumper. Bluedot will be her only northern show of the summer.
Róisín Murphy will make history with her first-ever festival headline slot, calling on her lengthy career which began as one half of Moloko – the defacto queen of electropop has since delivered five solo albums, mesmerised audiences across clubland and is now set to open the weekend, with a cosmic dance party to usher in a new era following the success of her Roisin Machine album and tour.
Bluedot 2022. Credit: Scott SaltBluedot 2023 line up poster
Electronic music legends and multiple Mercury Prize-nominees Leftfield returned last month with the critically acclaimed This Is What We Do, featuring Lemn Sissay and Fontaines DC’s Grian Chatten. They’ll take a headline slot in Bluedot’s Orbit arena.
Also announced are 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 the iconic 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.
A huge part of Bluedot – which takes place at a UNESCO World Heritage Site – every year is its science programme, and this year that will include BBC Sky at Night’s Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Brainiac Live and renowned climate change researcher and author Mike Berners-Lee, whose How Bad Are Bananas? was named by The Independent as one of its ten recommended “best books to help you live more sustainably”.
Bluedot 2022. Credit: Tom MartinBluedot 2022. Credit: Scott SaltBluedot 2022. Credit: Lucas SinclairBluedot 2022. Credit: Scott Salt
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 full science bill will be revealed in the coming weeks.
On the comedy and culture side of things, festival-goers can expect 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.
Bluedot is a family-friendly festival, and kids will be entertained by the likes of Our Kids Social Silent Disco, Pop-Up Puppet Cinema and the ever popular Jedi Lightsaber Training.
Food and drink in the VIP Village will be curated by Manchester-based food charity Eatwell, featuring some brands 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.”
bluedot was recently named Line-Up Of The Year at the UK Festival Awards, and Festival of the Year at the Live Awards, and has hosted headline performances from the likes of Bjork, Kraftwerk 3-D, New Order, The Chemical Brothers, Mogwai, Pixies, The Flaming Lips, Underworld and Jean-Michel Jarre, plus high-profile talks from Tim Peake, Brian Cox, Helen Sharman, Alice Roberts and Richard Dawkins and an array of groundbreaking arts and family experiences.
Tickets for bluedot 2023 go on sale 10am Friday 27th January.
Oasis are being linked with a massive outdoor gig next year
Danny Jones
After 16 long years of waiting, Oasis are officially the biggest band on the planet again (not that they ever really stopped), and now they’re being linked with a rather big outdoor gig at the storied Slane Castlenext year.
They’ve already done Knebworth, so why not tick another one off the list?
With the Live ’25 reunion tour well underway, and rumblings over what they’re going to do once this run of global comeback shows is done, Britpop fever hasn’t just had fans of the band reliving the 1990s – it’s practically taken over the music world.
There’s already plenty of talk circling – including a potential return to Knebworth – but now Oasis is pretty much the first and only name being tipped for a huge headline slot at Slane Castle, after 2026 dates were slated by the estate’s owners.
Slane Castle hosted natives, U2, for their Go Home live concert film back in 2002. (Credit: Sara Einarsson via WikiCommons)
While Harry Styles played Ireland’s historic and equally iconic venue back in 2023, the Co Meath concerts, located in the heart of the Boyne Valley, have somewhat dried up in recent years.
Prior to the former One Direction star, the last major musicians to play there were rock and heavy metal veterans, Metallica, more than half a decade ago.
However, the new lord of the manor, Alex Conyngham, is now looking to carry on where his father, Henry Mountcharles, left off in carrying on their live music legacy; and given that another legendary rock and roll band is pretty much anyone can talk about at the minute, their name has already been put forward.
As per the Drogheda Independent writer, John Kierans, Conyngham is reported to have said: “We want to bring the shows back, we miss them. It is not just about the revenue, but keeping the name of Slane as a rock venue on the map.
“It is what Slane Castle is known for, and I don’t want that legacy to fade away. This is one of the world’s great rock and roll venues with the most natural setting. We are working on plans, and hopefully we can pull something off for next year.”
While Oasis are due to play two nights at Croke Park in Dublin later this month, there is now a strong belief/expectation that a number of 2026 dates will also be announced. But will the stars align?
Slane Castle are said to be in negotiations to stage a massive concert in 2026.
