After announcing 2023 headliners Grace Jones, Roisin Murphy and Pavement back in January, bluedot festival has released more acts for this year’s event and announced day splits so you can get planning your timetable. It has also released a limited number of day tickets at £49 per person.
Taking place from 20-23 July this year, Jodrell Bank’s annual celebration of all things art, culture, music and science will feature pioneering electro duo 2manydjs on the Saturday. The Belgian DJ project by David and Stephen Dewaele from Soulwax is famous for smashing music of just about every genre together from AC/DC to Vitalic at lightning speed. Their closing set at the Orbit arena will no doubt inject knackered bluedot attendees with a dose of energy to finish the night dancing.
Erol Alkan, a DJ and producer famous for hotting up dance floors with is remixes of the likes of Daft Punk’s Brainwasher, Hot Chip’s Boy From School and Metronomy’s The Bay will also take to the stage late on Saturday. Alkan is also notable for his Phantasy record label, founded back in 2007 and home to Daniel Avery, Red Axes and Alkan’s own Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve project.
Lo-fi pioneers Pavement headline Saturday at the festival with their only UK performance of 2023. Also joining Saturday’s bill is London indie rock band Sorry. After the release of their acclaimed debut album 925 and second release Anywhere But Here in late 2022, the band have carved out their own unique sound and amassed a cult following of fans along the way.
Other notable Saturday bands include London post-punkers Dry Cleaning, Malian desert blues pioneers Tinariwen, The Go! Team, M(h)aol and Snapped Ankles. Saturday’s cultural highlights come via a screening of David Bowie film Moonage Daydream and a q&a with its creator Brett Morgen, plus comedy from Nish Kumar.
The festival’s late night line-up will also feature the winner of BBC1’s 2021 Essential Mix of the Year and founder of record label Femme Culture, British producer and DJ, Elkka, as well as Future Utopia, the production project of Fraser T Smith, whose songwriting credits include collaboration with Stormzy, Adele and Dave. His 2023 return has kick-started with We Were We Still Are, the new single with bluedot favourite and former festival performer, Kae Tempest.
Circling back to Friday, the Lovell Stage is headlined by the de facto queen of disco-pop Róisín Murphy (who absolutley owned the stage at Glasto last year). Also playing on Friday are Leftfield, Django Django, Black Country, New Road, and Geoff Barrow from Portishead’s BEAK>.
Friday will also feature Creep Show, a collaboration between John Grant and “analogue electro” trio Wrangler (featuring Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire) with their blend of “experimental pop and surreal funk”. They will be previewing new material as well as tunes from their 2018 debut Mr Dynamite.
Kids of the 80s will be beside themselves to hear that they can get involved with a live version of their childhood cult TV show Knightmare on the Friday. They will witness dungeoneers navigating the ever-changing dungeon and taking quest items from the audience so they are encouraging attendees to bring ‘useful’ objects with them, “but no blades, no bows”.
Elsewhere on Friday, “climate change comedy” comes from Matt Winning.
Closing the three day get-together on the Sunday is the iconic Grace Jones. The 74-year-old funk icon and former Bond girl will close the festival on Sunday beneath the UNESCO World Heritage Site’s Lovell Telescope. Jones will be preceded by Mercury Prize winners Young Fathers and London-based electronica and techno producer Max Cooper, who will close the Orbit arena with a special 3D/AV immersive show. Sunday also features Big Joanie and Kokoroko. The weekend will be wrapped up with a closing party headlined by Annie Mac. Comedy on Sunday comes from interactive, improvisational retro gaming experience The Dark Room.
Festival director Ben Robinson said: “We are delighted to share another wave of incredible live artists and DJs to add to our existing line-up. The overwhelming influence of 2manydjs and Erol Alkan made them a perfect choice for Saturday’s Late Night, while new additions like Sorry and Kokoroko are part of a really exciting bill of new and underground names. We look forward to welcoming you all to Jodrell Bank this summer to continue the cosmic adventures.”
Day tickets for the festival are on-sale now, starting from £49 per person.
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bluedot 2023
Date: 20-23 July
Venue: Jodrell Bank, Macclesfield
Price: Day tickets start from £49pp, weekend tickets from £209
