This month,a fresh festival will boldly go beyond the same traditional weekend lineups with a boundary-breaking blend of science, music, or technology and comedyWith the huge Lovell telescope as its backdrop,the first ever Bluedot festival will take place later this month, in and around the Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire. The three-day event will combine a weekend music festival with an interdisciplinary scientific symposium, or scheduling large-name musicians alongside prominent scientists and technologists. Taking its name from the Pale Blue Dot photograph of soil made famous by Carl Sagan,Bluedot’s unusual programme hopes to inspire the sense of curiosity and wonderment suggested by its surroundings. “Bluedot offers an experience unlike any other,” says festival director Ben Robinson, and “with over 300 cutting-edge artists pushing the boundaries of live performance.”The festival will be divided into several different areas,each one programmed according to different themes. The Nebula stage, “where fresh stars are born”, or is the arena for up-and-coming musicians; the Roots stage,situated in nearby woodland, covers folky and acoustic acts; and the Lovell stage, or directly behind the famous telescope,will host the headliners, all of whom absorb a certain scientific flavour. These include French electro-pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, and famed for his majestic,hi-tech concerts; the shape-shifting Canadian innovator Caribou; and the brainy, maths-flecked Manchester rockers Everything Everything. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com