Another day, another huge batch of bands captured by our roving team of reviewers. Day two of The Great Escape saw us enjoying some sunshine while watching The Intergalactic Republic Of Kongo, Easy Life, Los Bitchos, Everyone You Know, Tourist and loads more. We also reviewed Thursday and Saturday in separate posts.

Lewsberg, Komedia
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: Dutch four-piece Lewsberg sound like The Velvet Underground. A lot. More specifically, they sound like the later, ‘Loaded’ era, stuff, with some early solo Lou Reed lobbed in for a laugh. Shut your eyes and Lou (or possibly Doug Yule) is standing in front of you, feigning a subtle Dutch accent (and actually singing in time for once). Open them again and you’re confronted with such a height disparity between the singer and the bassist that R2-D2 and C-3PO spring to mind. A hugely likeable band, Lewsberg are at their best when they get locked into a groove, as they do on two of the standouts here, ‘Non-Fiction Writer’ and ‘The Smile’. Tight, laconic and cool, they leave us with a warm glow. (GR)

The Intergalactic Republic Of Kongo, Jubilee Square
The Intergalactic Republic Of Kongo have been onstage for two minutes and already the singer is hanging from the rafters with the microphone in his mouth and screaming. He may be wearing a tribal gown but the energy is all punk. Over the next twenty-five minutes he asks the crowd to salute the sun, begs us to put the phones away (taking this as far as stealing a fiver from the phonecase of someone who didn’t heed the message), and pleading with us to dance: “I can eat your applause all day but what I want is for you to move your bodies… this is your last chance!” Despite the daylight and the hangovers the crowd take that chance. We hope there’ll be another soon. (RR)

Skint & Demoralised, Casablanca
Charm comes in many forms. Soundchecking with “one, two, one two, Barcelona 1… Brighton and Hove Albion 2” is a welcome one, and gets the crowd on side. Ten years since they last played The Great Escape, Skint & Demoralised have reformed. Self-deprecating from the off (even apologising for drinking water), this humble poet and band are happy to be out on the road again. Forthright spoken word rants on the current state of the country and society lead to gritty songs telling stories of real life, real people, real struggle and concern. Do it wrong and this sort of thing will turn people away, and singer Matt Abbott knows that. Do it right and it can really draw them in; in fact, one or two members of the front row are welling up. An unexpectedly emotional ride of much needed sincerity. (MT)

Easy Life, The Deep End
One of 2019’s spotlight artists, this young five-piece from Leicester are going places. They make pop/hip hop in the vein of Jamie T or Plan B with a sunny, happy vibe. Perfect for an afternoon festival set. The lead singer is super smiley and charismatic, he’s tiny and bounces around the stage. They can really play too. Halfway through a song the guitarist breaks out a bass and the bassist starts playing sax and the singer starts playing trumpet. A whiff of jazz school beneath the streetwise stoner shtick? Perhaps… in any case, they’re catchy enough that we’re singing along by the end of most songs. Expect them to be all over the radio and high up on festival bills soon. (RR)

Valeras, Ditto Stage
We wish Valeras luck. They’re young, obviously talented and are having lots of fun on stage. They’ve just come off some massive support dates with The Wombats, The Amazons and Demob Happy and have the backing of Radio 1, so we reckon they’ll be all right without us. Which is lucky. Because although the music’s catchy and we’re impressed by singer – she’s more soulful than most rock vocalists and a bass player to boot – the songs don’t grab us. To be fair, the sound isn’t great (the Ditto Stage battles the much louder Deep End tent a few metres away) so… there’s that. Anyway, it’s nice to sit outside for a brief interval of sun and watch a band that will probably be very successful despite our grumblings. (RR)

