What's On North 21-28 Jul: Bluedot

Each week The Skinny team hand-pick a selection of the best events from the North's cultural calendar to provide you with this here top ten guide to the most exciting goings-on for the week ahead. From gigs, plays and exhibitions to spoken word, pop-up foodie events and one-off film screenings, we give you the insider's guide to things to do in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds every Thursday morning. 

1. bluedot
Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, Macclesfield.  Fri 22-Sun 24 Jul, times vary

Without doubt one of the North's most highly anticipated festivals this year, bluedot lifts off on Friday for a weekend of music and science at Jodrell Bank. Across those three days you'll be hard-pressed to find a dull moment, with big names like Underworld, Jean-Michel Jarre, Caribou, Air, DJ Shadow, Floating Points, Beth Orton and a Brian Eno installation all vying for your attention, alongside a full programme of science workshops and live experiments. Baffled? Overwhelmed? Let's simplify things with these five acts we recommend you catch.

2. Liverpool International Music Festival
Various venues, Liverpool. Thu 21-Sun 24 Jul, times vary

LIMF returns for its fourth year, poised to take on that relentless musical appetite of yours with everything from big names including Lianne La Havas, drum'n'bass duo Sigma and punk veterans Buzzcocks to lesser-known up-and-comers such as these five acts. Along with the free-entry Summer Jam at Sefton Park, there will also be a series of ticketed events at venues across the city, including a night with Gilles Peterson at the Phil on Thu 21.

Image: Stealing Sheep by Marie Hazelwood

3. National Tequila Day!
Sun 24 Jul

With the country seemingly going completely to pot, it's some relief that National Tequila Day is in our sights – not that we'd ever recommend drinking your sorrows away... In Manchester make a beeline for Crazy Pedro's to lap up some mezcal, tequila's agave-based cousin, or head to Mr Cooper's bar for 'Me and My Parrots' (don't think, just order). Liverpool heads should hit up 23 Fleet Street for a lagerita, while over in Leeds it's over to The Maven for a Tommy's Margarita.

Photo: Igráček EFKO

4. Manchester Jazz Festival
Various venues, Manchester. Fri 22-Sun 31 Jul, times vary

Urging you this year to 'Rethink Jazz', Manchester Jazz Festival kicks off this week for ten days of live music and more across the city. Catch regular free gigs at the festival pavilion in Albert Square from the likes of Portmanteau and Twisted Tubes, along with programming at Band on the Wall, Matt & Phred's and other musical hotspots. HOME have also put on a season of Jazz on Film, running until 31 Jul to explore the interaction between jazz and cinema.

5. Inprint Festival
Camp and Furnace, Liverpool. Sun 24 Jul, 12pm

Inprint take on their biggest event yet, taking over both floors of Camp and Furnace with a festival celebrating all things print. With over 60 local sellers spanning print makers, designers and illustrators, names to look out for include Skinny illustrators Anthony Jaycott, Emma Brown and front cover artist Caroline Dowsett (along with others from The Engine House in Salford's Islington Mill), as well as the brilliant Yuck print house.

ADVERTISEMENT | Absent
Winter Gardens, Blackpool. 20-25 Aug, 12-16 Sep and 25-29 Sep every few minutes from 12pm-9.45pm daily

Internationally renowned theatre-makers dreamthinkspeak will be transforming Blackpool’s Winter Gardens Hotel into a vast kaleidoscopic installation that shifts between Blackpool’s past, present and future to create a beautiful and unforgettable experience. Absent introduces the hotel’s most notorious guest, Maggie Morgan, and its current owners, international property developers Northern Leisure Holdings, and invites you to piece together an extraordinary picture of a changing world.

To book your tour call the Winter Gardens Hotel on 01253 743344 or visit wintergardenshotel.co.uk

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6. Tramlines
Various venues, Sheffield. Fri 22-Sun 24 Jul, times vary

Another festival! 'Tis the season, after all – and this year's crop is bountiful. Over in Sheffield this weekend it is, of course, all about Tramlines festival, which this year features The Dandy Warhols, Dizzee Rascal, Kelis, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Jurassic 5, Catfish and the Bottlemen and many more. There's lots of parties on the agenda, too; we suggest you go and find the Banana Hill boys on Sat 23 at Queens Social Club, or bow out with Global Roots Soundsystem on Sun 24 at The Harley.

Photo: Scott Hastie

7. Science in the City
Various venues, Manchester. Fri 22-Fri 29 Jul, times vary

Science in the City is a free week-long festival celebrating Manchester's year as the UK's first European City of Science, where highlights include the Allotment of the Future, exploring the menus we might be choosing from in the future (algae, bugs: no biggie), MSI's Graphene exhibition and Human Sensor, a high-tech clothing project by scientist Frank Kelly and digital artist Kasia Molga, showing us the effect that we have on air pollution – and vice versa. Read our full preview here.

8. Star Trek Film Festival
Blackpool Opera House. Sun 24-Sat 30 Jul, various times

To accompany the exhibition on the Golden Mile, Blackpool adds to its Star Trek 50th birthday celebrations with a film festival, taking over the Opera House from this weekend. Either revisit classic Star Trek films or check out Justin Lin's latest flick, Star Trek Beyond, with many screenings followed by panel discussions and expert presentations. Beam us up, Scotty!

9. Behind the Sun
HOME, Manchester. Fri 22 Jul-Sun 2 Oct, various times

A multi-media group exhibition from the five winners of the Prêmio Marcantônio Vilaça CNI Sesi Senai (the largest art prize in Brazil), Behind the Sun challenges our preconceptions of a country that's often reduced to carnivalesque stereotypes. The launch do on Fri 22 will feature live music from Riot Jazz (pictured), DJs, food and caipirinhas, before giving way to a Brazilian Weekender film programme.

10. Hyde Park Unity Day after party
Old Red Bus Station, Leeds. Sat 23 Jul, 9pm

Born out of the 1995 riots in LS6, Hyde Park Unity Day is all about positivity, love and bringing people together – something we could all do with a bit of in the wake of Brexit, eh? After the main event at Woodhouse Moor, head over to the Old Red Bus Station for the after party with Iration Steppas, Akash in Dub, Sammy Dreadlocks, Danny T and Tradesman, Anatta Sound, Jim Two-Eyes and more.

Illustration: Verbals Picks

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