The Great Escape 2018 – Day One review
From the moment we opened our curtains on the morning of Day One of The Great Escape, something felt out of place. There was a definite and unnerving sense that things were out of kilter, almost… wrong, caused by a strange, glowing orb in the air, emitting hot orange rays into a royal blue sky. “My god,” we gasped. “It’s not raining.”
Traditionally, the opening day of Brighton’s festival of new music is almost always blighted by miserable weather. Bands, punters and industry people emerge from across the globe, stepping from the train expecting glorious seaside weather, only to greeted by grey skies and the kind of drizzle that turns your shoes to sodden cardboard and your jeans soggy as you skip between the city’s many venues.
On this May Thursday though, the sun was shining and the skies were clear. As omens go, it was a good one. Today wasn’t going to disappoint.
If you want a band to start your festival with a bang and get people in the mood to have a damn good time, you need look no further than Scottish quartet, The Spook School (pictured, below). Opening proceedings at the end of the pier, they belted out irresistible, catchy tunes which dealt with issues of gender and sexuality. If this band aren’t on your radar then you need to address that situation, asap. The bar had been set high for the rest of the festival.
Next, we were incredibly excited to see an artist we’ve been in love with since we first heard her a couple of years ago. In The Komedia Studio Bar, Alex The Astronaut (pictured, below) played honest, optimistic, sweet acoustic tunes about life and love, punctuated by some cracking between-song banter, to an utterly enraptured crowd.
The Australian songwriter’s recent single, Not Worth Hiding, was an early contender for unofficial anthem of the festival, with its message of hope and positivity (“It’s not worth smiling if your feeling in pain/And it’s not worth hiding if you think you might be gay/Or different in another way/You’re perfect just the same”). It was a joyous, life-affirming gig and, quite simply, the world is a better place because Alex The Astronaut exists.
After Alex, a brief stroll along the promenade took us to the brand new festival site on the beach, to briefly cram ourselves into a packed tent to see more Aussies, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. However, not being able to see a thing from the back of the tent or hear much other than the annoying people behind us talking loudly, we quickly escaped back onto the pebbles to watch London’s Denzel Himself deliver powerful and unrelenting hip-hop as the sun incongruously beat down and the waves delicately lapped the shore.
After a couple of beers at Ticketmaster’s beach bash and some (heart-stoppingly delicious) deep fried Mars Bars at the Scottish Networking Party, we were back on the pier to watch South Korea’s Say Sue Me deliver understated, guitary dream-pop. It was a lovely, swirling set which included a gentle cover of Blondie’s Dreaming. Similarly dreamy were Whyte Horses, who floated avant-garde, French soundscapes across the Paganini Ballroom. They filled the stage with eleven members, positioning themselves in a devil-may-care 2-5-3 football formation, with three female vocalists lining up along the front of the stage, supported by a huge band including three incredible guitarists and a violinist. Despite their numbers, their sound was clear as crystal and not overpowering at all, which is an impressive feat in itself, especially at a festival.
With the sun finally replaced by a slither of a moon, Aussies All Our Exes Live in Texas, Eves Karydas and Ecca Vandal helped turn Thursday night into Friday morning, as a sold-out Great Escape crowd fed their hunger for new acts to obsess over.
We’ve been coming to this festival for a number of years, and genuinely can’t remember having a more enjoyable first day than this one. If the rest of the festival continues at this level, it’s going to be the best Great Escape ever.
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For information about The Great Escape go here: http://greatescapefestival.com/
Review and pictures by Bobby Townsend.
