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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Sterephonics frontman Kelly Jones reveals that Noel Gallagher is back in the studio
Danny Jones
Stereophonics lead singer Kelly Jones has graciously revealed to music fans that new Gallagher tunes could be on the way, as he confirmed that Noel has been back in the studio and working on new material.
The big question is, has Liam been in there with him?…
Broken rather nonchalantly in an interview with NME, Jones didn’t so much let the news slip as much as he seemingly just casually dropped it into conversation, mentioning that he bumped into the older Gallagher brother recently.
As he puts it – frustratingly briefly, might we add (sorry, fanaticism will do that to you) – the Oasis icon and High Flying Birds frontman has been doing some songwriting, but the details were scarce.
The 50-year-old ‘Phonics frontman, who was discussing the release of their 13th studio album as well as his own solo project last year, was asked his thoughts on the legendary Britpop band’s upcoming reunion shows and the impact they had on his own career.
“Funnily enough, I found some old pictures of me and Noel rehearsing when he used to have a studio down in Windsor recently, just before we toured America”, said Jones. “We were having a laugh about them and I asked him what he’d been up to and he said he’d been doing some writing in the studio.
The unmistakable Welsh vocalist went on to add: “I’m assuming he’s doing some writing for either his stuff or if they’re [Oasis] gonna bring out a couple songs, I don’t know.”
It seems the pair are still more than friendly, though he gave little away about his relationship with Liam Gallagher; the two British rock groups did share somewhat of a rivalry in the 90s and 2000s, with Stereophonics making no secret of Oasis inspiring their own music.
Describing the band in their heyday, Jones described the period “kind of chaotic and mayhem but it was all very joyous”, insisting that things are very different nowadays but that he is not the less excited than a whole new generations of fans are going to be able to see them live for the first time
As for whether he and his bandmates will be able to find the time, he revealed in a subsequent chat live on Radio X that their own tour clashes may mean they’ll miss out on the Live ’25 tour experience.
Further reflecting on the age of streaming, content overload and what some would argue is an overabundance of media, Kelly said of art and music in particular that “people need it now more than they’ve needed it in a long time.”
We don’t know whether or not Noel’s return to songwriting is for the next High Flying Birds record or whether the rumours are true and new Oasis music really is on the way.
As much as we love his solo stuff, PLEASE let it be the latter.
We do know that the siblings are said to be getting on swimmingly so far and even spent some of the Easter break together, according to LG himself. Here’s hoping they were throwing around ideas for another instant hit.
An old indie favourite is heading back to Manchester for a ‘Best Of Tour’ at a brilliant venue
Danny Jones
Time to roll back the years as old-school indie favourite The Pigeon Detectives are coming back to Manchester for a special show at one of the most stunning venues in the city.
We swear, if we could find our old iPod, their tracks would still be all over it.
Coming back to another part of the North that always showed them plenty of love, The Pigeon Detectives will be playing a special ‘The Best of Tour’ in line with their latest record, Still Not Sorry.
The Manc gig comes as the Yorkshire lads announced just six UK headline sets to support the album release, but let’s be honest, they were never going to skip 0161, were they?
UK TOUR! NEW RECORD! On Sale Friday 2nd May, but get pre-sale NOW when you buy a best of record (with 3 new tracks) or t-shirt from here: https://t.co/a1q44LYbD6 see you in Autumn! pic.twitter.com/HWA9ITS9Ii
— The Pigeon Detectives (@pigeonsofficial) April 25, 2025
With only half a dozen domestic dates confirmed so far, including the likes of Manchester, a homecoming night in Leeds and up in Glasgow, this really does feel like a return that long-standing fans won’t want to miss.
The new LP, which is a greatest hits compilation featuring the very best tracks from their discography that stretches over two decades, drops next month and we’re very ready to pump some adolescent nostalgia into our ears.
And best of all, they’ll be playing all the cult favourite Pigeon Detectives tracks at the simply stunning New Century Hall, marking just their second visit to the venue.
Boasting the food and beer hall downstairs as the ideal pre-gig location, not to mention a sprung dancefloor and those iconic, mesmerising lights, it’s a nigh on perfect space for live music.
We’re not exaggerating when we say we’ve had some of our best gigs in recent memory here.
Speaking in a lengthier statement on social media, the boys from Rothwell wrote: “If a band is lucky (and hardworking, and fairly decent at what they do!) there comes a time in their career when they realise that the journey they started as mates messing about on guitars has culminated in a hefty bunch of songs that people actually care about and connect with!
“At this point, the only logical next step is to take a breath, reflect back through the archives and assemble a ‘Best Of’ album. We’ve reached that point, Pigeon Heads!”
They describe the project as a collection of songs and memories that chart their career from their humble beginnings in Leeds to their “adventures around the globe”, where they have been fortunate enough to “some of the biggest stages on the planet.”
“As a band it’s always felt like we had to do things the hard way, even with an amazing set of supportive fans”, they go on to add, “but we just kept on writing songs, kept on playing gigs and kept on being The Pigeon Detectives. Us against the world. We weren’t sorry then, and we’re Still Not Sorry now!”
Maybe it’s our age showing but those last few lines alone have got us feeling all teary-eyed.
Daisy Jackson -
23rd January 2023 
