Music
Review
The Great Escape 2025: as it happened
Witnessing tomorrow's headliners and cultural game-changers, as it happened.
We say the same thing each and every year. But it frequently comes to fruition so we’ll say it again: at The Great Escape, you can bet your bottom dollar that you’ll witness tomorrow’s headliners and cultural game-changers.
In recent editions, the likes of Little Simz, Sam Fender, Phoebe Bridgers, Faye Webster, The Last Dinner Party, Lewis Capaldi and IDLES propelled their careers by playing the showcase event. If you stretch slightly further back, you’ll see an exhaustive list of blockbuster names like Ed Sheeran, Adele, Stormzy, The 1975, Charli xcx, The xx, Bon Iver, Hozier, Vampire Weekend, Mumford & Sons, George Ezra, HAIM and Grimes on the bill.
It’s the reason why the entire music industry flocks down to Brighton’s scenic and kitsch coastal surrounds, hoping to witness future greatness in its infancy. Well, that and the excuse to regale over the previous times we actually did see the buzz bands-turned-superstars, in turn whetting our appetites for another round of doing exactly the same with a stacked roster of incredible new talent.
Below are the outstanding artists we saw within relative spitting distance of one another (please don’t try to figure this out by actually spitting) which illuminated various gig venues, pub, clubs, shops, pop-up spaces and street corners, as it happened.
Joe & The Shitboys
It’s becoming a bit of a tradition to head over to Waterbear early doors on Thursday to see what The Faroe Islands have brought to offer a new year of The Great Escape. In 2025 there are a couple of new additions, but for now it seems like everyone has the same idea: a bit of tried-and-tested Joe & The Shitboys to kick the festival off with a blast. These “queer vegan shitpunks” are TGE regulars and though there’ll no doubt be several other chances to catch them this weekend, the queue is going up from the seafront and spilling onto Kings Road even as the band start blasting through their one minute long songs. It’s nuts that these folks will be supporting Iggy Pop at Ally Pally at the end of the month; all power to ’em. JB
Folk Bitch Trio
Opening with an arresting a-capella cover of Talking Heads’ ‘This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)’ put Folk Bitch Trio’s immaculate harmonies front and centre, with all three of the group’s members in possession of preternaturally gorgeous voices. But they have the wistfully nostalgic songwriting to match, songwriting that swirls with the whole gamut of emotions. Few other budding bands could seem so angelic whilst singing about their filthy dreams or humiliations and heartbreaks. It’s perhaps too early in the day for a full on blubbering cry, but the trio’s bewitching balladry induces several audible snivels from Komedia’s jam-packed crowd, myself included. I’d hedge my bets that they’ll be one of the biggest acts to come from the weekend. TCH
Armlock
It’s a tough gig following Folk Bitch Trio, who perform to what feels like the whole of the UK music industry crammed into one room. But after some gentle beckoning forward by Sounds Australia host Dom Alessio, the room is reset and the vibe shifts for this Melbourne duo’s moody but emotive indie rock, with a few 30-something shoe gazers bopping their heads at the front. JB
Sunday (1994)
The industry crowds can be a challenge at Great Escape, and Paige Turner isn’t having it. “Are you guys just in a really bad mood?! C’mon, wake the f*ck up!” In fairness, this is the kind of gorgeous dream pop that’s just as good for staring at the sea as it is for dancing, even if it is a lot bouncier live than it sounds on the record. Coming off more like Sabrina Carpenter singing Mazzy Star than the lost VHS tapes of Cocteau Twins, the live show feels different without the retro filters of the music videos, but the band wears it perfectly. The swoon is still there, but now it’s sparkling too. PB
Bria Salmena
There’s an intriguing darkness to Bria Salmena, Sub Pop Record’s recent signee who has stepped put on her own after formerly fronting Toronto post-punk band FRIGS and performing in alt-country crooner Orville Peck’s backing band. Maybe it’s her commanding voice, the way she prowls the stage and confidently whirls her long hair around, the unwavering eye contact with members of the Green Door Store crowd who are seemingly petrified frozen by her gaze. With shades of Sharon Van Etten’s yearning synth-rock, Salmena harnesses her inner rage to excellent effect on debut album Big Dog. On stage, her characterfully husky vocal is even more entrancing throughout her chest-beating triumph of a set. TCH
Clara Mann
It’s only Thursday evening but from a quick scan around the Unitarian Church it looks like most people are entirely grateful for a moment to sit down a hushed room without a bar – for half an hour at least. You’d be hard pressed to find another artist on this year’s bill better suited for such a moment than Clara Mann, who channels that timeless British folk voice full of vibrato and quivering falsettos on songs such as ‘Rift’, the namesake of her gorgeous debut album. JB
green star
