An ever popular perk of living in Brighton, The Great Escape is like Mystic Meg if she was reincarnated as an event. Which means it’s a great place to catch acts that will be big in the next few years, before anyone besides their mums know who they are. Observe Ed Sheeran, Adele and Tinie Tempah; all are doing very well right now, and all of them strutted their stuff at our city festival.
TGE keeps getting more magical, being all about threes. Upwards of 300 bands, in 30 or so venues, over three days. It’s enough to give you the willies, and that’s before experiencing some of the feast awaiting our greedy little ears. The line up is incredibly varied, ranging from the garage beats of Mujeres, to the tinkling ivories from Nils Frahms to heavy basslines of post-hardcore We Are The Ocean.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, TGE is also about the industry, with a convention running alongside, packed full of networking, debates and general hob-nobbing. If you aren’t paid to keep your finger on the music pulse, or are deeply in the red then no worries, you can volunteer to help out and witness all the glory for nothing.
The line up, so far, is as follows:
Africa Express Sound System/ Dry The River / Spector / We Are the Ocean / Friends / Howler / Zulu Winter / Grimes / DZ Deathrays / Nils Frahm / A Winged Victory For The Sullen / Jamie N Commons / Django Django / Eagulls / Perfume Genius / Com Truise / Δ (Alt-J) / When Saints Go Machine / Sonic Boom Six / François And The Atlas Mountains / Bos Angeles / Young Dreams / Doldrums / Weird Dreams / Young Magic / The British Expeditionary Force / Max Cooper / Jinja Safari / College, Graphics / Slow Down, Molasses / Mojo Fury / Mallory Knox / Hawk Eyes / Peace / Yukon Blonde / Emma Louise / Juveniles / Binary / Sing Tank / The Soft / Karlmarx / Inland Sea / Half Moon Run / Owlle / Princess Chelsea / Mesparrow / Stranded Horse / Avalanche City / Trust / The Darcys / Jordan Cook, and many more to be announced soon.
Three-day tickets are currently available from escapegreat.com for £35.
UPDATE – New Bands added
Maximo Park / Mystery Jets / Booka Shade / Alabama Shakes / Natty / Lianne La Havas / Ema / Forest Swords / Madeon / Errors / Willy Mason / Rolo Tomassi / Foy Vance / Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny / Micachu & The Shapes / Maxxi Soundsystem / We Have Band / Loney, Dear / Tanlines / New Look / Koreless / Shabazz Palaces / Toy / Lower Than Atlantis / Kwes / Gross Magic / Disclosure / Duologue / Jonquil / Exitmusic / Spoek Mathambo / Haim / Pale Seas / Foxes / Swim Deep / The Computers / The Skints / Antlered Man / Chew Lips / Hooded Fang / Pets With Pets / Tall Ships / Holy State / Wim / Rich Aucoin / Vondelpark / Milagres / Mesparrow / Nzca/Lines / Dillon / Don Broco / Boy / Odonis Odonis / Eight And A Half / Wet Nuns / Mikill Pane / The Night / Cut Ribbons / Paws / Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers / I Ching / Oliver Tank / Gold & Youth / Psychologist / Hot Panda / Fiction / Step-Panther / Pikachunes/ Ben Salter / Boxes / Films Of Colour / Alunageorge / Flip Grater / Grass House / Husky /Jd Mcpherson / Josh Kumra / Lulu James / My Best Friend / Seasfire / Shields / 22 / Jaguar Shark / Violet / Last Dinosaurs / Jordan Cook Aka Reignwolf / Jackson Firebird / Massmatiks / Martha Paton