The Dot to Dot Festival is an annual music festival taking place since 2005, currently held at various venues in Nottingham, Bristol[1] and previously Manchester across May bank holiday weekend.
Unlike weekend music festivals such as the Reading and Leeds Festivals, there is no artist rotation – all artists play one city the first day and travel to the other for the following day.
The festival has just announced artists for their 2025 event include The Horrors, Fat Dog, SPRINTS, BIG SPECIAL, Kate Bollinger, Låpsley, Honeyglaze and more, all set to head to Bristol on 24th May 2025 and Nottingham on 25th May 2025.
History
2024 Event
Dot To Dot Festival 2024 took place in Bristol on 25 May and Nottingham on 26 May.
Dot To Dot Festival 2020 was set to take place in Manchester on 22 May, Bristol on 23 May and Nottingham 24 May, but was cancelled due to COVID-19 measures.
The 2020 line-up was set to include Easy Life, Steam Down, Skinny Living, Alexandra Savior, Chartreuse, Drug Store Romeos, Gracey, Taylor Janzen, PIST Idiots, Aaron Smith and loads more.
2019 Event
The 2019 festival took place in Manchester on 24 May, Bristol on 25 May and Nottingham 26 May
The 2018 festival took place in Manchester on 25 May, Bristol on 26 May and Nottingham 27 May
The 2018 line-up includes The Horrors, Dermot Kennedy, Pale Waves, Marika Hackman, Mahalia, Turnover, The Snuts, Bad Sounds, Gus Dapperton, The Regrettes, Cassia, [Desperate Journalist], Our Girl, Vistas and loads more.
2017 Event
The 2017 festival took place in Manchester on 26 May, Bristol on 27 May and Nottingham 28 May
The annual event showcased up and coming bands and DJs from the UK and international scenes offering two days of indie, rock, dance and pop music. As with previous years the festival concentrated on the musical epicentres of each city across a number of venues of differing sizes.
Tickets for the 2009 event – which took place on 23 and 24 May 2009 – were released on 23 January 2009.[3][4]
The 2009 festival did not operate in London, but continued with the same venues in Nottingham and Bristol.[6][7]
2008 Event
In 2008, the festival operated a third location in Shoreditch, London, known as Hox to Dot. This leg catered for the more electronic extreme of the indie music spectrum, hosting DJs and turntablists. For this reason, there was no real crossover between artists at the London leg with either Nottingham or Bristol.[8] Additionally, Hox to Dot operated on a Thursday (as opposed to a two-day, weekend festival).
Venues in Nottingham were Rock City, Nottingham Trent University, The Rescue rooms, Stealth and The Bodega Social Club. Bristol hosted performances in the Academy, The Thekla, the Fleece, the Louisiana, the Trinity Centre and Fiddlers club. London used venues such as Catch, Electricity Showroom Basement, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, The Macbeth, and The Old Blue Last.
2007 was the first year that Dot to Dot operated in Bristol as well as Nottingham. It took place on Bank Holiday Sunday 27 May at The Rescue Rooms, Rock City, The Social, Stealth, Notts Trent University and The Old Angel in Nottingham as well as Thekla Social, Louisiana and Fiddler's in Bristol on Bank Holiday Saturday 26 May. Both events went on from 1pm to 5am.[11]
With over 50 DJs plus bands such as British Sea Power and Bromheads Jacket, at four venues across the city of Nottingham, the event ran from 1pm until 4am over May Bank Holiday Sunday. The chosen venues are Stealth, Rock City, The Social and the Rescue Rooms. Tickets were priced at £12.50. The event had stalls and visual activities as well as live music acts across all venues.
Dot to Dot Festival was held in Nottingham at The Bodega (Formerly The Social) Stealth, Rescue Rooms and Rock City.
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