Shoegaze has made a big comeback as of late – or did it ever really go away? London trio green star prove that, despite some other stellar new bands staring at their feet, they’re a name to look out for. There’s no talking in-between songs here, instead we are treated to constant walls of fuzz. But who needs words when you’ve got guitars anyway? DM
Angry Blackmen
And breathe…. Angry Blackmen’s lyrical flow and flawless execution has left me gasping for air. The Chicago industrial rap duo come from the same school of punishing glitch rap as clipping., and showcase a baffling level of accuracy in their delivery as they conducted a full-on moshpit throughout their set under the Players’ arches. Big performance. Big anger. Big future. TCH
Boko Yout
The tiny basement of the Manchester Street Arts Club isn’t big enough for Boko Yout, but then it feels like nothing ever will be. Bringing Swedish Afro-Grunge bouncing off the ceiling and (at one point) climbing all over the back wall, frontman Paul Adamah is a sheer force of nature. For all the same old bandwagon trends seen at this year’s TGE, none of them were anywhere near this room; Boko Yout feeling like the biggest, loudest, most original rough-cut diamond of the weekend. Pure electricity. PB
Verde Prato
Midday at a bar on the pier isn’t a solo artist’s ideal slot, but on stage at Horatios Ana Arsuaga is in a world of her own as Verde Prato that we’re gratefully privy too, slowly swaying along to the pops and clicks of her ethereal Basque folk-pop songs. JB
Dog Race
It’s hard to pin down exactly what Dog Race are. With songs about a mouse in your house, or seeing men at the end of your bed, I’m not sure even they could tell you. On top of that, Katie Healy’s vocal approach is captivating, and certainly unique; what I imagine would happen if Björk listened exclusively to Bauhaus. What is easier to pin down, though, is just how good they are. There was a queue out the door for this, and for good reason. It was an otherworldly performance, and one that could very much be an “I was there” moment. DM
Baby Berserk
Baby Berserk’s pulsating synth-pop is peak indiesleaze. They’re also a little, well, berserk. As the name would suggest. The Amsterdam trio evidently have an equal affinity for neon fashion, nightlife hedonism and punk rock rawness, exhibited throughout their chaotic Paganini Ballroom set which rumbles the aging hotel’s foundations and keeps anyone standing beneath the chandeliers in a constant state of peril. Singer Lieselot Elzinga wears her own creations on stage, her energy is very Cyndi Lauper-coded, and she dances like no one’s watching – ironically, not one person in the audience can take their eyes off her. TCH
Laundromat Chicks
You couldn’t have picked a better stage for Laundromat Chicks to play on. The Soundwaves stage was on the beach, and the Austrian’s jangle-pop couldn’t have been more suited to its environment. “Thanks for being here, it’s so sunny outside and you’re in a dark tent” lead singer Tobias Hammermuller tells us, but it does feel like the band have brought the sun inside. Drawing on the likes of The Go-Betweens and the Dunedin scene of the 80’s, they’ve updated those sounds for a modern audience. Crisp melodies, sun-soaked riffs. What more could you want? Well, more. With their Great Escape shows being the last of the band’s first performances in the UK, we hope it isn’t long until they’re back again. DM
Theo Bleak
This year’s Scotland At The Great Escape feels especially strong, including shows from corto.alto, one of our favourite new jazz acts, and the hypnotically healing Azamiah. But before any of that is Dundee-based Theo Bleak, who in spite of consecutive technical difficulties wins over Brighthelm with heart-tugging pop-rock that swells with expansive guitars before swooping to satisfyingly low-end depths. After a 12 hour drive with little sleep, the guitarist completely forgets how to play a new track, which the band promises to relearn ahead of their second show later tonight, as if we weren’t tempted to join anyway. JB
The New Eves
Some Avant-folk is exactly what you need to snap you out of a hangover, and The New Eves are the best in the business. The Brighton locals have played The Great Escape a few times now, but Chalk will have certainly been their biggest stage here to date. Having built up buzz over the last couple of years for their proto-punk meets trad-folk sounds, and with a debut album now announced, it feels like they’re on the verge of something special. This set was simply a solidification of that; we all understood what we were witnessing. But with expectations now firmly set, I can’t wait to see what’s to come. DM
Mandrake Handshake
I’m not even sure if Mandrake Handshake knows how many members there officially are in their band. The London-via-Oxford group – decked out sunglasses and various exotic garbs – seem like they’ve ambled onto the Horatios’ stage directly from a yoga retreat in Bali, inviting along anyone who fancies getting involved. Seemingly lifting their band name from a song by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, they’re abundantly more harmonious than the aforementioned, a feverish ‘more the merrier’ sense of creativity in their collaboration. Fixating everyone in attendance with their sun-baked psychedelic grooves, they have everyone swaying and head-bobbing – nothing to do with the early evening beverages, honest – like Brighton Pier has just detached itself for a maiden voyage towards warmer, weirder climates. TCH
