Festival Review: The Great Escape 2022
After two years of cancellations and online content only, The Great Escape Festival returns in 2022 for the biggest showcase of new music this side of the pond, and we hit the streets of Brighton to get a taste of what exciting stuff is to come.
With over 500 artists across 35 venues, and even more secret gigs, popup performances, as well as the Alternative Escape and Late Escape, for three days in May Brighton becomes bursting at the seams with live music, with every year more diverse than the last.
As well as the city's own well-established stages - from grand ballrooms to the tiniest pubs - the festival sets up its own area on the pebbles of the beach itself, with three stages backdropped by the lapping waves. It's a stunning basis for a festival, and nothing like the muddy fields you might be used to.
To kick Thursday off in style we saw the new wave of New York art-punk realised on the Beach Stage, in the form of vibrant and quirky Gustaf. Just one of their many performances across the weekend, leader of the pack Lydia Gammill is one gripping example of the many stateside personalities that have made their way to the festival this year. Closer to home, Dublin's Sinead O'Brien brings fiercely ambitious licks of electro-induced wit to the stage, ahead of the release of her debut album Time Bend And Break The Bower next month.
Sinead O’Brien - Amazon Music Stage // Photo Credit: Ant Adams
Back into the depths of the mean streets, Jubilee Square hosts the hub for many of the buzziest buzz bands of the festival, like the wild ways of 7-piece post-punkers KEG, for the first of their multiple performances. One of the more interesting and unlikely settings for the weekend's debauchery is along the pier, at bar Horatios, usually a popular tourist spot, but where we caught the likes of London's Malady, blending guitar-led indie with R&B sampling, and where we ended the night with a bang thanks Glaswegian synth-punk ravers-on-the-rise, VLURE. Fronted by the enthrallingly poetic growl of Hamish Hutcheson, the band brought the sweaty Scottish club scene down to Brighton to put on a bold, show-stopping spectacle. A pretty strong start for Day 1.
Once the fog had cleared from the first night's antics, we were straight back to it on Friday for another beautiful day of musical discovery. We headed to Brighthelm - a community centre much resembling a school hall - to catch some of the very best of what Wales has to offer in the Horizons Cymru showcase, and got engulfed in the might of Panic Shack. Four mates from South Wales putting the fun back into being a band, and making ridiculously good punchy punk in its purest form along the way.
Panic Shack - Brighthelm // Photo Credit: Tony Palmer
Heading back to the beach to soak up some more sun, Brighton's own huge hitters Opus Kink grace the shimmering Music Venues Trust stage. Their vastly eclectic jazz-lined post-punk has seen them skyrocket into the hearts of 6 Music listeners, and they're inevitably destined for great things.
Opus Kink - The MVT Stage // Photo Credit: Ant Adams
With a bright blue sky above, the beating sun, glistening disco balls, and brilliant music blasting, it's hard not to see this as paradise. Sticking with this perfect setting, Ireland's Thumper push some tightly energetic punk noise right out to the horizon. Never taking anything too seriously, their riotous cover of Natasha Bedingfield's “Unwritten” has to be up there for the best moments of the festival.
Thumper - The MVT Stage // Photo Credit: Ant Adams
Of the many barely-emerged, brand-new bands this weekend, NYC's Been Stellar are certainly making the most of their first time over on British soil. Showcased by So Young after releasing their debut single, their 90s alternative influences dapple through as they set the standard for the next generation of gutsy guitar bands.
Been Stellar - The Beach Stage // Photo Credit: Tony Palmer
Then immediately after, Enola Gay get the pits going strong in the early evening, being heavy on the riffs and even heavier on the politically-led hardcore punk, it gives you plenty to shout about.
Enola Gay - The Beach Stage // Photo Credit: Tony Palmer
On the opposite end of the spectrum our night leads us to arguably the fanciest room in Brighton, Paganini Ballroom. With its chandeliers, extravagant carpet and decadent wallpaper, tonight it plays host to BBC 6 Music's stage. To a crowd of punks young and old, Steve Lamacq introduces "a personal favourite" of his, Deadletter, for a full on raucous set. It's been quite a day already but we're not done yet. Friday tends to host the big primetime headline sets of the weekend, this year being Yard Act, Warmduscher, Opus Kink among others. However we head to one of Alt Escape's tiny free-for-all pubs, The Mucky Duck, to catch a glimpse of TV Priest. It's packed to the rafters as expected but it's worth every elbow in the face to feel a sense of the local experience of what Great Escape brings to Brighton.
The Friday spectacles go on late into the night. We catch the impeccable strobe-drenched atmosphere that Nuha Ruby Ra brings to Komedia, while on a larger scale Working Men's Club put on their own rave at Chalk ahead of the impossible party creature that is Lynks. The night's been one of revelry in excess, but there's yet more to greedily consume over Saturday too.
LYNXS - The Beach Stage // Photo Credit: Ant Adams
Taking us to even more corners than we'd already explored, the final day was largely spent at popular gay club, Revenge. Firstly, for the most intense live electronics show from London's Uh. Coming out of the sun and stepping into the wall of noise and darkness feels a bit like a fever dream, but the duo comprised of Fionnuala and Dominic Kennedy have a power to wield sound like wizards, and it’s pretty awe-inspiring.
uh - Revenge // Photo Credit: Ant Adams
Stepping back out in a daze, we managed to make our way back down the pier to Horatios, where Heavenly Records have taken over to showcase the likes of Katy J Pearson and Mattiel. As expected these kind of shows turn the place into a bubbling hub of industry representatives, but all here to share a mutual love of great music. Mattiel put on a flawless show, bringing the Southern sting of their upcoming album Georgia Gothic to the ears of the Brighton seafront, while further along the beach another nightclub-turned-music-venue, Coalition, hosts some more of the newest talent. In the dingy depths we catch L'Objectif, Leeds's latest class of swaggering young indie rockstars, doing well to make their name known.
L'Objectif - Coalition // Photo Credit: Tony Palmer
Across town Wales's fastest risers, CVC, pack the Latest Music Bar to capacity after landing in NME's "10 acts to see at the festival". Bombarding the room with their 70s stylings and huge harmonies, the 6-piece get the crowd in such a frenzy that they manage to coax the organisers into an unplanned encore. Possibly the most enthusiastic crowd we've seen all weekend.
As the sunny day makes way for a warm night we return to Revenge for the unmissable beats of PVA. After such a huge weekend all round, it's forgivable that the wheels start to fall off at this point as the venue seem to struggle with demand and there's a full 45 minute delay to setting up their set. But once it gets going the expertly-produced London trio put on a streamlined show of sickening synth and lights. Well worth the wait.
We finish our weekend with the colossal Crows. Led by the unmatched energy of James Cox, the genre-defying rave rockers practically brought the walls crashing down with a monumental set to end all things, not just the festival. It's the perfect sweaty end to the perfect sweaty weekend.
It's been a packed-out time of discovery and desire. It feels like we've seen so much but in reality this is just a tiny portion of what's been going on. From the huge rooms with queues snaking down the street to innumerable hidden corners of the city, there's every opportunity to jump on something new and exciting at The Great Escape.
Words by Alice Jenner
Photography by Tony Palmer and Ant Adams
