Humans of Bluedot

I discovered the Bluedot Festival quite by accident on Thursday night while searching for things to do around Liverpool, Chester and Manchester for the weekend. As far as I am aware there are no combined Music, Science and Art Festivals in Australia at this point in time so I couldn't help but to throw caution to the wind and buy the weekend ticket, which I now understand was simply a stroke of good fortune with many people I met buying their tickets up to a year in advance!! So here is me, I nailed the ticket, live in vehicle accommodation (ie patch of grass) and my luxury bathroom package (posh portaloos and portashowers) on the night before the event started and after such an amazing time in Liverpool, I was off to spend the weekend with 1000's of random fellow humans dancing and scienc-ing in a field somewhere under a giant telescope in Cheshire.

I met my first "friend" around an hour after walking through the main gate. I had been to the luminarium which was a giant inflatable structure with a series of tunnels inside. Each tunnel had translucent artwork on the roof that lit the inside by sunlight (imagine sun through coloured cellophane). It was gorgeous in there but hot as hell. It was only natural to get out of there and wander around the main site. It was shortly after I wandered into the Blue Moon bar for their signature beer with a slice of orange on the side. The bar was full but not busy and two seats miraculously appeared at the same time as myself and a charming young many from Birmingham sat down.

Mitch is 21. He actually works the festival circuit fixing the cash machines when they break down. Now I realise I am generalising but I wouldn't think there would be too many 21 year olds who would automatically strike up a conversation with someone the same age as their mother, but Mitch did. In fact, he continued to hang out with me and many others all night. When I asked him later what made him speak to me, he told me he couldn't really sit there and just stare at a wanker pint with a slice of orange on it and I smiled and was instantly funny so he just kept chatting. Good enough reason.

Later that day I met a couple from London (names unknown) who were mid 50's. She didn't like the strawberry cider so he was a gentleman and swapped her the drink for his treasured pint. I saw the visible pain on his face, but he took one for the team. They then headed off to learn about something Cosmic. I had another beer.

Then came Eve and Dan. Eve is Irish and loves Dan so she moved to Manchester and is going to marry him at the end of the year. Eve is a paramedic and just a great soul. Dan is in IT and was there for one band and one band only, Leftfield, so I went to the Leftfield gig with them. They were great and Dan was in his element. We kept in touch for the weekend.

Vijay works with Mitch. A very gentle easy going man who is in a long term relationship with a girl from Cornwall. After 19 years he just can't commit because he once had his heart broken. Vijay rarely drinks, I saw him have one Guinness all weekend. He is 52 years old and the festival scene doesn't really fit him. You can sense he knows that, but he is doing what he needs to do for now.

My neighbours in the campsite were delightful. The movie, 24 Hour Party People was set in Manchester and they were the walking version of it. Helen arrived with a vintage caravan and so many people on the site that they were pitched within an inch of my van. They were not allowed to do that but I didn't care. She immediately walked up to me wearing an apron that that said "Queen of Fucking Everything" and gave me a hugging introduction. The hugging continued the next morning around 7am when I crawled out of my van to Natalie and her newly acquired boyfriend still partying, her calling me her little Rae of sunshine and new boyfriend giving me a namaste. Later that afternoon Natalie was less friendly. 🤔 Helens partner is away playing music at the moment on a world tour. They are currently in Florence, and will be in Australia later in the year. She told me he was in an old band I have probably never heard of, New Order...

There were many others as well from Nicki who gave me flouro dots on my face to Louise from just down the road who backpacked Australia 12 years ago and many I don't either recall or wasn't told their names who breezed across my path of the weekend. Regardless, the over arching thing I learned this weekend was the festival is the great leveller. There were people of all ages and they didn't stick to their own kind. The usual boundaries around age, social standing, appearance, race, jobs etc that we humans put up were down and everyone was ok with that because in the end we all come from the Bluedot and whether you come here to dance on it, send telescopic signals from it or learn about the changing climate on it, we all agree on one thing. We need to protect it. 🌏Read more