Raoul Vignal, Patterns Upstairs
It’s cold and quiet as a crypt in the upstairs room of Patterns. The only sounds are bated breath and a lonesome guitar being tuned… it’s Folk Time folks! Raoul Vignal starts to play. He’s a superb fingerstyle acoustic guitarist. A steel-strung José González with a heavy flavour of the high-flown passages of 70s pioneers John Fahey and Robbie Basho. Dreamy stuff. However we don’t find his lyrics or songwriting quite up to par with his guitar playing, if we’re honest. Still, we’d like to see him with the band from his latest record ‘Oak Leaf’, which is warm, rich, beautifully recorded and less folk cliche than the title might suggest. Beautiful chillout/train-window-musing/anxiety-management music. (RR)

Cable Ties, The Volks
Being in The Volks while it’s sunny outside will always be a strange experience. Admittedly, we’re not used to seeing live bands here, but the space usually reserved for decks does a good job of condensing the ferocious energy that Cable Ties bring to their set. The Melbourne trio’s dirty basslines and punk guitar tones combine well with lead singer Jenny McKechnie’s wailing and high-pitched vocals. It’s a relentless rallying cry, perfectly suited to a small sweaty club. They’re not over in the UK for long so take the chance to see them now. (MT)

Los Bitchos, Jubilee Square
The festival’s temporary Jubilee Square hub is often the best place to taste the strong international flavours of The Great Escape in one sitting and this evening’s purveyors of South American cumbia, London-based Los Bitchos, hail from all around the globe. Curious festival goers and passers-by flood in to dance with the industry gawpers as the five musicians get their heads down for an almost entirely instrumental set of grooves. Serra Petale lets rip with joyful whoops and yelps, her jittery guitar picking out intricate conversations with Carolina Faruolo’s. Every now and then the band’s frontline fall into synchronised dance moves seemingly unconsciously and we dip and sway along with them. (SH)

Vulpynes, The Volks
Loud, aggressive and full of attitude. This might give you an idea of garage rockers Vulpynes’ stage presence, although we’re sure they’re lovely. Maybe it’s the snarling lyrics, maybe it’s the looks she’s giving the front row, but they’re definitely not here to mess around. Melodic guitar hooks lead in to thunderous and visceral drumming, and it’s heavy, fiery and loud. Did we mention they’re only a two-piece? If this wasn’t fairly late on the second day of the festival we’d expect moshpits, crowd surfing and a certain level of chaos. Or maybe the crowd are just too scared. (MT)

Jnr Williams, Paganini Ballroom
Sometimes at the Great Escape, to ensure you catch a specific band later in the evening, you have to get to a venue early – which means occasionally you discover something very special that you might otherwise have missed. This happens to us on Friday night, when we catch Hackney-born soul singer, Jnr Williams in the Old Ship Hotel’s plush ballroom. He gives an impeccable, heart-wrenching set, his beautiful voice working through self-penned numbers – ‘A Prayer’, ‘These Are The Days’, ‘Keep Your Head’ – as well as his inspiration; Dinah Washington’s ‘What A Difference A Day Makes’. His songs skirt cliched boy/girl concerns and deal with much deeper emotional issues. In an interview he said his dream was “for my songs to live on”. Given tonight’s performance, they certainly will. (PS)

Pablomari / Eva-Lina, North Laine Brewhouse
The reliably lively North Laine Brewhouse steps things up on Friday with a packed Alternative Escape bill on two stages, each new act starting as another finishes their 15-minute slot only yards away. We dip our heads in to find Reading’s Pablomari and his DJ winning the room over with bouncing, chant-along rapping and cheerful banter. Straight after, Swedish pop producer Eva-Lina and her rhythm section jump on the other stage to knock out current single ‘Like A Girl’ and a handful of other pinging, positive r’n’b tracks before ceding the stage once more. You could go to the bar and miss a whole set waiting for your pint to settle. The quality control bar is set high throughout. (SH)

