Bluedot festival is finally set to make a return in 2022, with headline performances from Bjork, Groove Armada, Mogwai and Metronomy.
The popular festival at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire has revealed the first wave of its line-up for this July’s event.
Bluedot marries the worlds of music, science and culture in a family-friendly four-day extravaganza.
Both its 2020 and 2021 festivals had to be cancelled, with organisers saying a ‘lack of government support around insurance’ had forced them to call it off.
Bluedot will return in 2022. Credit: Lucas Sinclair
But Bluedot will be back between 21 and 24 July for its fifth instalment.
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There’ll be huge performances beneath the 76-metre-wide Lovell Telescope, which will be lit up with projections as a huge digital artwork for the first time.
Bjork will close this year’s Bluedot in a UK festival exclusive, with a uniquely commissioned performance with the Halle Orchestra.
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Bluedot has revealed its 2022 headliners. Credit: George Harrison
On Friday night, dance act Groove Armada will headline as part of the band’s final live tour.
Scottish post-rockers Mogwai are set to headline the Saturday night, following the release of their Mercury Prize-nominated As The Love Continues.
They’ll be joined on the Saturday evening by Metronomy, who’ll perform tracks from their upcoming seventh album, Small World.
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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.
Bluedot Festival. Credit: Lucas Sinclair
Bluedot Festival. Credit: George Harrison
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.
Comedians such as Desiree Burch, Olga Koch, Robin Ince and Ahir Shah will also be making appearances as part of the culture programme.
The family-friendly festival will also have curations from Wallace & Gromit creators Aardman Animations and Clangers, and an enormous range of science-focused activities, workshops and live experiments across the Star Fields.
Festival director Ben Robinson said: “After two years away we are thrilled to be able to return with such a unique and diverse line up to the iconic Jodrell Bank for the fifth instalment of bluedot.
“We can’t wait for people to join us beneath the Lovell Telescope in July to experience four days of cosmic adventures which will close with a very special orchestral performance from Björk and The Hallé.”
Posters around Manchester city centre spark serious rumours Charli XCX is set to headline Parklife 2025
Danny Jones
Some pretty big, green posters are popping up around town and, not to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like they’re hinting at Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025…
Feel free to lose your bratting minds.
A number of tall, let’s call it ‘apple’ green posters have been sighted in various places across Manchester city centre this Friday, 22 November and the last time we saw this slightly low-resolution, plain black Arial font and colour combo we got a reworked version of Charli XCX’s brat album.
Listen, all we can tell you is that this is almost exactly the same marketing and the letters on the poster simply read, “PL25”. Come on… you do the math(s).
Spotting at least two of the posters for ourselves around both Newton and Thomas Street in and around the Northern Quarter, plenty of people have been double-taking at the simple but bold and undeniably eye-catching portrait posters.
Trust us, we weren’t the only ones stopping to take a picture and frantically send them to half of our phonebook either.
Charli herself hasn’t given us any other clues on social media thus far – to be fair, this one feels fairly obvious to us – but it’s well worth keeping your eyes peeled on her stories as she did plenty of teasing before dropping Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.
Still can’t get over that actually being the title, by the way.
It’s also worth noting that Parklife themselves recently confirmed that festival fans can expect to find out their headliners and the full 2025 lineup very soon. Check out that colour…
Oh, who are we kidding? That’s not apple green it’s straight-up BRAT green, b*tch. We’re fully getting carried away and you’ll just have to deal with it.
Even if it somehow turns out she’s not headlining it’s certainly looking like she’s going to be there and it wouldn’t be the first time.
Better yet, fans of the pop sensation won’t have to wait too long to see her right here in Greater Manchester because Charli is bringing her already smash-hit tour to Co-op Live next Wednesday, 27 November and in case you couldn’t tell by all the shouting in capitals, we’re very excited.
Roll on ‘PL25’. Other than Charli XCX, who else would you like to see as your Parklife headliners next summer?
The Warehouse Project reveals return to Rotterdam for massive overseas event
Danny Jones
The Warehouse Project has confirmed it will be returning to Rotterdam in 2025 for a second time, its fourth overseas event.
After debuting abroad in 2023 with an action-packed few days in the city of Rotterdam – whose art scene, music culture and even canal network bears lots of similarities to Manchester – Warehouse Project is coming back for more.
There’s just over a month left of the 2024 WHP calendar; you’d think they’d be getting ready to wind down and enjoy the Christmas breather, but not so: the organisers are already planning what is set to be one of their biggest and best long weekends to date.
Set to take place over the early May bank holiday, the Dutch port city will once again play host to one of Manchester’s legendary club nights.
The second biggest city in the Netherlands behind Amsterdam, the next edition of Warehouse’s international series is set to return to Rotterdam RDM – a warehouse space very reminiscent of both Depot Mayfield and their original home at Victoria Warehouse.
WHP x RDM II is already being billed as an “unforgettable weekend” and if any of this year’s mainline events here in Manchester are anything to go by, they’re bound to live up to that promise.
There’s also a full FAQ page for anyone looking to find out more information regarding Rotterdam, the venue itself, travel and more.
As well as revealing the dates (2-4 May 2025), the organisers have already teased a good chunk of the lineup, with the likes of Chris Stussy, Peach, Four Tet b2b with Sammy Virji, salute and many more already confirmed.
With a slew of incredible acts, multiple afterparties on boats and other local venues, as well as plenty of opportunity to see the rest of Holland’s ‘Manhattan on the Maas’, this is going to be SO good.
We were lucky enough to have been sent to sample their inaugural Rotterdam date back in April of 2023 and, we have to say, it was an absolute blast.
Take it from us, if you’re considering being a part of this next event you won’t regret and we’ll be putting together an extensive guide to help you feel prepared for raving overseas. Registration for early access is already live, so sign up fast if you want to give yourself the best chance of being there.
Limited presale and accommodation packages will be available to those who have applied at 9am on Monday, 2 December (UK customers only). General admission tickets will go live from 9am n Tuesday, 3 December sale for UK and Dutch customers starts Tuesday 3rd December at 9am GMT/10am CET.
Rotterdam 2025 will be here before you know it, so take a boots-on-the-ground at what an international Warehouse Project date looks like down below:
Daisy Jackson -
1st February 2022 
