Festival Preview: Ten Must See Acts @ The Great Escape 2023

The Great Escape, various venues across Brighton (10-13 May 2023) // Words: Saam Das

We’ve been fans of The Great Escape festival since attending its inaugural edition in 2006, and it's become an important part of the UK music festival calendar ever since. Largely eschewing huge artists, Brighton's sprawling multi-venue festival has its eyes firmly on “the next big thing”, and in conjunction with its industry-led events, has attracted comparisons to Austin’s South By South West. The likes of Adele, Bastille and Haim have all played early gigs at the festival, and here we have ten acts that we hope may reach similar heights in future:

Festival Preview: Ten Brilliant Bands To See At The Great Escape 2019

Words: Saam Das

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Festival season is well under way in the UK, with the early May Bank Holiday seeing such great festivals as Liverpool Sound City, Leicester's Handmade, and Live At Leeds all rolled into one musical bonanza. Brighton's premier music festival The Great Escape is next on the calendar, featuring big names like Foals and Lewis Capaldi alongside the literally hundreds of upcoming outfits.

Festival Review: Twelve Of The Best New Bands We Saw At The Great Escape 2018

The Great Escape @ various venues across Brighton (17-19 May 2018) // Words: Saam Das

We've lost count of the times we've attended The Great Escape - now well established as the best new music festival in the UK - and the countless excellent acts we've seen since we attended the debut Brighton festival back in 2006. So we figured this year, we might chart some of the best new bands we caught at The Great Escape 2018 for reference purposes.

Festival Review: Day Three Of The Great Escape 2016

The Great Escape Festival (19-21 May '16, Brighton) // Words: Saam Das

Following a successful first couple of days at the UK's finest new music festival, The Great Escape in Brighton, perhaps it was inevitable that our final day at the festival might fall short. That said, I still managed to catch some intriguing performances, although none that quite matched the might of Anna Meredith on day one or vigour of Meilyr Jones on day two.

Festival Review: Day Two Of The Great Escape 2016

The Great Escape Festival (19-21 May '16, Brighton) // Words: Saam Das

Brighton was good to me on day one of The Great Escape Festival, and similarly delightful on its second day. I arrived in the darkness of Komedia to find Dutch duo Klyne's alluring combination of belting vocals and electronic backing. The surprising acoustic switch-up on 'Closer' proved to be a stunning addition, highlighting Nick Klein's powerful voice.

Festival Review: Day One Of The Great Escape 2016

The Great Escape Festival (19-21 May '16, Brighton) // Words: Saam Das

I owe a fair amount to Brighton's excellent new music festival, The Great Escape. I've been doing this music blogging lark for ten years now, and it's partly because I went to the very first edition of The Great Escape that I began writing in the first place. Since then, it's become my favourite festival, and I've had the fortune of being a "tastemaker" on the BBC Sound of 2011 and working with Glastonbury Festival, among other nice things that I've very grateful for. The Great Escape 2016 was again a pleasure, and here's a rundown of my first day at the fest.

Festival Preview: Six Bands To See At The Alternative Escape 2016

The Alternative Escape at The Great Escape Festival (various venues across Brighton, 19-21 May '16) // Words: Saam Das

The Great Escape Festival is such a hotbed of music that it even has its own overflow area, suitably titled The Alternative Escape. Plenty of upcoming talent play shows that can often be attended by those with and without tickets, which is pretty handy as the main festival has now sold out. Following our ten recommended acts to catch at The Great Escape 2016, here's some more to catch at The Alternative Escape:

Festival Review: The Great Escape 2015 (Day Three)

The Great Escape Festival @ venues across Brighton (14-16 May '15) // Words: Saam Das

Gloriously sunny weather greeted revellers on the final day of 2015 The Great Escape, a long way from the inclement weather that made day one of the festival a challenge. The music remained of a high standard throughout, and while Northern outfit Cape Cub may well have been better suited to moodier weather, their Dome Studio Theatre performance is excellent regardless.

Festival Review: The Great Escape 2015 (Day Two)

The Great Escape Festival @ venues across Brighton (14-16 May '15) // Words: Saam Das

A late running train scuppers my chances of catching Sasha Siem but at least the weather in Brighton is considerably better than day one of the festival. Glaswegian C Duncan became my first port of call, where he kicked off proceedings at the Brighthelm Centre. Coming across somewhere between Grandaddy and Beach Boys, it was a promising start to the day.

