Despite a fizzing set from Girli and a ‘secret’ John Grant gig, it was Brighton’s homegrown talent that shone through on the last day of The Great Escape. Daniel Wakeford kicked things off in the open air, followed later in the day by local heroes Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Dream Wife and Blood Red Shoes.

The Daniel Wakeford Experience, Jubilee Square
Local hero Daniel Wakeford lands a plum spot in the sunshine outside Jubilee Library, playing to a loyal scrum of fans in the festival area as the early evening diners and straggling shoppers look on with smiles and surprise. Joined by his four-piece Experience band, Wakeford belts through ‘I Love Girlfriend’, cheerfully admitting that “If I got a girlfriend I wouldn’t be on the next series of The Undateables.” The crowd join in word for word with infectious, glam-stomping tracks from his self-released ‘The Songs Of Gigs’ album, his heartfelt renditions of ‘Beethoven’ and ‘Playboy Girls’ going down a storm. Among all the fun, Wakeford doesn’t get round to plugging the fundraising efforts being made to get his band out on tour, so let’s do it here. (SH)

Bad Sounds, Horatio’s
Another band deservedly stepping up a stage from last year (they played The Mesmerist during the Alternative Escape), Bath pop kids Bad Sounds play a blinder at Horatio’s to a crowd response that takes them aback in its devotion. Fronted by irrepressible brothers Ewan and Callum Merrett, the five-piece band turn up in stylish casual wear (cycling shirts, shiny gold MC Hammer pants) and jump into the romping ‘Zachariah’ without a care in the world. Thumping recent single ‘Meat On My Bones’ finds a pair of fans donning full-face rubber rhino masks in the expanding moshpit in tribute to its “I’m not a rhinoceros, I’m a man” hook). It totally erupts for brassy Britpop finale ‘Wages’. An stupidly entertaining live band, no question. (SH)

Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Brighton Dome
Rag ‘N’ Bone Man has absolutely blown up over the last couple of years. He came up through Brighton music charity AudioActive and extensive gigging and hard work has brought him where he is today, headlining at Brighton Dome’s Spotlight show which sold out months in advance with fans begging for tickets. He doesn’t disappoint: his famously deep and soulful voice more than ready for a venue of this size. His big single ‘Human’ is known by everyone in the audience, and he can’t hold back the smiles waving to friends and family in the audience. He also scales it back to just him and a guitarist under a single spotlight, still holding the crowd’s attention. With an incoming summer of festival dates we can see him establishing himself further as a household name. (MT)

Dream Wife, Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
Sticky Mike’s is full as Dream Wife take to the stage this evening. The Icelandic/British trio, who formed at university in Brighton, are heavily influenced by some of the best alt-rock female-led bands in recent decades like Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill and Blondie. Tonight they take us through their power-pop-punk back catalogue, including last year’s triumphant single ‘FUU’, which features a screaming, grungy ode to the Spice Girls as lead vocalist Rakel Mjöl leers into the crowd: “I’ll tell you what I want / What I really, really want / I wanna, I wanna, I wanna fuck you up!”. To reference their own lyrics, Dream Wife are total “bad bitches” and definitely not ones to be missed. (KS)

Girli, Green Door Store
Pink-haired pop riot Girli slipped under the radar of many when she played Horatio’s at last year’s festival but she returns tonight with a profile hugely boosted by sugar-packing singles ‘Girl On The Internet’ and the new ‘Feel OK’ featuring Lethal Bizzle. Jumping on stage to ‘ASBOys’ with hype girl MC Kitty, the pair never let the energy drop, bounding through inspirational pop rap bangers ‘Girls Get Angry Too’ and ‘Hot Mess’ that are Charli XCX meets Shampoo brilliant. Whatever barbs dullards might sling at her, Girli’s pre-empted them, chewed them up and spat them back in the audience’s face (“I bet she doesn’t even write her own songs / Bleurgh!”). Girli is the star you didn’t know you were waiting for, 24 carat genius. (SH)

John Grant, Sallis Benney Theatre
Sometimes there are secret gigs at The Great Escape that are announced last minute or known only by diehard fans. To an extent those days are gone with the existence of Twitter, and the rumours around this one were confirmed by the man himself. It’s already one in, one out for this venue despite some in the crowd claiming they didn’t know he was due on until he got on stage. This is a simple stripped-back set with just the man and his piano, and it commands silent reverence from the crowd and a hasty “Shush” directed at anyone chatting. Not only is John Grant’s voice on great form, his awkward charisma resonates with the crowd as he takes the time out to share anecdotes and stories of the inspiration for ‘Queen Of Denmark’. A large portion of his talks go out to thanking his label Bella Union, as apparently without their patience his music would never been released. We thank them for that too. (MT)

Blood Red Shoes, Old Market
One big Brighton bonus for Great Escapers is the return of Blood Red Shoes to their hometown, and indeed Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell’s first show of any sort since last summer. Headlining a showcase for their own Jazz Life label at a packed Old Market, tonight’s a greatest hits history lesson as the duo crash through picks from their back catalogue (‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’, ‘Don’t Ask’, ‘Cold’) in order, live-streaming the whole set to thousands more on Facebook. “This is fun, I forgot this!” beams Ansell. The chronological setlist sees them debut two moody new songs, ‘Eye To Eye’ and ‘Bangsar’, as an encore, wrong-footing the crowd by expanding to a full band with the help of bassist Jimi Wheelwright (from Tigercub) and keyboardist Adam Crisp (AKA Clarence Clarity). Welcome back. (SH)

The Great Escape, Saturday 20th May 2017
Words by Kate Standing, Mike Tudor and Stuart Huggett
Photos by Mike Tudor

The SOURCE team covered all three days of The Great Escape 2017.
Check out our reviews from Thursday and Friday.
We’ve also got a review of the Alternative Escape here.