Bluedot has issued a thank you statement to festivalgoers and workers for their cooperation after “unprecedented rainfall” lead to cancellations.
Cheshire’s multi award-winning celebration of music, science, and cosmic culture once again took over the grounds of the iconic Jodrell Bank Observatory this past weekend, with Grace Jones, Pavement, Roisin Murphy, Max Richter, and Leftfield among the names gracing the stage and entertaining the masses over the three-day festival.
But in case you hadn’t heard, it was a bit of a wash-out.
While we’re no stranger to heavy showers in Greater Manchester and the North West, it’s fair to say July has been a particularly soggy affair, and none more so than this past weekend – with torrential rain coming down thick and fast for basically two days straight.
Of course, with rain that heavy falling all across the region, it was expected that some disruption would be caused to pre-planned outdoor events, but after continuous hours of showers throughout Saturday, Bluedot organisers deemed it to be an “unprecedented rainfall”, and were forced into the “heartbreaking decision” of denying entry for day ticketholders on the final day of the festival.
The festival urged Sunday day ticketholders “please do not travel” to the event.
In an official statement issued last Sunday morning, organisers said: “It has been determined that while muddy, the arena ground condition allows us to go ahead with our plans for today’s programme – but only for people already here at the festival.
“We’ve had an unprecedented amount of rainfall over the past seven days that has seen the water level reach saturation point during the night, rendering our day ticket holder car park, pick-up and drop-off point and entrances impassable due to standing water.”
Staff at the festival worked hard through the night to deal with the situation, but conceded that it had “reached the point where it was not possible to accommodate further audience vehicles on site”.
Ticket refunds are to be issued, the festival confirmed.
Bluedot issues thank you statement after torrential rain leads to ‘heartbreaking’ cancellations / Credit: bluedot (via Facebook)
Now, a few days after the 2023 edition of the festival has drawn to a close, Bluedot has issued another statement to “celebrate” all the attendees, workers, teams and organisations, and volunteers “who made sure the show could go on”, and has thanked them for their support and continued cooperation across the weekend.
“bluedot 2023 was able to take place as the result of an extraordinary effort from a huge variety of tirelessly hard-working teams and organisations committed to your happiness and wellbeing,” the festival said in its thank you statement.
The festival admitted that, without all of these people, “bluedot would be just an idea”, and are responsible for making attendees’ experiences “come to life”.
The Cheshire-based festival experienced an “unprecedented amount of rainfall” / Credit: bluedot (via Facebook)
The statement continues: “Most of all, we must thank you – our wonderful bluedot explorers – who, despite everything, waded through mud to surf the cosmic waves to achieve something against the odds; an amazing collective action to make fun, wonder and joy our world, just for a few days. We deeply appreciate the support we have received, both on site and online. The community of music, science and culture fans we are so fortunate to host, has come together stronger than ever.
“Our sincere apologies again to those who could not join us on the last day, which was a heartbreaking decision.
“Having had a chance now to see the extent of the challenges we faced, we hope you understand our predicament and our reasoning. We are happy to share the update that all our ticket agents have now confirmed Sunday ticketholders will receive refunds directly within five days.”
Bluedot closed out its statement confirming that an FAQs page has been set up for anybody who is expecting a refund, and that it will be pushing back its planned onsale of 2024 tickets until it has dealt with all refunds.
Beloved British boy band Five are BACK in FULL for the first time in 25 years
Danny Jones
No, your eyes don’t deceive you: all five members of the beloved British boy band Five are set to reunite for the first time in a quarter of a century.
Formed way back in 1997 and dominating the charts throughout the period in and around the millennium, the iconic pop group was the UK’s answer to the Backstreet Boys and NSNYC, as well as a much-needed replacement for Take That just after their split.
And they did exactly that for a number of years, with hit tracks like ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Keep On Movin”, ‘Everybody Get Up’, ‘If Ya Gettin’ Down’ and more still firmly stuck in our memories.
It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, we still remember all the words and the dance moves to go along with them – and we’ll be able to prove it when the Five UK reunion tour comes to Manchester.
Although the London-formed group has reformed every now and again in different configurations over the years for special occasions, anniversary events, etc., this is the first time that the original lineup has been together for 25 whole years.
That’s right, Abz Love, J Brown, Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson and Sean Conlon will all be reuniting on stage for a limited UK arena tour – because anything less simply wouldn’t be enough to mark this throwback celebration.
