win a place in the great escape’s final line-up

In just two weeks’ time we’ll be in the full flow of new music at The Great Escape, returning for its thirteenth year. We’ve already shared some of our top picks from the line-up with you, but here’s your chance to get YOUR band added to the bill. That’s right, there’s one last spot for a Brighton artist to join the Saturday schedule. The lucky winner will play the stage at The Beach, the newest addition to the festival this year.

We spoke to TGE founder Rory Bett to give you a taste of what to expect from the new site: “The Beach is an exciting addition and where is better than the beach? It represents a major investment for us and we want this to add to the sum of the parts that make TGE special for people. We have some amazing partners to work with like Island Records, and Fader Fort from America (to mention just a couple), with some amazing talent going into the spaces. We have worked very hard on it and hope everyone enjoys what we offer there. As always, the audience will be the judge.”

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Up for it? When it comes to The Great Escape, you never know who you could have the chance to play in front of at the new 2,000-capacity site, so if you fancy showing the city what you’re made of and joining The Magic Gang, Idles and The Go! Team (to mention just a few), then send your music link to enterthebeach@greatescapefestival.com by Friday, 11th May. That’s a whole week you’ve got to get yourselves sorted… good luck!

If you’re more interested in soaking up new music than playing it, we’d recommend adding this to your Spotify playlist collection to start getting REALLY excited. Two weeks and counting!

Remember when the Slaves played a gig from Brighton Pier’s Haunted House ride last year? It was pretty out there as secret gigs go. So what surprises can we expect at this year’s festival? Rory remained tight-lipped when we asked him: “That was a good one for sure – seeing a modern-day punk duo on top of the horror hotel was a good moment. We always have a few things up our sleeves and the city is good at helping them happen, but we will keep them a surprise for you… We like to keep the Council guessing, too.” Now we really can’t wait!

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When it gets this close to the festival, we always think about our favourite gigs from past years – CRAIG DAVID AT WAGNER HALL, anyone? SHHH! Rory’s favourite was Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty performing over the front door archway of Audio [now Patterns] a few years ago.”It was a shutdown on the roundabout and the pier for about 30 minutes!” More of that this year, please!

We’re lucky to be in a city where something this magical happens each year. But what it is about Brighton & Hove that encourages such incredible musical diversity? “The world’s music scene is extremely healthy; there are more people consuming more music from every genre in the world than ever before,” said Rory. “The barriers to listening to different genres no longer exist. The combination of these things, along with rule-breaking production techniques, inspire new music-makers into some interesting places of bravery and artistry. I love it when a completely new scene produces a cultural shift in things, like grime has done in recent years. There is always another one coming…. Always!”

And we are READY for it. See you there.

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Feature photo credit: Phoebe Fox
Other images: The Great Escape

Thursday 17th May – Saturday 19th May 2018; from £35
greatescapefestival.com