SOURCE has covered The Great Escape every year since it started, but for 2015’s festival our reviewers stretched themselves even further. We had a team of writers and photographers out over the weekend catching 30+ gigs at over a dozen venues. Here’s what we saw on day one.

Highs, Green Door Store
Kicking off the festival are Highs as part of the Canadian Blast showcase. A busy crowd have piled into the Green Door Store excited to see the beginning of the festivities. The five piece make jangly dance tinged guitar pop in the vein of Foals and fellow countrymen Tokyo Police Club. Opener ‘Close Talker’ is gorgeously infectious and the set is packed full of melodic twists, turns and crystal harmonics. Singer Doug Haynes is in high spirits (sorry) and implores the crowd to sample the free croissants on offer at the venue. “I’ve had three already. I’m just kidding, I only had two”. It’s a gloomy start weather-wise but Highs have absolutely shone. Their first time in the UK – we’re waiting on their return already. (AB)

Aldous Harding, Paganini Ballroom & St George’s Church
An artist so good we had to see her twice. Yes, we admit, we’re just a little bit infatuated by this New Zealand gothic folk singer, whose strange songs seem seeped in some strange personal misery that draws you in to give you a warm enveloping hug. We were so impressed by her performance at the Paganini Ballroom (a surprising, new and wonderful venue) that we had to go back and see her again at St George’s Church. Despite the quiet and nervous tone, her songs are anything but sombre, hinting at stories of rural mystery or half-hearted affairs, full of charm and emanating from a deep, dark penetrating soul. (JS)

Holy Holy, Komedia
It’s hard to remember a time when Holy Holy weren’t playing. A minute feels a lifetime ago. What were we even doing before? All we can be sure of is that it’s too early in the day to be induced into this kind of musical coma. The Australian group sound harmless but cripplingly dull. The dimly lit Komedia is full of statuesque bodies painted with vacant stares. These earnest looking rockers sound like the Kings of Leon when they embraced U2. A mutant love child born in the dusty desert where the hills have eyes and the tumbleweed roams. For now we’re firmly trapped behind the wheel on the middle of the road. It’s a long one and there’s no service station in sight. (AB)

Fraser A. Gorman, Komedia
With a curly Buffon haircut and a harmonica around his neck, Fraser A. Gorman looks like a man out of time. He plays a sun-soaked set which cruises at a deliberate pace. This makes it all the more affecting when he lets loose on a curling guitar solo. Backed by a bassist and drummer who seem to keep things steady, Courtney Barnett’s touring buddy is on jovial form. “This song is called ‘How I’m Feeling’ – which right now is pretty fucking good,” he says looking jubilantly at the crowded venue. Country-tinged ‘Broken Hands’ closes the set in style as his voice crackles and breaks like old vinyl. “I’ve been partying too hard,” he says, can in hand. The frontman grins as a member of the crowd implores him to ‘tin on’. With another set planned later on there’s no doubt he will. (AB)

1987, Komedia
1987 is the unusual alias of Swedish electronic musician Victor Holmberg, looking somewhat Smurf-like this evening in his woollen hat. He’s a bit nervous too, apologising that he’s having to perform solo (“This is very weird for me… I’ll do my best”) for a change. Sung entirely in his native language, gently soulful songs like ‘Ocean’ and ‘Michelle’ (not the Beatles chestnut) ensnare the more attentive listeners down the front but it feels like a lost battle against the Komedia basement’s gabbling industry crowd. (SH)

Zak Abel, Old Market
Heading to The Old Market to check out the programme’s ‘Very Special Guests’ (which turns out to be a showcase for Brighton charity Audio Active) we’re in time to catch pianist and vocalist Zak Abel playing to a small gathering of the curious. Backed by a steady drums and keyboard duo, it’s only when the affable Abel mentions that he sung on Gorgon City’s hit ‘Unmissable’ (and then plays a stripped down version) that a ripple of appreciative recognition passes through the crowd. Elsewhere he drops in a few bars of Daniel Bedingfield’s ‘Gotta Get Thru This’ and gives nods to previous collaborator Wookie, suggesting his own garage tunes like ‘Alchemy’ may yet trouble the charts again. (SH)

Forever Pavot, Hope & Ruin
After rolling out a base of drums/guitar/bass and keys, French band Forever Pavot flavour their sound with congas, flute and Theremin to create a psychedelic pizza of sound. As anticipated, the prominent mood is 60s spy thriller soundtrack, but there’s also room for a slice of jazzy prog (not in a naff way) and even some Morricone-style spaghetti western “hooohs” and “haaas” (arguably the best bit of the set). As you might imagine with this kind of genre-hopping, they’re all accomplished musicians — at one point the dude on the right manages to play congas and guitar simultaneously. Although there’s a fair bit of breathing space, the venue’s apparently at capacity and, despite some feedback issues, the band look like they’re enjoying themselves. We are too. So much so, we go to see them again the following day. (GR)

Happyness, Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar
Sticky Mike’s is living up to its name when we struggle in to find London trio Happyness on a sweltering stage. “This is my friend Jonny and this is my friend Ashley,” introduces singer-guitarist Benji Compston like we’ve all just met in the playground. Terribly polite young men then, although the lyrics to their subtle, Pavement and Grandaddy indebted songs sneak all sorts of adult themes in beneath the woozy tunes. Not that we can make many of them out from our hopeless position at the back of the room as the big crowd inadvertently hampers this fine band, at least for us. (SH)

Cairo, Green Door Store
“I feel like it’s night time in here already so I need to dance,” says Cairo singer Nate Daniels before unleashing an unhinged pair of snake hips. It’s not long before the crowd are joining him as the Vancouver based orchestral rockers slip into a mountainous groove. Daniels’s vocals are somewhere between a male Zola Jesus and Robin Pecknold from Fleet Foxes. With added violin slicing through the thunderous mix of this musical arsenal, the four-piece have the walls of the GDS trembling. Tribal drums and echoing vocals make Cairo sound like they’re summoning ancient spirits. It gets a bit epic like a David Attenborough documentary and the busy crowd are left gasping for air at the band’s volcanic climax. (AB)

Cold Fronts, Patterns
It’s a construction site in Patterns (formerly Audio) and the smell of wet paint perfumes the air. The DIY aesthetic suits Cold Fronts, though, who unleash a torrent of fuzzy garage rock as nostalgic and comforting as a well worn pair of converse. It’s a busy turnout for the Philadelphia four-piece who are playing their first show in the UK. They seem elated wielding their instruments back to back as we’re hammered with hooks that would take Nick Valensi back to 2003. Highlights include ‘Baby Haim’, a love song dedicated to Alana Haim and a soaring rendition of Frankie Valli’s ‘I Love You Baby’. The aforementioned finale sees singer Craig Almquist serenading dazed onlookers amidst the crowd before he croons atop the bar to close the show in cinematic fashion. (AB)

The Great Escape, Thursday 14th May 2015
Words by Andy Baker, Gary Rose, Jon Southcoasting and Stuart Huggett
Photos by Ashley Laurence with pics of Aldous Harding by Jon Southcoasting

The SOURCE team covered all three days of The Great Escape 2015: check out our reviews from Friday and Saturday.