Festival Review: The Great Escape 2015 (Day One)

The Great Escape Festival @ venues across Brighton (14-16 May '15) // Words: Saam Das

"I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes...". WET. WET. WET. Within six minutes of getting off the train at Brighton station, I found myself bleeding from an umbrella battered by the inclement weather. Thankfully, things got better. And not just in terms of stemming blood loss. Camping out in the relatively arid Green Door Store, the combination of free pastries and the bouncy indie-pop of Toronto's HIGHS immediately raised spirits.

Festival Preview: Alternative Escape 2015 @ Brighton [Seven Acts To See]

Alternative Escape across various venues in Brighton (13-16 May '15) // Words: Saam Das

We went to the very first edition of The Great Escape back in 2006. It was quite a limited affair, with not much on during the day for the average punter. That's changed greatly over the years, and the strand of the festival known as The Alternative Escape has really developed. With tickets now sold out for the main festival (preview of that here), The Alternative Escape is a great way for anyone to rock up to Brighton and see some top acts for very little, or even nothing at all.

Festival Preview: The Great Escape 2015 @ Brighton [Fifteen Bands To Watch]

The Great Escape Festival @ various venues across Brighton (14-16 May '15) // Words: Saam Das

Festival season is upon us, and we have a special place in our heart for the increasing number of multi-venue offerings placed in a more urban setting. The Great Escape is arguably the best of these festivals in the UK, and seen as a worthy contender to America's ever popular industry shindig SXSW. We've been running around Brighton's plethora of venues as much as possible since the very first offering back in 2006, and here's some recommendations for its tenth edition:

Festival Review: The Great Escape 2014 (Day Two - Friday)

The Great Escape Festival (8-10 May, Brighton) // Words: Saam Das

Following our exploits on day one at The Great Escape, we returned to windswept Brighton with renewed vigour. On day two, we took in more of The Alternative Escape, the set of unofficial gigs which runs concurrently with the main festival - providing even more exciting, new bands to catch.

Festival Review: The Great Escape 2014 (Day One - Thursday)

The Great Escape Festival (8-10 May, Brighton) // Words: Saam Das

Wind. So much wind. Bands. So many bands. Those two aspects of The Great Escape pretty much sum up the 2014 edition of the festival. Also, late running trains, but that was more of a personal struggle. Nonetheless, we had our usual great fun in Brighton, catching plenty of new bands as well as few old favourites. We're splitting our review into three sections for ease of reading so do pop back for those soon-to-arrive installments.

Festival Preview: Ten Acts To See At The Great Escape 2014

The Great Escape Festival (8-10 May '14, Brighton) // Words: Saam Das

We're huge fans of Brighton's new music fest The Great Escape and we're always excited to run around and catch as many bands as humanly possible - albeit inevitably losing steam. It'd be easy to pick literally dozens of bands we'd like to catch (especially if we counted the Alternative Escape too) but instead, we're offering a refined list of ten musical performers to catch at the festival.

Preview: The Great Escape Festival 2013

The Great Escape festival, Brighton (16-18 May '13) // Words: Saam Das

I love The Great Escape, the annual Brighton-based festival dedicated to new music. Indeed, after visiting the festival for the third time last May, I commented that it has "yet again proved to be one of the finest multi-venue, city festivals around." A quote that the festival are even using as one of their testimonials alongside the likes of NME and The Times. I hope to be there again this year, and read on to find out why.

Festival Review: The Great Escape (2012)

The Great Escape (10-12 May '12, Brighton) // Words: Saam Das

Unfortunately, my experience of The Great Escape was marred by a close family member passing away (thanks for all the messages of support) meaning that I spent much less time in Brighton than otherwise intended. But the time spent proved to be largely enjoyable, an appropriately great escape from my worldly worries. Indeed, I saw terrific performances, most notably from the majestic Oliver Tank and the much hyped HAIM, although failed to make it to any convention talks.

The Great Escape: 2011 Festival Review

Words: Saam Das

Last week, I descended upon Brighton for The Great Escape, "Europe's leading festival for new music" and sort of the UK version of SXSW. For once, this review is not late out of laziness but designed to tie in with my scheduled appearance on Now Playing, a new BBC 6Music show, where I'll be chatting about three of my favourite bands of the festival tonight. Or you can read about those three and more below.

The Great Escape: 2011 Festival Preview [Saturday]

Words: Saam Das

If you're already at The Great Escape and away from a computer then I trust you have already done the necessary research and preparation in order to have jolliest time possible. If not, then check out my Thursday preview and Friday preview to give you a helping hand. The final preview is ready to be consumed below.

The Great Escape: 2011 Festival Preview [Friday]

Words: Saam Das

You may or may not have read my preview of Thursday's shenanigans at The Great Escape but either way, here are a selection of bands to check out on Friday. The festival really seems to start hotting up on Friday afternoon. Saturday recommendations will also arrive at some point soon.