More importantly, if you don’t think every single one of these massive rooms is going to sell out in a flash, then you clearly can’t count to five.
As for the Manchester crowd, fans will be welcomed inside the equally legendary AO Arena for the ‘KEEP ON MOVIN’ 2025’ Tour later this year and we can’t wait.
Fellow domestic DJ and producer Naughty Boy will also be joining them as the main support act. We’re rolling back all the memories this autumn.
You can see the rest of the tour dates below, including equally massive shows at The O2 in London, the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, a First Direct Arena date in Leeds and more.
We really can't wait to get back on stage together and see you all in person, it's gonna go OFF!! Let's goooooo! International fans, make sure to sign up there so we know where in the world you are too 👀
Scott says: “This has been a long time coming and it really does feel right for all of us now – 25 years on and we’re so ready for it. Reconnecting as a 5 over the last year has been special and I know I speak for all the boys when I say we can’t wait to do this all over again. Hope you’re ready!”
Another fifth of the throwback boy band, Abz, added: “We really can’t wait to get back on stage together & see the fans, it’s gonna go OFF! Buzzing to have Naughty Boy on tour with us too… 5 bad boys and a naughty boy, that sounds like a lot of fun. Let’s gooooo!”
General admission for Five’s 2025 UK reunion tour goes live on Friday, 7 March from 10am but die-hards can access the exclusive pre-sale window on Wednesday, 5 March by signing up for the mailing list.
2000s indie rock icons The Enemy continue comeback trail with must-not-miss UK tour
Danny Jones
For fans of old-school indie and noughties contemporary rock, you do not want to miss the one because The Enemy are not just back making music but they’re heading out on a pretty big UK tour and, of course, they’ll be stopping right here in Manchester.
The Enemy first reformed back in 2022 for a limited run of shows, but it turns out the Coventry-formed trio were satisfied with a one-off reunion and a fifth studio album officially being worked on, the fierce Brit rock throwbacks have announced a series of pretty large UK tour dates.
Following on from some hugely successful comeback performances at TRNSMT, Isle Of Wightand a headline slot at Godiva Festival 2023, not to mention the instantly hit ‘Indie Til I Die’ shows last year – including an absolute stormer at Victoria Warehouse – they returning for more.
One of the few bands to make their way back to the live music circuit fully intact, with all three members still performing together, nothing has changed other than a few more grey hairs.
If you weren’t there at the outset, The Enemy’s debut LP We’ll Live And Die In These Towns (2007) was one of the most seminal domestic releases of its time, with songs like ‘You’re Not Alone’ going on to become indie anthems of the era.
To be honest, we’d argue their sophomore outing Music For The People just two years later is the better album, with tracks such as ‘Be Somebody’, ‘Elephant Song’ and ‘No Time for Tears’ still in plenty of our playlists to this day – but, you know, each to their own.
The point is, we’re very glad these lads are back and having played with everyone from Oasis and The Killers to even The Rolling Stones, we’d wager lots of other music lovers are too.
Set to play New Century Hall in Manchester as well as the legendary Leadmill in Sheffield, Beckett Students’ Union in Leeds, Rock City in Nottingham and more, it’s going to be a big tour.
We're absolutely buzzing to be back on tour & in some of our all time favourite venues.
We'll be trying out new material for the first time in years ahead of the new album we're making, we're all really excited to try some new tunes and see what you think whilst we finish it!
Frontman Tom Clarke, who has put out two solo records of his own in past years, said of the announcement: “We’ve been working long days in the studio recording new material, so we’re really excited to get out on the road again.
“The plan is to experiment with some of the new tunes, maybe different ones on different shows to see how the crowds react and which ones connect with fans, and let that guide the track listing on the record which is nearing completion.”
Co-songwriter and bass player, Andy Hopkins, added: talking about the upcoming tour: “My favourite part of being in a band is having those nights with the fans where the atmosphere is electric – I think this tour is going to be really special for the 3 of us.
“It’ll be the first time we’ve been back to some of these cities in a long time, in venues we absolutely love and have been really important to us on the way up – Electric Ballroom was the first venue we ever played in London supporting The Fratellis, I drove us there with all the amps & guitars in my Fiesta!”
The Enemy come to New Century, one of our favourite live music venues in all of Greater Manchester, on Saturday, 1 November.
Pre-sale has already been snapped up in the blink of an eye, which is no surprise whatsoever, but general admission will go live from 10am this Friday, 28 February.
Emily Sergeant -
26th July 2023 
