The Great Escape is the granddaddy of them all, with hundreds of bands playing every available space across the city in May, while Mutations festival does the same on a smaller scale every October.
In the middle of those two comes the Brighton Psych Fest, which aims to bring emerging and established left-field artists to our city for another multi-venue extravaganza.
This year's event saw a take-over of venues including Concorde 2, Patterns, Komedia, the Corn Exchange and others in what is becoming another hugely popular staple of the music calendar.
There are two distinct approaches to covering an event like the Psych Fest - launching a military-style operation to see as many of the acts you really want to catch or just wandering around and seeing what gems you stumble across.
We started with the best of intentions, catching Lael Neil at Patterns and then heading to the Concorde in good time for our absolute must-see - art rock trio Mary in the Junkyard.
The London-based trio have been picking up significant interest after the release of their debut album Role Model Hermit, whose tracks made up 60% of tonight’s set.
The band originally met at a classical music summer camp, so it’s fair to assume they probably aren’t street urchins from the wrong side of the tracks, but they produced a spell-binding 60 minute set, with the new songs suggesting their journey is only just beginning.
We planned to head to the Corn Exchange from the Concorde to see Stereolab but had a last-minute chance of heart.
We’d seen the Anglo/French outfit headlining the same venue as recently as December, so opted instead for the Komedia to watch Mandy, Indiana.
They are 6 Music staples, and in the flesh are even more brutal – delivering an ear-punishing 50 minute set which ended with frontwoman Valentine Caulfield in the audience.
From there it was a late-night date with local favourites Lemonsuckr.
Elsewhere, other highlights included:
The Bel Air Lipbombs - the Jack White-affiliated Australians who played a well-received set at Patterns
Little Grandad, a fast-rising country-tinged outfit who played the ornate Alphabet
Dublin’s alt-rockers Bleech 9.3
Do all the bands on the bill fit into the psychedelic pigeon-hole? Probably not. But is this another chance to see dozens of acts for a single ticket price? Absolutely. Here’s to 2027.