Dobby, The Queens Hotel
Brighton rapper Influx is onstage with the 25-year-old Filipino and Aboriginal rapper from New South Wales. “I met Dobby at an open mic in Sydney and we wrote a track together, at his first TGE show the host introduced him as one of the nicest people in the world and it’s actually true.” We agree. Dobby is an effervescent performer, humble and appreciative, and has a rapid flow and mad skills behind the kit. There’s an obvious Eminem influence and lyrical references to Kanye and Anderson Paak. A risk comes with this well-trod territory and although Dobby’s charisma and energy (and the drummer’s precise b-boy moves) pulls him through, we prefer the more idiosyncratic songs. Like ‘Welcome’ which starts with a sample from his “grandma’s country”. That said, we appreciated ‘Brighton Whaddup’, because who goes to the effort of writing a song for TGE? (RR)

Walt Disco, The White Rabbit
The White Rabbit hosts a brace of satellite, unofficial shows this weekend, including a manic bunch of Friday night happenings under the banner of Nancy’s English Leather. Glasgow’s glamorous Walt Disco whip up a storm with a preening, panting performance. Exuberant frontman James Potter, half-naked and teasing, is matched for attention by the crazed ranks of his bandmates, no mean feat. Walt Disco’s wear their 1980s influences with pride, with recent single ‘My Pop Sensibilities’ borrowing its sound liberally from cult Scottish heroes The Associates, while the band’s image is like a mash-up of every Smash Hits pin-up of the New Romantic era. Just as their flash and swagger hits incendiary heights, they down tools and vanish. (SH)

Nancy, The White Rabbit
This evening’s host with the most, Nancy, surfaced last year with the warped pop EP ‘Mysterious Visions’, a bunch of enigmatic photos and videos obscuring their identity amid rumours that this was a perhaps slightly more familiar Brighton musician hiding under an alias. It’s only in the last few weeks that Nancy has finally appeared live, revealing Tigercub’s Jamie Hall as the man behind the curtain. Suited, booted and moustachioed and backed by a loyal band of local faces, Nancy ratchets his frontman status to ridiculous levels, leaping over tables, psyching out the crowd and ending with a smash and grab raid on his Sinatra namesake’s ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’’. An extraordinary reinvention. (SH)

Everyone You Know, Paganini Ballroom
Topping the BBC’s Radio 6 Music Introducing night on Friday are brothers Harvey Kirkby and Rhys Kirkby-Cox, AKA Everyone You Know. After a brief, eulogising intro from Steve Lamacq, they launch into ‘Dance Like We Used To’, about a night out clubbing. The lyrics are pinpoint accurate, like snapshots – “White socks with them Reebok classics; Rolled up jeans and Fila jackets…” – set against a driving electronic noise that propels us through song after powerful song. Plan B, The Streets, The Arctic Monkeys, the influences are there, yet the lads’ sound is absolutely their own. They end up with ‘Our Generation’, a song so sweetly poignant and self-aware, that the moshing stops and the crowd shares a moment of knowing reflection. Everyone You Know are going to be huge! (PS)

Tourist, Komedia
Having first seen, and loved, Tourist back in 2016 at The Haunt, when we hear he’s playing a late evening set at the Komedia, we have to get down to see him again. We are not disappointed. An electronic musician and songwriter, William Phillips is a man with an innate understanding of music’s emotional heft. Fans of Caribou will love ‘To Have You Back’ and ‘Run’, with their sampled voices, while other more metronomic pieces recall Jon Hopkins. Tracks flit from gentle ambience to crashing dance, and everything in between, with the light show enhancing every bar he plays. Showcasing tracks off his two albums, ‘U’ and this year’s ‘Everyday’, he holds the capacity crowd captive for a full 45 minutes. Simply mind-blowing. (PS)

Words by Gary Rose, Mike Tudor, Paul Stewart, Rowan Reddington and Stuart Huggett
Photos by Ashley Laurence, Matt Knight and Mike Tudor

The SOURCE team covered all three days of The Great Escape 2019.
Check out our reviews from Thursday and Saturday.