Features Preview: Dot To Dot 2013

Dot To Dot has entered its eighth term and continues to wave the flag for all city festival lovers. With the Bristol edition wedged between Nottingham and Manchester, audiences will certainly find this year’s acts warmed up but not worn out.

2013’s line-up consists of acts you would usually find on the Pyramid stage at 2pm on a Sunday. But haters be damned: Headline acts have never been a wet-brow worry of the organisers. With 14 hours of live music infiltrating one of the UK’s youngest cities, newly billed artists find they have the space to breathe without being overshadowed by the evening’s “real” entertainment.

The reason Bristol is a favourite host for Dot To Dot is down to the diverse locations that double up as music venues. BrewDog’s Bristol branch (only opened late last year) has found a way to muzzle itself onto the festival circuit – and will be a change to the West Country cider pundits you sometimes find. From attic spaces in The Louisiana, decadent coffee shops at The Birdcage or epic bowling alleys at The Lanes - Saturday’s Dot To Dot location serves up both music and soul.

With some long awaited sunshine making a temporary appearance for the bank holiday, punters will be pleased to know pre/mid/post-festival frivolity is more likely to spontaneously erupt at The Bear Pit, Harbourside and Stokes Croft areas. This is going to be another momentous year and keeping updated at #D2DFEST is almost a necessity. With a wristband and a map, the world is your Dot To Dot.

Recommended:
Bo Ningen for some high octane Japanese madness.
The St Pierre Snake Invasion if you can’t wear skinny jeans because you’ve got balls.
We’re No Heroes for that synth-ridden, twangy guitar sound.
Six60 if you like a ladle of whiskey in your tea.