The Great Escape - back and bigger than ever before

Europe’s largest festival of new music returns to Brighton in May.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Feb 2019, 13:18 GMT
Updated 18th Feb 2019, 10:24 GMT
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Unlike outdoor music festivals which set up home in fields and the countryside, The Great Escape is a mud and tent-free zone - instead it’s based in the city, with the performances taking place in Brighton’s clubs, pubs and gig spaces.

The Great Escape 2019 is set to feature more than 450 acts from all over the world, performing at 35 walkable venues across the town from May 9-May 11.

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In the 13 years since it was first hosted in 2006, it has become important event for the music industry to showcase new acts and also to look for the next big thing.

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    Big name artists who have performed at the festival at the start of their career include Adele, Foals, Vampire Weekend, Stormzy, Ed Sheeran, Mura Masa, Skepta, Slaves, Charli XCX, Wolf Alice, Mac Demarco, HAIM, Alt J, Declan Mckenna, The Maccabees, Loyle Carner, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Kelela, Kali Uchis, MNEK, Ellie Goulding, and Bon Iver

    Organisers have also confirmed the festival will again feature The Beach - a beach-side arena to the east of the Palace Pier which has three stages and it’s own bars ,food stalls, and pop up performance spaces.

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    In addition to talent-spotting, an estimated 3,500 music industry visitors will take part in The Great Escape Convention – a series of talks and networking events.

    This year’s lead country partner for 2019 is Australia.

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    Which means plenty of Antipodean talent, including These New South Whales, Sons of the East, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Allysha Joy, Cable Ties and Body Type.

    Lewis Capaldi is one of this year’s Spotlight acts, returning to the festival after performing as rising star in 2018 and clocking up a mammoth 25 million streams on Spotify for his self-released single Bruises, the most-ever plays from an unsigned artist.

    For the latest line up (300 more acts will be confirmed in the next two months) or to buy tickets: visit https://greatescapefestival.com/