The new fad for multi-venue in-town festivals began well, giving music fans plenty of choice at budget price without the hassle of having to fend for yourself in monsoon conditions armed with only a tent and as many pills you can afford. But of late they have come in for plenty of abuse for over-subscribing on tickets and trying to cash in at the detriment to the honest punter. So it was with some trepidation I headed to Brighton's Great Escape Festival which had attracted a strong line-up filled with some of the best up-and-coming new bands as well as some familiar big names.

Day 1

Arriving in Brighton on midday Thursday some events had already started, and would continue almost without pause for breath until the early hours of Sunday morning. Having spent the entire journey from London carefully choosing my hit-list for the opening day, my plans were immediately scuppered. Luckily they were pleasantly scuppered as I managed to get a free ticket to a Levi's sponsored barbeque with free drinks. The organisers had put on a text service which kept revellers informed of any secret gigs that were going on and of any venues that were full up. At only a pound for all the texts over the weekend it, bizarrely for a festival, didn’t take the piss and paid complete dividends.

I didn’t see my first band til 8 o'clock when I headed to the Jam for, despite my propensity for bands with ridicolous names, We Were Promised Jetpacks.  This antipath for those with overly long monikers is almost entirely the fault of Get Cape, Where Cape, Fly. Scouting out another band on bill called An Experiment On A Bird In The Air Pump on Myspace didn’t dispel my theory as they were as disappointing musically as they were unsightly. But We Were Promised Jetpacks bucked this trend ripping through a short, tight set of melodic indie pop. The venue did get very busy nearing the start time but with Jam's capacity of around 300 it was never going to be empty.

Then on to see Bombay Bicycle Club at the Concorde 2 which was one of the only venues away from the city centre. It was a cheap cab ride and due to its position and size never got too busy for decent acts. And BBC are certainly a decent act. They faded into the wilderness after being touted as the next big thing a couple of years ago but have returned in style with new single 'Always Like This'. The rest of their set is heavier but still kept their charming quirky nature. We left the Concorde 2 to get to the Komedia Theatre to see the Rumble Strips, but were stopped in our tracks as we passed through the Artists Village, a small bohemian tented area. We followed our ears into a tent called the Pussy Parlour which happened to have an event called Swap-A-Rama, where a kind transvestite  explained it was a dressing up party where you swap clothes with others. The more ridiculous the clothes the better. When you were as drunk as I was by this point I don’t think you could have more fun.

Day 2

Unsurprisinglly, my second day was ushered in with a heavy hangover. Having won tickets for the Maccabees via the Gaymers website I had to be up sharp(ish) for a 2pm start. Having joined the queue at half one, we weren’t let in until an hour later. Despite the relativ this relative torture, I soon forgot about the discomfort as the band sweated their way through a 45 minute set. The second album looks like it can live up to the hype or could even better its predecessor with singles 'Love You Better' and 'No Kind Words'. On their home turf, they mixed these new numbers with older favourites 'First Love' and a beautiful rendition of 'Toothpaste Kisses'. The Maccabees are sure to establish themselves as a band for the masses with a number of festival dates over the summer and their biggest tour to date in the autumn.

It would be difficult to live up to the Maccabees standards for the rest of the festival, but The Teenagers later that night at Concorde 2 came close. Their lo-fi indie pop filled with dirty lyrics seem to have been forgotten in the industry since the album came out. They deserve more credit then they are getting with tunes like ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Fuck Nicole’ too likeable to not get stuck in your head for days. On hearing Dead Kids were playing a secret gig, we left and risked life & limb on Brighton Peer which is blowing a gale. Its all worth it when we find the gig and hear the lead singer scream ‘thank you and good night’ and leave the stage immediately. You don’t want to miss highlights like that. It’s the nature of the festival though; you’re not sure quite where you will end up but you had better strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.

Day 3

I would be lying if I said the rigors of the last couple of days hadn’t affected me by this point.

Everyone faces a low point at a festival and this was mine, though some of my friends were of an equally shoddy disposition there really is nothing to make you feel better than seeingpeople worse off than you. Due to our afflictions we missed out on the free tickets to see Babyshambles play an open air gig at Audio. Our punishment for not being early birds was to watch it from the gay bar next door. In typical fashion the 'shambles were an hour late but when they start you realise they far from the ramshackle'd band they get lazily typecasted as. In fact they are now one of the tightest bands around and are orchestrated well by Doherty who also has time to head footballs thrown from the balconies, drink rum and wave to bemused people on buses. They have a decent back-catalogue of songs now and called on three of their big guns ‘Killamangiro’, ‘Pipedown’ and crowd favourite ‘Albion’. It was only a short 8 song set and left everyone chanting for more.

One of the smallest venues for the festival was Po Na Na which could have only held about 200 people. We were lucky enough to get in later on for Official Secrets Act where a big crowd got turned away. The issue of overcrowding is one of the only complaints that could be made against the festival but it must be nigh on impossible to rectify with a such a small venue and so many in wanting to be in attendance. Official Secrets Act were in the right place at Po Na Na. Young and energetic, they pumped through their electronic indie set with gusto without really
catching the eye. We then headed to the now very familiar venue Audio for The Soft  Pack and Hockey. The Soft Pack are exactly the type of band I try to avoid as much as possible but are unavoidable these days. They are shouty emo band who seem to be more style than substance, but without having any style in the first place.  Enough said about them the better.

I was intrigued to see Hockey who have had plenty of radio play with ‘Too Fake’; as good a tune as you will hear all year. They followed it up with ‘Learn to Lose’ which couldn’t really live up to the former single  but isn’t without its charms. Watching them live was slightly disappointing as, from everything I’ve heard about them, I didn’t think they would be as pop driven as they were. ‘Too Fake’ might, unfortunately, be a one off and hearing it live as their showstopper at the end was great but having to listen to the rest of the set left me dry.

You never want to see a disappointing band to the end of a festival and I didn’t. Plugs played at midnight on the Saturday at the Ocean Rooms and were the find of the week. The London three-piece mix indie with dance beats and ska swing. Their first single ‘All The Witches’ made few waves in the charts but look out for ‘That Number’ which could break them to mass audience. On a high from Plugs, and in spite of our aching legs, we stayed in Oceans Rooms to dance to the DJs


Roll on 2010 when I plan to make my pins ache even more.

Posted In Festivals, Jun 02 2009. Words - Dan