I`m writing this post after my 3 day experience at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton. This has been my first time at this festival.
The Great Escape Festival showcases over 350 artists over a 3 day period in 30 venues scattered around the town centre of Brighton. It has been a weird but interesting experience to be running around town to the next venue instead of running round a field (the usual festival experience!) They had a great selection of different styles of music to fit everyone's tastes and they kept me on my toes with so much music to choose from.
You are probably wondering how my time went during the festival and I’m planning to write three posts, one for each day. Each post will let you know who I saw with a mini review and a track for you to listen to. I have continued my usual randomness of sounds but have a listen as your new favourite band may be waiting for you.
What a great way to start my first day at the festival with this folky Americana sounding band with a mix of guitar riffs and harmonising vocals. This band sounded great together and is definitely my type of sound. They had a slow start but once they found there groove it got a lot better. They did their best with the small audience they had due to the early time slot, my only issue was that they didn’t have any CD’s with them, I wanted to buy a copy!
Words can not express how much this band surprised me (in a good way). This band played in a cool little pub called The Hope (which I plan to go back to ha ha). I will admit, I heard one song by the band before going to see them but I did not expect the awesome show I witnessed.
The folk rock band provided a great set which had a mixture of tempo’s and some vocals that blew my mind. The band themselves were on fire, they sounded awesome with great beats and awesome riffs. Credit has to go to Rich for his vocals, some of the best folk rock vocals I have heard live in a long time. When he sung ‘Gold & Silver’, I was stunned not only by the great vocals but also how great of a song it was, it was a showstopper moment. This is a band that is firmly on my radar and has a new fan to add to their ranks.
After the gig, I asked Yiannis (drummer) if they had any copies of their EP available, unfortunately they left them in the van. I spoke to Yiannis and Rich for a short while and they were both great guys who seemed very grounded. They told me they are working on their new album.
I am planning to get their two previous EP’s soon and when I do, expect to hear more from Brother and Bones. Like I said, I’m a fan now!
Skin and Bone by Brother & Bones
This trio were playing at the Hub and the sun was shining which made their happy go lucky electro pop sound very good to listen to. However, their music wasn’t really the kind of sound that I would normally listen to and I thought they were just ok (tough critic ha ha).
I will be the first to admit, I don’t like to follow the hype that comes with some artists and I know there has been a lot of attention on Tom’s music. It was by chance that I caught Tom’s performance. He put on a good show and he seemed like a nice guy, but I am not sure what all the fuss is about. I’m not saying I dislike his music, I thought it was ok but I have heard better from artists who don’t get this kind of attention.
Long Way Down (demo) by Tom Odell
When I did my research for the festival, Jeremy was one of the acts that I was really excited to see. Did he live up to my expectation? YES!!!!
I can only describe Jeremy’s live performance as a musical trip of illusion and magic. I know you are reading this and wondering what I’m talking about, let me try to explain. The magic and illusion is the result of a loop pedal that Jeremy uses to create his music which is a mash up of different elements including folk, reggae, with other crazy good sounds. Check out the video for ‘Power’ below to see what I mean. Jeremy is such a happy guy and that happiness was infectious, resulting in a fun gig that made everyone smile. During his performance he was accompanied on stage by rapper Motheo Moleko and saxophonist Jamie Faull who were great additions to this musical party.
My favourite song of the set was ‘My Shoes’ which featured Motheo performing some guest vocals. This upbeat track was the last song of the night (my gig day too) and it had the crowd jumping around like crazy.
I caught up with Moleko (really nice guy) after the gig when I bought myself a copy of Jeremy’s EP (which I will review soon). He told me that a new album is in the works, obviously I’m excited about that.
So, day one was over and I was buzzing from the music that I heard. Here are my mini awards for the music of the day:
Day 1 Awards
Band of the Day: Brother & Bones
Song of the Day: Gold & Silver (by Brother & Bones)
I couldn’t wait for day two to begin to find out what new music was going to catch my attention. The next post will be soon and will continue my adventures during The Great Escape Festival. Until then, let me know which of these artists have now become a new favourite of yours.
This blog is about a very cool bluesy rock band called ‘
