Jodrell Bank Observatory Macclesfield reviews by real event-goers

Review of Bluedot Festival

An interesting mix of sciences and music. We attended (Saturday only) to have a look at the science exhibitions and watch headlining Jean Michael Jarre.
I think there could be better on-site signage for all the exhibits, maybe I missed it but we found it difficult to figure out what was happening and where.
All staff were friendly and helpful, full marks to those organising the Disabled Access Viewing Platform, they really did their best to make everyone happy (and we were) while waiting for the groups. JMJ awesome sound and lighting show and with the Eno-lit Lowell Dish back-drop it was "out of this world!"

Review of Bluedot Festival

We had a very enjoyable day. The festival had a friendly atmosphere, in an amazing setting, with a good variety of activities on offer.
Improvements I would suggest are:
- More toilets, the queues got a bit mental later on
- More and bigger coaches to take people back to the car park. We waited for over 20mins, which isn't cool when you've paid to park and so assume you can leave when you want.
- Clearer car park lay out with lettered rows. In the dark things look very different. We had great difficulty finding the car and I'm sure weren't alone.
- More music genres represented
- Cooler tents - the tents with the talks/films were far far too hot. Really needed some sort of fan/cooling system to make them safe/bearable.

Elbow gig

Elbow were absolutely amazing as expected - even the rain didn't dampen the atmosphere. However the carpark situation was horrendous. A lack of lighting and signage meant it took 2 hours to find the car even when helped by stewards and then we had to be pulled out of the mud by a tractor. I know the weather cannot be planned but better lighting and clear signs would make a less stressful exit from gig. Also could another entrance/exit be created to speed up the process. Thanks

Elbow Live from Jodrell Bank

Had a great time. Elbow were just brilliant. Shame it rained so hard just as they came on. Food outlets were excellent but not enough of them, More please for next year.Massive queues at one stage Also, car parks need to be more clearly marked,bigger signs, and better lighting. Overall a wonderfull experience, which would have been even more majical had it not rained.

Elbow

Overall a great day, a different setting with the telescope a real star. Elbow great but could have done with some new songs. Field Music and Cherry Ghost were excellent. Pleased we were staying at the brilliant Strawberry Wood campsite and avoided traffic chaos!

Paul Weller - Live from Jodrell Bank [Cancelled]

Cancelled due to bad weather.

Elbow

The whole day was brilliant, even the rain towards the end didn`t dampen the crowd or Elbows spirits.Sound and visuals were spot on. Must mention the car park chaos at the end though.
Absolute rubbish!! No way out and totally jammed up trying to get out the way we came in.No stewards on hand to ask or anybody sorting out the traffic problems.Over 2hrs wasted trying to get on to road on top of a 2hr drive home in heavy rain. Not Good!
If there is another gig there please take this on board!!

Elbow Jodrell Bank Space Oddity

The venue set in the depths of Cheshire with thr visually stunning radio telescope and observatory is superb. This years event was much better organised although further improvements could be made. Elbow were great, what else would you expect, the support bands were good the best for me being Leanne Le Havas. There were a good selection of food outlets while the wc arrangements were what you would expect at a rural site, event staff were accessible, largely helpful, pleasant and efficient. The weather was poor but the event was organised well so the problems encountered on the I.O.W were not repeated here. I guess most visitors overall impressions will depend upon their anticipated expectations, for me it was well worth the £35 ticket charge.

Brilliant Venue, rubbish organisation!!

Wonderful venue and we were very lucky with the weather. The bands brilliant Flaming Lips put on a jaw droppingly good show as usual. The projections onto the telescope were spectacular and the information given about space etc was well received by the crowd, everyone wanted to listen. I found the chants of "we love science" very amusing! Would definatley go back to an event here but they really need to sort themselves out. Far to many que's for everything! Not letting people bring food/drink in and then making them wait for and hour to buy it is not good.

Flaming Lips at Jodrell Bank

Great music, great weather, stunning venue.

Alice Gold was a revelation - already bought her cd.

We were one of the first at the event and therefore were forced to park in the bottom corner of the field. Took over hour and half to get out of the car park!! We ended up getting back to the Midlands at 03:20.

Flaming Lips at Joderel Bank

The bands were great! The Flaming Lips played better here than at the Green Man last year, and the venue was just awesome, in every sense! Its a shame the organisation let the event down. My space-mad son was really looking forward to the Space Centre, as on the website, but it was cordoned off for VIPs, as was the cafe. The workshops weren't given much room either. The queues were long, but you kind of expect that at these things, but getting out of the car park was ridiculous. I felt so sorry for the lone lad who was left trying to direct thousands of drivers who weren't taking much notice of him. The big, shouty security men had all disappeared by then. Next time, you may want to warn people on your website that any food you bring will be confiscated. You did warn about the alchohol, but not the food (we hid the chocolate - ha !) Great gig, poor organisation. Hopefully the next one will be better

Flaming Lips Review

I thought this event was amazing. The music was the best and it was such a great touch to get one of the Jodrell bank guys out to give us a little education behind the telescope and what not. For future ones definitely do more of the same!

Flaming Lips were so good. The visuals on the telescope were spectacular!!

I didn't eat because the queues were just too long. Toilet wait was silly.

I would recommend to everyone. Very unique setting... more of the same please but with more food stalls and more loos :)

Amazing gig, amazing place, not much organisation

On a positive note, the music was brilliant (even though not all of the bands were to my taste), the venue was spectacular, much better than an arena or even a lot of festivals, and the atmosphere was great, hardly any trouble at all.

As for more negative points, I wasn't aware we would have to pay £5 for parking when we arrived and I'm sure it wasn't mentioned anywhere on the website. Also, as mentioned by NickCuk, the queues for the food (my dad and I ended up not eating) and to get out of the car park were horrendous. I realise other events are the same with parking, and I have been stuck in car parks much longer in the past, but a little more organisation would have stopped so much waiting. It also didn't help that the car park assistants had no apparent system for letting the cars out, as the side we were parked on were only being let out one car at a time, where as other sides were being let through 6 or 7 cars at a time.

Despite the negatives, I really hope they carry on this mini festival. Flaming Lips were a clear highlight of the day and made everyone leave with a smile.

Great Concert - too many queues

Fantastic location and bands - way too much queuing for toilets, food and car-park exits.

Toilet queues for men and women around 15 mins. Food queues at least half an hour - and they ran out mid evening. No simple tea or coffee on sale - you had to queue for at least half an hour just for a coffee.

Car park to leave was crazy - one exit and free-for-all convergence of cars - took over an hour and an half to get off site.

Shame - cost everything else was excellent