Chemical Brothers, Flaming Lips, Future Islands & much more for bluedot 2018

Bluedot 2018

Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd July 2018
Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre and Arboretum, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK119DL, England MAP
£169 for the weekend, £59.75 any day

Daily capacity: 5,000

Last updated: Fri 29th Jun 2018

The first acts have been announced for the third bluedot which now expands to four days from Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd July 2018 at Jodrell Bank, the Cheshire observatory at the cutting edge of humanity’s quest for knowledge.

The three main headliners will be The Chemical Brothers, The Flaming Lips, and Future Islands, while on the new Thursday the Halle Orchestra conducted by renowned composer George Fenton will perform Blue Planet In Concert, .combing music with footage from the original Blue Planet TV series from 2001.

Other music on the bill comes from Gary Numan, Little Dragon, Roni Size, Gilles Peterson, UNKLE, Booka Shade, The Orb, Public Service Broadcasting, Little Dragon, Baloji, Adrian Sherwood, Mad Professor, Hookworms, Vessels, Langham Research Centre, Snapped Ankles, Pearl City, Human After All (A Tribute To Daft Punk), Future Get Down, Fehm, Age Of Glass, Look Mum No Computer, Henge, Nadine Shah, Lost Horizons, Space Cassette DJs, Talos 400, Alexis Taylor, Andy Smith's Reach Up Disco Wonderland, Will Tramp, To Kill A King, Warm Digits, Park Hotel, AKDK, Husky Loops, Pink Kink, JW Ridley, Speakmansound, and Barberos, with many more acts still to be announced.

Festival Director, Ben Robinson says:

Heading into our third year we really wanted to go above and beyond and we're absolutely delighted to announce Blue Planet in Concert for our new Thursday night opening. Our mission is to not only erode the boundaries between science, culture, art and technology but to also highlight the beauty and fragility of our planet Earth, and what a better way to achieve this by opening proceedings with such a remarkable and enlightening spectacle. It's going to be truly incredible and a real festival highlight.

To be able to offer to these curious minds the return of The Flaming Lips is one thing but to set the stage for The Chemical Brothers to showcase their innovative and ever evolving artistry as both musical innovators and purveyors of world class light and visual stage productions is a true honour and will be a weekend not to miss.

The full line up of musical acts for this year is truly spectacular with so many innovators and diverse sounds and shows throughout the weekend.

With science, art and culture at the heart of the bluedot experience, this year’s programme will once again provide unique experiences for the whole family with a series of talks from a lineup including physicist and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-khalili (author of many popular science books including the Ladybird book of Quantum Mechanics, and presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Life Scientific and TV series including "Gravity and Me" and "Light and Dark"), academic, writer and broadcaster Professor Alice Roberts (author of books including Tamed: 10 Species That Changed Our World, and presenter of TV programmes including Coast, Digging for Britain and Ice Age Giants), physicist and engineer Libby Jackson (Human Spaceflight and Microgravity Programme Manager at the UK Space Agency and author of A Galaxy of Her Own), biologist and conservationist Professor Dave Goulson (founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust) and TV presenter and author Dallas Campbell (author of Ad Astra: An Illustrated Guide to Leaving the Planet and presenter of many TV programmes including City in the Sky and Horizon).

With more still to be announced, the culture programme also includes talks, screenings and Q&As from the likes of Michael Cumming, A.C Grayling, Jana Winderen, Jez Riley French, Dawn Scarfe, Sonia Levy, Jo Langton, Heather Ross, Emily Richardson, Phoebe Riley Law and Greta Santagata.

There's also comedy, from David O’Doherty, Cassette Boy, Simon Munnery, Gary Delaney, Andrew O’neill, Jess Fostekew and more to come.

buy tickets now >

Tickets are on sale, currently priced as follows:-
adult 3-day (Fri-Sun): £159
teen (aged 11-15) 3-day (Fri-Sun): £79
child (aged 6-10) 3-day (Fri-Sun): £25
infant (aged up-to 5) 3-day (Fri-Sun): free but needs ticket
Thursday add-on: £29 for weekend ticket holders; £35 as standalone ticket.

There's also installment plans available.

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