The Great Escape 2022 – Thursday review
It feels like this shindig has been a long time coming. The Great Escape had planned to celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2020, until, of course, the world went to hell. But finally, finally, in sunny Brighton in May 2022, TGE gets to throw a massive party.
The festival takes place in various locations across the greatest city in the world; from big touring venues, to little nooks and crannies, to temporary stages on the beach. Kicking off our Thursday was London-via-Devon’s Phoenix Laoutaris, who offered lush vocals over Drill instrumental.
Over at the Komedia, Sydney producer flowerkid was taking the audience on an honest and confronting coming-of-age journey, demonstrating a juxtaposition of fragility and strength.
Now, if you see that a bunch of bisexual vegan punks from the Faroe Islands called Joe & The Shitboys are on the bill of a festival and you don’t go to see them, then you seriously need to reconsider your life choices. Playing in a small, sweaty, Cavern Club-esque room on the seafront, the band (pictured, above) played about 400 songs in their 30 minute slot, with lead vocalist Fríði Djurhuus, aka Joe Shit, rampaging through the capacity crowd, getting right up in their personal spaces, and making sure that everyone had as good a time as it was possible to have at 3pm on a Thursday afternoon. “Shitboys in the house” he sang. “SHITBOYS” we shouted back with utter abandonment. A joyous experience.
Not only does The Great Escape bring hundreds of artists to the city, but there is an entirely separate, and totally free, festival that runs alongside it. The Alternative Escape see acts – some of whom are at TGE, some who aren’t – playing in those aforementioned nooks and crannies. One such artist was David Ford. The award-winning singer-songwriter from just up the road in Eastbourne played downstairs in a boozer near the station, busting out some semi-oldies, some newies, and some ultra-newies (as-yet unreleased songs) from his outstanding catalogue, and, as always, proved why he is an unmissable performer. The fact that punters can see a musician of this high standard completely free of charge, shows what an incredible addition to the festival The Alternative Escape is. Over the weekend, the likes of Joe & The Shitboys, Kills Birds, and Ducks Ltd would also play free shows. Did we mention that this is the greatest city in the world?
In the Brighthelm Centre, South London’s Lola Young showcased her powerful vocal and songwriting prowess. Brits will know Lola’s voice from last year’s John Lewis Christmas ad, in which she delivered a paired-back version of Together In Electric Dreams, the 1984 hit from Phil Oakley and Giorgio Moroder. Here, she showed that there is far more to her than emotive 80s covers, as she combined soulful, slower numbers with upbeat offerings that wowed a packed room. Lola Young’s star is sure to continue rising, no doubt.
Across the road at one of Brighton’s favourite venues, Green Door Store, Lunar Vacation‘s dreamy indie-pop floated majestically through the air, taking the audience to a blissful place with their melodic, textured tunes. Here’s a snippet from the Atlanta, Georgia band’s set:
And so, with aching feet and warm hearts, we retired, happy in the knowledge that two more days of music awaited us in the greatest city in the world.
Review by Bobby Townsend. Joe & The Shitboys photo: TGE Press.
