Live Review
The Great Escape, Brighton (Day 3)
Thursday May 19 - Saturday May 21 2016
Various venues
Reporting team: LB, Kenny Davies, Alison Mack
The last day of 2016's Great Escape festival seems to have come round impossibly soon. While some are preparing a late afternoon return home, others are sticking out the fun, sun and music galore til the last band has sung their final note.
Rozi Plain garners a midday queue outside the Komedia Studio Bar, joining the queue on the opposite side of the door for Komedia's main room where The Big Moon, followed by Clean Cut Kid are opening up. Rozi and her fellow musicians provide some soothing alt-folk that is surprisingly relaxing considering the group have had something of a calamitous journey from France overnight. The Big Moon girls, on the other hand, pack out the big space with their brand of happy, bouncy vibes, while the Liverpool 'kids' succeed in proving beards, an infectious ‘Runaway' and great guitar solos are the way to go.
Copenhagen-based duo Palace Winter - Carl Coleman and Dane Caspar Hesselage - deliver their indie/synth genre-crossing set over at The Hope and Ruin, laying on fuzz guitars and synth, and offering a well-constructed repertoire of their melodic numbers, including closer and latest single 'Positron', all 60s dreamy riffs with Coleman's vocals coming in to provide an evocative partner to Hesselager's keys. South London outfit Shame tear straight into The Hope and Ruin's packed crowd. Big heavy beats, loud guitars and a ferocious lead singer who by the time the set has finished has stripped to his trousers sets the tone for this semi-political-cum-Fat White Family display.
Egyptian Blue play in the small setting of Molly Malone's and it's quite clear from the start that they want you to listen. 'High The Hyena' has a nice guitar melody combing pounding drums to create a Yak meets Nivana sound and a loud sound at that. Not the most inventive lyric-wise, but it's more about the sound and how the song feels.
Playing in your home town must always be special so for Brighton lads White Room today is that day. With plenty of fans in The Hope and Ruin the band tear through songs like 'Freaking Out' and 'In My Head' creating a 90s sound with melodic guitars, catchy hooks and excellent vocals, a band to watch out for. Following them on stage are the American Swedes Fews. The Play It Again signees up the ante in motorik house-pop, and include new track 'If Things Go On Like This' for good measure. For those without hearing protection it was possibly an endurance, for others it was just a pack load of goosebumps - 100, in fact.
Next to The Prince Albert to watch still unsigned Sheffield band The Sherlocks and by the amount of fans and big tunes they won't stay unsigned for long. Catchy pop indie anthems are on the menu today, great melodies and Arctic Monkeys style lyrics get the crowd moving. Songs such as 'Will You Be There', 'Last Night' and 'Chasing Shadows' sound great close up but these are made for the big arenas, massive potential. The four-piece Teleman deliver off-kilter pop late in the evening at the Paganini Ballroom, and prove that the last day can offer some of the best music.
A quick dash down to the Corn Exchange to watch the last band of the night, Aussies DMAs, is yet further proof. They might look like scruffs, but the songs do the talking, 'Feels Like 37' is washed in Britpop and has the crowd singing, dancing and small moshpits breaking out. The biggest cheer and sing-along is reserved for 'Delete', with its gentle guitar picking intro exploding into life when the rest of the band join in. Hands in the air lighters out moment create a rousing end to the almost perfect set; it's easy to see why they're fast becoming one of everybody's favourite bands.
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