Live Review :: The Great Escape: Day 3 :: Various venues, Brighton - May 9 - 11 2019

Live

The Great Escape: Day 3

Various venues, Brighton 

May 9 - 11 2019

Reviewing team: Steve Willcox, Neil Cole, Izzy Butler

Pictures: As credits

Saturday dawns fine and clear, and time for casual morning activities such as a walk along the beach and chat to a few gulls. The final day of The Great Escape is always a hectic one in trying to pack up to leave, as well as hastily scour the itinerary for any playing a second or third show we may have missed the previous days.

Sons Of The East

(Neil Cole)

Saturday lunchtime sees the usual Sounds Australia takeover on the Ditto Stage at the Beach Site. Rain threatens to ruin the outdoor stage, but thankfully stays away for the country sounds of Sons Of The East and the art-pop of Emerson Snowe. The latter must have been one of the hardest working performers at the festival, performing three times with a brand new band over the weekend, and looking like he hadn’t slept for three days as he took to the stage. (NC) Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Gaffa Tape Sandy are hanging out in the Prince Albert. The Brighton-via-Suffolk transplants are always a good bet for a lively show with their garage-punk melodic style, and they bring in the fans for some lunchtime catchy tunes and inspirational singing - on and off-stage. (IB)

False Advertising 

(Steve Willcox)

Opening up with ‘You Said’, False Advertising's Jen Hingley sounds like a younger pissed off version of Sleeper’s Louise Wener. While ‘Scars’ brings in the scuzzy guitars and hardbeats with scathing lyrics. After the Latest Music Bar crowd is given some free merch lollipops and new song ‘You Won’t Feel Love’ gets the busy room moving with its guitar riff filling the air. Fuzzy indie grooves with ‘Hey You’ closes the perfect set from this Manchester trio. (SW)

Cruel Hearts Club

(Steve Willcox)

Cruel Hearts Club (formally known as Lock) at The Richmond for the Alternative Escape, trade their synth/guitar indie punk, and sisters Edie and Gita Langley make the crowd dance with ‘High Waist Jeans’ accompanied by Gabi Woo’s infectious beats. ‘Pink Lights’ has an oriental fuzzy sound to it, while ‘New York vs Paris’ brings some emotion into the set. ‘Hey Compadre’ lights up the room with its crowd pleasing chorus and ends the set on a high. (SW)

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets 

The band to catch at the Aussie showcase at The Dive Bar was undoubtedly Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - with what looked like half of Brighton queuing to get in. A very accomplished set of prog-like guitar had a packed out tent voicing their approval, as frontman Jack McEwan swung his lengthy hair and the collective pulled out a swagbag full of big beats, and even bigger riffs (NC). Next door at The Deep End, The Crumpets were competing with another eloquently named outfit from Down Under: Tropical Fuck Storm. They send out some off-the-wall humour and - even further off it - skewed, art-punk songs, like 'You Let My Tyres Down' and 'Antimatter Animals'. (IB)

Dirty Radio (Steve Willcox)

As with all things Great Escape, the best discoveries are often the random picks: Canadian duo Dirty Radio were a lucky strike. Settling into a mid-afternoon slot at Green Door Store for their debut performance in the UK, Farshad Edalat (Shadi) and Zachary Forbes (Waspy) brings some dance/funk grooves to the full room. Shadi has a great falsetto voice and brings in some soulful vibes, while Waspy taps the drum machine with one hand, mixing with the other and probably dancing with his feet. ‘My Feelings’ is a real showstopper and gets this crowd moving to its hypnotic rhythm and EDM hooks. Watch out for these when they are next back on these shores. (SW)

Five Kites (Steve Willcox)

Local(-ish) Sussex lads Five Kites didn’t seem shy from being relatively new to start this evening's set on the Alternative Escape stage at The Richmond. Grungy indie punk with a few Nirvana chords and False Heads flair, they did a fair job (SW). On a bigger stage at The Deep End, so did Talk Show. The Peckham new wave-punk posse go all out with a barrage of jagged guitars, woozy riffs and big choruses that all knit together for something energetic and engaging that sets a real festive feel to the happy, dancing throng. (IB).

Indie-rock quartet Charly Bliss remind one of Black Honey, except with a New York twang. With their second album just out, they get a chance to air it to the evening crowd on The Dive Bar stage, where Eva Hendricks adds her sweet vocals to the fuzzy guitar sound that brought happy punters to shuffle their dancing feet. (IB)

Charly Bliss

(Donna Clutterbuck)

Saturday evening feels slightly different to the preceding two nights as we decided to catch sets at Coalition featuring some of the more established bands on the festival line-up. The LA-based Mini Mansions have been around a long time now, and have really honed their sound, with the new stuff some of their best yet. Latest single ‘Gummy Bear’ sounded fantastic (NC). Pumarosa are also previous Great Escape alumni, and they used the set to exclusively play new material - which unfortunately meant their best and most well known track ‘Priestess’ was dropped from the set, and the crowd response was muted. (NC)

Penelope Isles 

(Steve Willcox)

Brighton’s alt-indies Penelope Isles have amassed a full house at Sallis Benney. With a psychedelic backdrop and band visual inlays cuts the mustard with their high energy display of great tunes and stage presence. Vocalist Lily Wolter's delivery of set starter ‘Three’ has the crowd lulled into a sense of wonder, while ‘Chlorine’ brings more guitar from brother Jack as they interplay vocals with floating synths. Fan favourite ‘Cut Your Hair’ gets the big treatment as the lights swirl around the hall and trippy acid visuals enhance its steady beat to Jack’s echoing vocals. (SW)

Black Midi (David Ma)

Black Midi's afternoon show at the snall Komedia Studio was not not unsurprisingly at capacity before they had even started on their first song.
Tonight, The Deep End gives them a little more space and the opportunity to pack in dozens more eager bodies to catch this London foursome who have been making inroads both here and in America over the last 12 months. Clad in cowboy hats they live up to both the mystique and hype that has built up around them. They come over as loud and passionate, belting out their set with a powerful intensity, heavy drums and deep-cut bass. (IB)

The Amazons (Simon W)

The Amazons are back at TGE for the third time with their most confident and accomplished show yet at Coalition late in the evening. They play three songs from the new album which has developed the punchy guitar sound of their self-titled debut, while also throwing crowd favourites ‘In My Mind’, ‘Junk Food Forever’ and ‘Black Magic’. (NC)

Bad Animal 

(Steve Willcox)

Canadians Bad Animal play up to the witching hour at Latest Music Bar. Luckily we had heard good things about this five-piece from Calgary have a strong following back home with their indie/post-punk/rock-pop sound. Vocalist Ben Painter’s voice is captivating as they put on a display for the full crowd tonight. ‘Oh No’ is a strong starter with some heavy guitars, but it’s the catchy beats that hooks us in as we start dancing. '1989’ continues the dancing but sees Ben’s voice take a more expressive turn as he reaches to the depths to get his point across. Change of pace with both ‘Waste All My Time’ and ‘Graceland Dracula’, before ‘Cross My Heart’ brings a sense of urgency with it - and the room goes crazy, ending what must rank highly as one of the best sets this festival. Talk about saving the best til last! (SW)

(Izzy Butler)

It was a whirlwind three days in Brighton - but definitely one of the best yet. Looking forward already to seeing what TGE 2020 has in store! And if you're already suffering withdrawal symptoms, Early Bird tickets for The Great Escape 2020 (May 14 - 16) are on sale now here.

Previous:

The Great Escape: Day 2

The Great Escape: Day 1