The Greatest Gathering Of Unearthed Talent

With over 18,000 music lovers set to descend upon our city, we preview the mecca for emerging talent that is The Great Escape Festival

Words by Daniel White
The most exciting month in the Brighton arts calendar is finally back and with it returns Europe’s leading festival for new music, The Great Escape Festival.

Throughout the weekend of May 8th-10th, most venues across the city will play host to a performance within TGE and, with an almost unlimited amount of new material ready to take to the stage, the sensation of curiosity across Brighton is electric and infectious.


To see them all would not only be impossible but somewhat dangerous.

With over 400 up and coming bands playing in over 35 venues across three days, the stage is set for the next big thing to make its breakthrough.

As a city we embrace almost anything that is diverse and, therefore, when the promise of new and exhilarating music comes to our seaside city there is nowhere else we would rather be.

Headlining this year’s Great Escape Festival will be stadium rapper Example, BRIT Award winner Kelis and indie rock band Wild Beasts.

Other performers at the live music extravaganza include 2013 Mercury prize nominee Jon Hopkins, singer-songwriter George Ezra, Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond and psychedelic Anglo-Welsh band Telegram.

Dubbed “the best place in Europe to discover new bands,” TGE is acclaimed nationwide for its confidence in unearthed talent rather than being reliant upon stadium filling headline acts and festival director Kat Morris explains the festival’s intention since the start.

“We are so excited to complete this year’s line-up,” Morris says. “Since its inception nine years ago, we have always maintained that the foremost objective of the festival is to produce an internationally-reaching programme that is genuinely representative of the full spectrum of emerging talent in music.

“I think we have achieved that. There is so much incredible talent out there, we are honoured to showcase as much of it as we can at The Great Escape. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the festival!”

The taste making festival is renowned internationally for its incredible community atmosphere, impromptu street gigs and showcase of innovative new sounds, however, it is far from being just about live performances.

Running in tandem with the festival will be The Great Escape Convention, bringing together thousands of music industry practitioners for a variety of panel debates, networking sessions, keynote interviews and insightful industry talks.

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To purchase tickets or for more information on The Great Escape Festival visit www.greatescapefestival.com or email tge_info@mamaco.com