Brighton’s The Great Escape Festival not only marks the beginning of festival season for many, but also presents a golden opportunity to discover and embrace some of the most exciting domestic and international new artists around. Taking over the city’s most well regarded live venues, as well as adapting bars, cafes, and nightclubs into temporary live music spaces, it’s a festival that is both hard to miss and impossible to beat when it comes to inner city multi venue events.
Extending its music programming to the Wednesday in 2025, early arrivers can head to Jubilee Square for local favourites, Goodbye. The five-piece are yet to release music, but the band’s live reputation is a growing one – all aided by Megan Wheeler’s impressive-yet-haunting vocals. Venturing towards more familiar names, Strap Originals take over the beach site on day one – boasting the likes of Peter Doherty, who runs the label, alongside party favourites Warmduscher and our favourite dutch punks, Real Farmer.
Thursday is a special one for us as we proudly take over Charles Street Tap for the So Young stage. Our lineup this year includes Green Star, Mên An Tol, Westside Cowboy, Rabbitfoot and Man/Woman/Chainsaw. Assuming your attendance, and ahead of the evening’s fun, there’s a full programme of day shows at your disposal. On our list are Glasgow’s Water Machine who take an early afternoon slot at Horatio’s. Recently signed to FatCat Records, you can expect angular post-punk riffs paired with bright melodies fit for the sea side. Embracing the Great Escape dash, Naarm/Melbourne’s Folk Bitch Trio will play Komedia’s basement. Sure to be a crowded one, the band’s impressive three part folk harmonies are enough to make sure we wrestle to the front. Filling our afternoon before we make our move to Charles Street Tap will be performances from Sex Mask, Armlock and buzzy Irish newcomers, Florence Road.
We always relish the opportunity to host a stage at The Great Escape, and it’s with great pleasure that we get to present a lineup of incredible talent once again at Charles Street Tap. With every band on the bill having played our We Are So Young clubnight in London at some stage, it feels particularly special to be helping spread the word even further with these bands. Opening the stage are London’s Green Star. Following the release of their debut EP, the band draw in the evening with shoegaze infused swirls of alternative rock. Five-piece English folk-rock band, Mên An Tol are next up. ‘NW1’ is a track worthy of any debut EP, or album for that matter, and we can’t wait to hear it performed live again. Manchester is home to Westside Cowboy, a band of which the industry has gone wild for in recent months (rightfully so). They head to the seaside with their country-come-indie songs, a genre they’re calling Britainicana, and we expect the room to be a squeeze. Somewhere between the theatrics of The Last Dinner Party and the multi-instrument onslaught of Black Country, New Road, lie RABBITFOOT. A group with no music out yet but a growing presence, RABBITFOOT set us up for our finale. And to headline our Thursday night showcase, Man/Woman/Chainsaw return to The Great Escape. Following new double single ‘Adam & Steve / MadDog’ and a recently sold out show at London’s Scala, the six-piece are a full throttle rock band with smiles on their faces – a show not to miss. IF you are considering not being at Charles Street Tap on Thursday evening, we’d (reluctantly) point you to shows from The Orchestra (For Now), TTSSFU, The Klittens and Pem.
Friday has to begin with the noise-rock of Makeshift Art Bar. The Belfast trio have been generating plenty of excitement – fans of Gilla Band should be sure to head to the Queens Hotel, or their show later at Players. RIP Magic have to be one of the hottest names on the lineup this year. A group whose release output (none) is heavily outweighed by the chatter around them. The live show boasts a wholly experimental project – from electronic beats to lofi indie rock, all glued with a vocal intensity and intent that a band beyond their years would be proud of. The New Eves are the festival’s local band making an international impact. Now a couple of years into impressing growing crowds with unmistakable performances, The New Eves, now signed to Transgressive, fuse folk-rock with a punk tongue. A show to catch at Chalk. Silver Gore is the exciting new project from Ava Gore and Ethan P. Flynn. Some may remember a debut release via Ethan’s Crude Oil label a year or so ago, but with that now removed we can only assume big things are happening. Pop lined alt-rock which has shared stages with Geordie Greep and Martha Skye Murphy, need we say more? That show is at Green Door Store. Manchester four-piece Maruja will be reaching for the title of most intense act at the festival. Blending noise-rock, jazz and post-punk, the live show is one of the most impressive and raucous out there. With new music on the horizon, now is the time to catch the band in full flight. They’ll play Players on Friday night. Notable mentions for Friday include Vienna’s Gardens, Getdown Services, Witch Post and English Teacher.
Saturday will see The Great Escape merge with the city’s tourist traffic. The ultimate blend of alternative culture and stag-do/Hen-do cliches. It’s a sight, and the hours beyond midnight only become more interesting. Those looking to escape the bustle of the streets pronto can jump into a show from London’s Ugly. The band return to the festival with a new single out in the world and some of the most fantastic harmonies in the world of art rock. Head to the pier for a performance at Horatios if you can. Shoegaze washed alt-rock hasn’t exactly been hard to come by in recent times, but a band who lead that sound with quality are Hank. The London four-piece will play the hits from their debut EP at Horatios too. Admittedly, Iceland hasn’t been a first thought for handsome, smokey rock and roll. Reykjavik’s Spacestation however have become a recent favourite. Melodic indie rock with bold riffs and chugging bass lines makes for a sound where a rule is rarely broken, but nor should it be. Catch them at Revenge. If you’re still looking to fill gaps in your Saturday schedule, look no further than Eterna, Wing!, Martial Arts and The Molotovs.
The Great Escape is a date marked firmly on the calendar for us at So Young and the abundance of incredible new bands proves why. We will see you at the seaside.
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Issue Fifty-Five features Model/Actriz, YHWH Nailgun, The Orchestra (For Now), Westside Cowboy, Car Seat Headrest, Real Farmer, School Fair, Elias Rønnenfelt, feeble little horse, Kissing On Camera, Pooneh Ghana and Rhi Dancey.
Read the digital edition below.