Let’s just put this right up front – The Great Escape Festival always manages to be ahead of the curve when it come to new bands … it’s pretty much the whole point of the event.
It was created with the thinking that UK bookers need to be exposed to new bands from across the world at least once a year, and it works. We love dipping our toes into the new musical output from Canada, France, Norway, and Australia to name just a few of the countries who take part.
So it was hardly any surprise to find that the three acts we have been tipping all year as UK newcomers to watch were all present in 2023: HotWax, SNAYX and VLURE.
Oh – and Personal Trainer were also on the bill… our favourite band from Amsterdam right now!
All four acts bring something different to the party (follow the links for our reviews), but what binds them together is that perfect combination of stagecraft, songwriting, and originality – which is an exponentially hard thing to achieve these days as the quantity of music available grows by tens of thousands of new streaming downloads every day…spotify alone sees some 50,000 added every 24 hours.
What The Great Escape is also great at doing is programming these hotly-tipped bands in such a way that most guests get a chance to see them at least once.
So if you were left outside in the long queue for Personal Trainer’s first show at Waterbear you were able to plan ahead and get in early for their headline gig at the Beach stage on Saturday night.
And if you were squeezed out of that tent for the first HotWax show of the festival, you could stay up late to see them blow the roof off Chalk on Friday night at 2am to a heaving room.
We went along this year with only a small crew of two – so a difficult decision had to be made about where to focus our attention.
It wasn’t just which bands to see at which venues – it was also whether to spend time with the industry delegates at the plethora of talks and workshops that are a big part of the festival’s unique selling point.
In the end we opted for music over words – so take a read through the band reviews we put together – or if you are a more visual reader, pop over to our Flickr galleries where there are hundreds of fabulous photos from every day:
For those tempted to try out this festival for the first time in 2024 here are our suggestions to make the most out of it:
1. Buy an early-bird tcket now… it’s great value for money and you’ll kick yourself later on if you pay more
2. Book a hotel room pronto – they get snapped up quickly and you’ll want one close to the action
3. Take a bicycle or sign up to the Bikeshare scheme… if you are like us and want to flit around different venues it’s the best way to avoid long walks and missing valuable gig time (top tip – BikeShare has a £12 per day capped charge if you want to hang onto a bike for a full 24 hours)
4. Have a plan for the band you want to see, but if you arrive close to the start of a set and there is a queue of more than a dozen people it’s best to switch to a plan B venue nearby, because once the popular shows are full there is only a slim chance you will get in
5. If you have gaps in your plan simply fill them by walking into the nearest venue with a show about to start and no big queue…you never know who you might get to see just before they break through and become the next big thing!
