The Great Escape festival is a music festival in Brighton running on the 15th - 17th May. Its based on the SXSW formula of having lots of bands playing in venues all over town, and allowing wristband holders access to all the venues.

Bands playing include Iron and Wine, Vampire Weekend, The Futureheads, The Fratellis, The Wombats, The Ting Tings and many more. Tickets are now sold out.

There’s lots of different possibilities for deciding what to see - you can see the full listing on the Great Escape website, but there’s a lot to take in so why not start with our recommendations.

Please note, times were correct when this was written, but could change nearer the time so double check the official site on the day.

Thursday 15th May

Thursday is packed with popular bands including Vampire Weekend, Iron and Wine and The Futureheads. All are playing at far flung places, so if you want to see any of those you will probably have to commit to spending the night at one venue. If not, an ideal suggestion would be to start with Bon Iver at The Pressure Point at 8PM, and then continue on to a smaller band in the area such as Okkervil River at The Pavilion. Everyone can then go to The Barfly for The Ting Tings and Yeasayer afterwards!

Suggestion 1 - Some up and coming US bands

If your not a fan of any of the bigger bands playing tonight, and like Americana and US Indie this line up will let you see one of the hottest new art-folk acts Bon Iver, Wolf Parade side project Sunset Rubdown and a band who are pretty big in their own right Okkervil River. A strong line up without too much rushing around.

Pressure Point - 33 Richmond Pl, BN2 9NA (view map)

Bon Iver - 7.30 PM to 8.15PM

Whilst Bon Iver are sort of a band, their focus is fully on the singer and songwriter Justin Vernon. Much of the debut album was recorded whilst he locked himself away in a snowy cabin in Wisconsin. The music is beautiful and moving, sounding a little like Iron and Wine with TV on the Radio vocals. Catch them before they are huge.

Bon Iver - Flume

Then I would recommend heading over to the Pavilion Theatre opposite the dome…

Pavilion Theatre - Church Street - opposite the Theatre Royal, BN1 1UE (view map)

Sunset Rubdown - 9.15PM to 10PM

A side project of one of the members of the popular Montreal band Wolf Parade, their latest album got some incredibly good reviews from American music press. For fans of Neutral Milk Hotel, Wolf Parade, Clap your hands.

Okkervil River - 10.15PM to 11PM

Okkervil River played Brighton back in December, we missed it unfortunately but they have had excellent live reviews and have been compared favourably to The Arcade Fire.

Okkervil River - For Real

Other alternatives after Bon Iver include Young Knives at Audio, Late of the Pier at Barfly, The Whip at Ocean Rooms and Soweto Kinch at Revenge.

Suggestion 2 - The Vampire Weekend option

This will likely be the most popular place tonight amongst the cool kids as it features the suddenly massive Vampire Weekend. Support from Field Music side project School of Language make this a great gig, but the Concorde is too far out to make it easy to see anything else. Stick around for The Go Team! afterwards.

Concorde 2 - Maderia Drive opposite the volley ball court on the seafront, BN2 1EN (View Map)

FrYars - 8PM to 8.45PM

Get here early and catch this one man electro extravaganza, I don’t know much about them, but this place will be full very quickly for the headliners so get a place, and enjoy some new music!

School of language - 9PM to 9.45PM

This Sunderland band are a side project of the band Field Music and also feature members of Futureheads. Responsible for the catchiest song I’ve heard all year, Rockist (it even appears twice on their debut).

School of language - Rockist

Vampire Weekend - 10PM to 10.45PM

Hottest band of the moment, check out Angela’s Vampire Weekend live review of their performance in Audio when they played back in March. Videos and more information there, if you need telling.

Suggestion 3 - The folk option

If The Green Man festival is your kind of thing, get down to The Old Market in Hove tonight and stay put for Tunng and Iron and Wine. No use trying to see anything else though as its almost as far from the everything else as The Concorde.

The Old Market - Upper Market Street, Hove, off Western Road and Waterloo Street (View map)

Peter van Poehl - 8PM to 8.45PM

Don’t hang about, if you want to get in on this gig get there in plenty of time and catch Swedish singer songwriter Peter van Poehl. Signed to Cocteau Twin Simon Raymondes label Bella Union, Peter is an etheral folk singer, just the thing to get you in the mood for Tunng and Iron and Wine.

Tunng - 9PM to 9.45PM

Tunng have been around for a while now and I’ve enjoyed watching them at festivals like The Green Man and Latitude. According to their myspace ‘tunng play a mesmerising mix of folky acoustics and busy electronica, overlaying electronic crackles, gorgeous harmonies, bewitching mantras and synthetic beats that are reminiscent of early Beta Band, ’The Wicker Man’ soundtrack and Four Tet.’ I agree.

A brief Tunng film including the catchy little ditty Bullets

Iron and Wine - 10PM to 11PM

We reviewed Iron and Wine back in November - “These simple tracks tonight were nothing short of amazing, his voice and simple lyrics are somehow incredibly beautiful and moving, and need nothing added”. If you like beautiful and thoughtful music and haven’t yet seen Iron and Wine, there’s no other place to be tonight.

iron and wine - flightless bird, live

For everyone - Afterparty at The Barfly

The Barfly is the place to go after your chosen bands. Two of the hottest trendy bands of the moment - the Ting Tings and Brooklyn based Yeasayer are playing from 12:30 AM, but doors should open before and queuing will be necessary. If you don’t fancy this, The Go Team are playing the Concorde from 12:30.

The Ting Tings - 1:30 AM to 2:30 AM

Electro boy/girl pop band from Salford, very trendy, lots of fun, most people know who they are!

