NOW we don’t usually preview things this far in advance, but sometimes an announcement gets us so excited that we just can’t help ourselves. Fans of boundary-pushing pop and Professor Brian Cox* will be thrilled to hear that the Flaming Lips are set to play the first-ever Live from Jodrell Bank event. If the idea of Wayne Coyne bounding around in a giant bubble in the shadow of the Lovell telescope makes you as giddy as it does us, then the further news that they will be supported by the perennially underrated British Sea Power will just be the icing on the cake.

The whole enterprise is the brainchild of the folks behind Kendal Calling and The Warehouse Project and tickets went on sale on Monday for the event on Saturday, July 2, which will also feature OK Go and Alice Gold. They cost a measly £35, and are available from ticketline.co.uk or by ringing 0161 832 1111.

* We can’t promise he’ll spontaneously turn up. But how disappointing will it be if he doesn’t?