6 things we learned at The Great Escape

We headed down to Brighton for The Great Escape, kicking off this year’s festival season. Showcasing over 400 up-and-coming artists from all over the world, in 35 venues across the city, here are 6 things we learned from our time down there.

Over to the UK for a string of shows, we managed to catch the highly anticipated Melbourne garage rock band Amyl and The Sniffers.  Signing to Damaged Goods and recently releasing  ‘Giddy Up/Big Attraction’ – earlier in the year, the band brought an exhilarating and unhinged performance to Prince Albert, their first show outside of Australia. We can’t wait to catch them again.

Even in 24 degree heat, Great Escape goers still love their DMs; we spotted them all across the seafront and “front right” in venues. The brand was an official partner for the festival this year, presenting one of the stages within The Beach site, new on the seafront for 2018.

North London teenager Jimothy Lacoste has been popping up everywhere recently, with his low fi music videos, deadpan delivery and a cheerful outlook on life.  We caught him on Friday and anticipated a bit of a joke after watching his very comedic videos.  Perhaps understandably though, as one of the most hotly tipped artists of this year, it’s safe to say he’s taking his live performances very seriously and looks here to stay. 

We headed to The Great Escape with Kentucky bourbon brand Evan Williams, hosting a showcase over the course of the weekend. Artists from all over the UK and beyond performed at The Latest, just off Brighton’s seafront, but it was the mesmeric Luca that captivated us the most.  Channeling Leonard Cohen, a capacity crowd zoned-out to the 27 year-old’s haunting falsetto tones.

Northampton native Slow Thai has caused a stir in the UK rap game recently after releasing his debut EP ‘I WISH I KNEW’. After seeing him in Hackney earlier in the year, we wanted to see how he would step up his game at The Great Escape, which he did. His usual mosh pits were in full force, as was his exciting and progressive take on rap.

You can’t head to the seaside without sampling the local chippy. With a vast range of chip shops on the seafront, and plenty of room on the beach we weren’t the only ones posting up on the deckchairs with a portion of chips and mushy peas watching the sun go down.