Yeasayer - 12:30 AM to 1:15 AM

This band are little more unusual, from Brooklyn (of course, who isn’t these days), they play a bizzare mix of African inspired gospel and dance music. Describing themselves as “Enya with bounce” all I can say is they should be amazing and they are one of the bands I’m most looking forward to all weekend.

Whether you see them or not make sure you watch this video! Its wonderful.

Friday 16th May

After Thursdays extravaganza, Friday has a little less to offer in our opinion. Personally, I’ll be as far away from the Fratellis Dome gig as possible, checking out The Hold Steady. Here are some of the highlights tonight:

Suggestion 1 - Fat Cat in a theatre

Since its rare to see music at the Theatre Royal this could be an ideal option, and a perfect oasis from the storm of everyone else rushing around. There are no times listed, but I would recommend staying in the theatre if you go for this one. This a Fat Cat records show case so expect top quality.

The Theatre Royal, 35 Bond St, BN1 1SD (view map)

The night kicks off with the German experimental pianist Hauschka and acoustic folky gospely bluesy singer songwriter Tom Brosseau.

Next up is Vetiver who I’ve seen a few times and have always been excellent. Not Thrash / Black Metal/ Christian Rap as described in the Great Escape guide and on their myspace, Vetiver are in fact a dreamy Americana folk band who used to count Devendra Banhart amongst their number

Headlining is the long lost Vashti Bunyan, a scottish singer songwriter and descendent of John Bunyan from the 60’s who produced one album and then disappeared for 35 years. Through that album she inspired many including Joanna Newsome and Devendra Banhart, who got in touch with her and sparked a chain of events leading to the release of her second album in 2005. Dreamy, whispery folk is the order of the day, and given they work closely together, members of Vetiver will likely provide accompaniments.

This video is taken from rehearsals for 0 degree’s of Separation tour which featured both Vetiver and Bunyan.

Suggestion 2 - Mojo night in Hove

One of the most well known bands performing tonight are The Hold Steady, and they headline a Mojo Magazine show case in Hove. Very popular amongst middle aged men, you might want to get in here early.

The Old Market - Upper Market Street, Hove, off Western Road and Waterloo Street (View map)

Opening at 7:15 are local band Peggy Sue and the Pirates (not unlike Kate Nash), followed by London based The New York Fund.

The Lionheart Brothers - 9.15 PM to 10 PM

A psychedelic Norwegian band, lighthearted pop on record, this band apparently take on the personas of rock gods when performing live.

The Hold Steady - 10.15PM to 11PM

A mature Brooklyn based band who sound a lot like Bruce Springsteen and inspired middle aged hysteria at some packed out gigs in London last summer. Now pretty big, especially in the States this is a band to get drunk to, they are lots of fun live, and their singer really puts everything into the performances. Well worth checking out.

The Hold Steady performing live on David Letterman

Other alternatives

If you missed them the previous night, be sure to check out Yeasayer at The Pressure Point, from 10PM. Alternatively Crystal Castles are playing Digital at 9.45 PM, although you can also see them late night at The Barfly on Saturday.

For everyone - afterparty at The Duke of Yorks cinema

If your not up for the Black Lips afterparty at The Barfly, or the Ting Tings at Concorde 2, then I would recommend chilling out at The Duke of Yorks cinema with some folk.

Unsigned act Melodica, Melody and Me start things off at 11.20 PM.

Eamon Hamilton (Brakes) - 12.00 AM

A solo performance from Brakes frontman and main songwriter Eamon Hamilton. When he was in BSP he just used to bang a drum and wear a special hat, but now he’s formed an amazing band of his own, and tonight should provide an opportunity to hear some of those songs in an acoustic set.

Devon Sproule - 12.45 AM

Devon is a female singer songwriter from born in a Canadian hippie commune. She plays music with elements of folk, jazz and blues apparently and is also playing a date at the prestigious Union Chapel in London. Should be a pleasant end to the evening.

Sat 17th May

There’s a stellar line up over at The Old Market tonight featuring 4 well known bands, each with a different style. I’m going to make that my main recommendation, but if you missed them you might want to catch Bon Iver at Red Roaster at 10.30 PM, there’s also another Fat Cat showcase at The Theatre Royal featuring The Twilight Sad, Vetiver and Nina Nastasia.

The perfect line up!

The Old Market - Upper Market Street, Hove, off Western Road and Waterloo Street (View map)

School of language - 7.15 PM to 8.00 PM

Check the Thursday listings above for a video and info on this band.

Lightspeed Champion - 8.15 PM to 9.00 PM

Lightspeed Champion is a solo project from ex Text-Icicle member Devonte Hynes. Sounding more like nothing like his former band, Lightspeed Champion has some beautiful and often quite catchy songs with very unusual lyrics. Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogis and other members of Bright Eyes worked on the album, and if your a fan of that band, you won’t be disappointed.

Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy of the Lost

Fujiya and Miyagi - 9.15 PM to 10 PM

Eclectic electronica from local Brighton residents. They headlined the loop festival last year, where their set was cut short by a man climbing to the top of the tent and then falling. Lets hope no catastrophes affect this festival performance.

Black Mountain 10.15 PM to 11 PM

This Canadian band should make for excellent headliners with their Led Zepplin inspired psychedelic rock. They are rumoured to be outstanding live, and will certainly end the festival on a high.

Black Mountain - Angels

Afterparty at The Barfly

If you’ve any energy left, go over to The Barfly to catch the very trendy, and very good Canadian dance duo Crystal Castles will be playing a live set at 2AM. Beat the queues and get in as early as possible. The unremarkable The Rascals play at 1AM, but they should be worth tolerating for the headliners. You might even like them!

Crystal Castles - Alice Practice

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