English Teacher
The rapid rise of English Teacher – from a buzzy English band just a couple of years ago to a Mercury-winning band with huge international appeal and an endless list of festival bookers after them – is something all the fresh acts at The Great Escape this year will hope to repeat. It feels like their headlining set over on the The Deep End embodies this, as those who cant get into the tent get a glimpse from outside and enjoy the last remaining pink light to the twinkling closer ‘Albert Road’. JB
Getdown Services
Hands down one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend is from Bristolian japesters Getdown Services. Sprawling queues of eager musos hug the street corners outside every venue they play, and seemingly everyone I speak to – networking, networking, networking – is champing at the bit to catch a glimpse of the duo’s naked torsos. Their sweaty show at Revenge is indeed a spectacle. If you could actually see them on stage, that is, with the contorted crowd cramming into any available crevice to get a vantage point. Like if Mike Skinner and Marc Bolan were creative bedfellows but hated a mutual loathing for trustafarians and edgelords, Getdown Services’ bastardised glam rock sprechgesang club mix sound is completely original. That, and they’re just bloody hilarious. TCH
There’s a karaoke club next door to Revenge filled to the brim with a hen do singing 80s hits, but this wild, sweaty show from Getdown Services feels like the real singalong. Come on in ladies, do you know happen to know the banger ‘Eat Quiche, Sleep, Repeat’? JB
AGGRASOPPAR
Just trust me when I say it really takes quite some effort to stay up until 02:15 having been standing watching bands since midday, but we finally make it to see the Faroese band who last year won the festival’s Steve Strange Award. Dimmed in a red light, the Komedia Studio feels a bit like a circus clown house or hall of mirrors – everyone’s a bit delirious but the best of the festival’s freaks and geeks are here for this wonky and entirely unpredictable set from the trio that drifts from hip hop to jazz with a surreal twist. Time for bed. JB
Ugly
It’s a bluebird sky above Brighton pier on Saturday morning and as seagulls circle around children’s sugared donuts like vultures, Cambridge’s Ugly are soundchecking at Horatios for the last day of The Great Escape. This is a band who are writing more songs than they have time to release them all, so every time I see them this year there have been a couple of new tracks. Today’s are especially mathy with unpredictable time signatures and veiny guitar lines, adding a bit of edge to folkier numbers like recent single ‘Next To Die’. If you’re heading to Wide Awake, be sure to catch Ugly. JB
ladylike
Dazed in the early afternoon heat, ladylike provide a welcome mirage with their dreamy, post-rock inflected folk. The Green Man Rising 2024 finalists and Glastonbury Festival Emerging Talent shortlisters twinkle just as brightly as the dazzling sun’s reflection from the sea, like Brighton’s very own version of Big Thief. They could certainly share a similar trajectory. TCH
Lynks
I didn’t know I needed an industrial pop version of Courtney Barnett’s ‘Pedestrian At Best’ until I heard it. But the best things often happen when you least expect them. Not that Lynks is some sort of hidden gem, mind. The Deep End stage was packed out, and quickly became a sweatbox, as the crowd danced their way through the last set down on the beach. This was a first appearance for Lynks since taking a break at the start of the year, but there was no rust here and we relished every second. New track ‘I Didn’t Come Here For Art, I Only Came To Dance’, is hopefully a sign that we won’t have to wait as long for their next appearances. DM
deBasement
Social batteries may be at an absolute minimum now that it’s The Great Escape’s final day, but deBasement aren’t having any of it. It’s 20:15 by the time singer Alli Logout pogo’s on stage at Chalk – which feels later than it is after pinking up one’s complexion in the May heat all day – who along with DJ Margo XS sets about penetrating eardrums with punk-infused electroclash, re-energising everyone involved. Is it 2012 again, or does my renewed level of enthusiasm deceive me? The precedent is set for a high voltage night ahead. TCH
Home Counties
Having started out making the sort of post-punk revival stuff that can get lost in all the other bands doing exactly the same thing, Home Counties have since picked up a synthesiser and started having fun. Taking over Horatio’s for its final set of the weekend, their dance-punk got us all, well, dancing. There’s still the politics that could be found back on their post-punk offerings but now with Confidence Man-esque beats over the top of it all. It not only sets them apart from their contemporaries, but makes for an excellent show. My legs may have been heavy after a long weekend of running around Brighton, but watching Home Counties they didn’t feel it – and nor, by the looks of it, did anyone else. DM
Tickets for next year’s Great Escape festival will be on sale soon.