Croke Park theoretically has a concert capacity of 82,000, but I'd love to see them at Slane Castle. Saw Oasis and REM there in 1995. It was epic. pic.twitter.com/CYf6VDDgPw
— 🟥 deli⁷ | just a person🥢ᶠᵘᵗᵘʳᵉ'ˢ ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ᵇᵉ ᵒᵏᵃʸ (@na_do_saram) August 3, 2025
It’s also worth mentioning that they’ve played the 1,500-acre grounds before. Twice, in fact.
The first occasion was in July 1995, supporting R.E.M just before they hit arguably the height of their own powers with the release of their second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? just a few months later, on 2 October.
Burnage‘s most famous sons and their bandmates go to do it all over again in 2009 (the same year they would eventually split up), with some incredible ‘warm-up acts’ in The Prodigy, Kasabian and Glasvegas.
Let’s be honest, either of those artists could probably book and sell out the place these days, so god knows how much a ticket for that lineup would set you back present day.
Regardless, if there’s one band that fits the billing to bring back the Slane Castle gigs at their boldest and best, it’s the almighty Oasis.
Whether or not the heavily rumoured 2026 dates are domestic to the UK and Ireland, we’ll have to wait and see, but the clamour is already there, no matter where they sign on to perform.
If you were at Heaton Park or had the fortune of seeing any of the Live ’25 shows, you’ll know they still sound as good as ever.
Featured Images — Sitomon (via Flickr)/Kinsie84 (via Wikimedia Commons)/Press Shots
Audio
Drake at Co-op Live, Manchester: Forget ‘One Dance’ – we had many
Thomas Melia
Canadian hitmaker Drake graced Co-op Live in Manchester for the final night of the ‘Some Special Shows 4 UK’ tour with PartyNextDoor.
First song in and multi-hyphenate Drake is already feeling sentimental with ‘Gimme a Hug’ as he admits, “I appreciate the fans rockin’ with me / This is really just a small token.”
‘Marvin’s Room’ played out right after, and although the song prior references it as a favourite of “Durk’s boy”, this same love was shared between 23,500 fans in the crowd at Co-op Live last night.
Shortly after, the Toronto-born rapper began the usual minute-long introduction of his gigantic single ‘Passionfruit’ with fans roaring as soon as he sang the long-awaited ‘Listen’.
Drake played out to 94,000 fans across four sold-out nights at Co-op Live in Manchester (Credit: Audio North)
Less than halfway through this stacked setlist, and it was time for the holy trinity of the night: ‘God’s Plan’, ‘In My Feelings’ and ‘Nice for What’ – nothing short of back-to-back bangers.
Fellow Canadian artist PartyNextDoor joined the self-proclaimed ‘Champagne Papi’ on stage to perform a medley of hits from their collaborative album ‘Some Sexy Songs 4 U’ next.
This R’n’B act made sure to play out his murky trap-fused number ‘No Chill’, and he squeezed in the equally melancholic melody ‘Somebody Loves Me’, too.
The pair may be promoting their joint LP but they took a second to squeeze in a throwback, matching each other’s energy while executing the 2016 collaboration ‘Come and See Me’.
Drake’s career is timeless, and the setlist proves just that as he delivers a rendition of one of his most recent successes, ‘Girls Want Girls’, followed by a track that laid the foundations of his career, ‘Fancy’.
Drake and PartyNextDoor for the ‘Some Special Songs 4 UK’ tour(Credit: The Manc)
Almost 30 songs deep and Drake still had fans reciting bars, verses and everything in between, and this continued as the two-time Brit award winner started 2023 anthem ‘Rich Baby Daddy’.
St. Louis rapper Sexyy Red wasn’t present for her renowned chant, but Manchester stepped up to the occasion, professing: “Hands on your knees, hands on your knees / Shake that *ss for Drake / Now shake that *ss for me”, verbatim.
It was only fair that the global rap titan finished with the setlist with two cellular-themed tracks, starting with the “You used to call me on my cell phone” number ‘Hotline Bling’ before the “Who’s callin’ my phone?” viral smash ‘Nokia’.
The setlist follows a very cyclical structure, as although Drake is known for his comical and cheeky persona on stage and online, deep down, the chart topper is very attentive.
Ending on the ever-emotive ‘Yebba’s Heartbreak’ with lines like, “How much can I show my love for you?”, it’s safe to say this international act is feeling pretty grateful after seeing 94,000 fans show up and show out for him across four non-consecutive nights.
Drake may refer to himself as the ‘Champagne Papi’, but it’s the 23,500 fans who were popping bottles and raising a toast to the rap champ; the support for this musical act is ‘Nonstop’.
Co-op Live really is booking all the big names now.
Daisy Jackson -
23rd January 2023 
