Dot to Dot 2016, preview: A joined-up festival

Now in its eleventh year, Dot to Dot festival continues to go from strength to strength.

You can’t fault May’s generosity: two Bank Holiday weekends, two cracking festivals. Following on from Salford’s Sounds from the Other City on May Day, Dot to Dot Festival is an indoor music festival in its eleventh year that takes its line-up on tour to play at various sites across three cities: Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham. This year’s Manchester incarnation will take place on Friday 27th May.

Dot to Dot’s main draw is up and coming indie bands that you may not have heard before

2015 saw the all-evening festival shift from its old Oxford Road locale to take over Northern Quarter venues like Night and Day and the much-missed Roadhouse. This year, with the atmospheric Manchester Cathedral announced as an additional venue, the venues involved are promising to be as striking as ever.

Dot to Dot’s main draw is up and coming indie bands that you may not have heard before – 2015 saw Spanish garage girls Hinds charm the Methodist Central Buildings before the band blew up last summer – and while this year’s line-up is still in its nascent stages, the headliners already look pretty tasty, with London’s own Mystery Jets and Aussie rockers The Temper Trap leading up newer acts like Rat Boy and New York pop-punk duo Diet Cig. Tickets are reasonably priced at £25 but early birds are available for a stonkingly good value £11, so act fast!