Review
Review
The Great Escape 2026: as it happened
On the ground at Brighton's annual new music city takeover
The annual Great Escape balancing act is underway: attempting to catch as many artists as possible while accepting you can’t be in three Brighton venues at once. As the festival celebrates 20 years of new music discovery in 2026, thousands of fans, artists and industry professionals have descended on the coastal city for another weekend of buzzy showcases, impossible clashes and at least one queue that definitely looked shorter on the app.
From breakthrough sets to word-of-mouth chaos and accidental walk-ins, join us on the ground all weekend as we cover The Great Escape 2026 as it unfolds.
Big Wett
“I came all the way from Australia to tell you I’ve got the best pussy in the club,” announces Melbourne’s Big Wett at Komedia on Thursday arvo. It’s a little tricky to describe this performance and keep it PG, but let’s just say the 6 Music dads at the front get a little more from the performance than they bargain for – namely a strap-on dildo to the face. It’s horny, bizarre and definitely a bit ironic, but every track is weirdly an absolute banger. JB
Way Dynamic
OK, the transition between Big Wett to Way Dynamic must be the biggest vibe shift of the whole festival, but that’s part of its magic. Coming all the way from Australia, I was expecting Dylan Young to be performing a stripped back version of Way Dynamic, but how wrong I was, there’s six members on stage bringing these understated and whimsical songs to life with violin, keys and even a melodica. ‘Miffed It’ is clearly an anticipated fan favourite, but those layered guitars on ‘I Was The Dancer’ sound extra crunchy. JB
Julia Cumming
In spite of all of the weather’s indecisiveness over the last 24 hours, a gorgeous golden hour glow descends on the beach just in time for Julia Cumming‘s dreamy performance on Thursday evening at the Ticketmaster New Music Presents showcase. The Sunflower Bean bassist and vocalist’s own project recalls the halcyon years of 70s folk-rock, and she belts out the chorus of songs like ‘My Life’ with such conviction it feels like it could be a song from Tapestry. JB
Angine de Poitrine
Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns
Great Escapes don’t have headliners, they have queue sizes – and this year’s biggest wait went to the only Quebecois Pythago-Cubist math rockers in polkadot papier-mâché masks that anyone was talking about. Opening the festival on Wednesday night at a beach set that far too many people didn’t manage to squeeze into, a surprise second show at Hove’s Old Market proved just as crammed. Forget the Hieronymus Bosch outfits. Forget the buzz (sparked off one filmed radio appearance that sent the duo viral overnight). And forget the glossaries full of sub-genre labels being constantly pinned to them. When you’re in the room, there’s nothing quite like Khn and Klek – just a couple of alien dudes playing ridiculously tight microtonal psyche rock. PB
Westside Cowboy
Last year, Manchester’s Westside Cowboy were the talk of the town at The Great Escape, having won Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent competition just weeks before. It’s been a suitably explosive year for them, having impressed many supporting Geese and Black Country, New Road and selling out bigger and bigger venues of their own. Cool and cryptic red flyers are handed out around Brighton which likely hints at a debut album coming soon. Their performance at full-capacity Chalk tonight therefore feels charged with some the biggest anticipation of the festival and they rise to it with ease, their characteristic balance of nervous energy yet tight control coming across in perfect harmony on stage. JB
Westside Cowboy head on a headline UK tour in autumn 2026 – find tickets and more information here
Haute & Freddy
The lightning in a bottle that was DEVO in the 80s, Chromeo in the 2000s and Chappell Roan in the 2020s is Haute & Freddy at The Great Escape 2026. A synth alien carnival takes over The Deep End stage with vocalist Michelle Buzz (Haute) in a gold lamé outfit and percussionist Lance Shipp (Freddy) in a vintage circus ensemble – breezing through songs with titillating lyrics and titles such as ‘Anti-Superstar’, ‘Fashion Over Function’, ‘Freaks’, and “After midnight, when the sun goes down/ There’s a villain beggin’ to come out”. Haute gives us intervals of Sailor Moon villain cackles between crystal clear vocal performances, while Freddy balances multiple instruments at once on stage. It’s clear that Haute & Freddy is the future, and we’re lucky enough to be early on their cosmic ride. MS
BombayMami
The word “fusion” is often thrown around haphazardly in music, as everyone vies to be “genre-defying” or “genre-bending” in an increasingly saturated market. But only a few actually live up to the descriptor, and one of the chosen few is Swiss-Indian singer-songwriter BombayMami. I’ve been following her career after seeing the viral video of her skiing on the alps in a red bridal lehenga to her song ‘Fire In Delhi’ – a fusion of Bollywood, R&B and pop all wrapped into one. Her performance at Komedia Studios on Friday morning is just as impressive. Singing in English, French, Swiss German and Hindi, she confidently tells us she’s in her “Mowgli era”, embracing every part of her heritage with pop and R&B songs that weave in tabla percussion, traditional Indian folk music and more. She works the crowd, eventually turning Komedia into a party as she leaves the stage to come and dance with us up close. Finally she teaches us a chant that encompasses her message in her music, “my body, my voice, my kitty, my choice”. There isn’t anything further to add – BombayMami has said it all. MS
Bleech 9:3
The Great Escape is an especially important rite of passage for bands such as Bleech 9:3 to cement the intense hype that has seemed to come out of nowhere over the last few months. The Dublin band’s moody grunge style has certainly struck a chord, and tonight songs like ‘No Surprise’ quickly set a wistful and angsty atmosphere with just the right balance of scrappy energy and tight execution. They seem to be handling the pressure with a swagger, with guitarist Sam Duffy’s bratty confidence threatening to tip into self-belief overload at times, but there’s no denying this band has set their sights high and are locking in. JB
Savara
Best known at 1/4 of Kenyan Afropop group Sauti Sol, Nairobi’s Savara turned Club Revenge into a celebration of modern Luhya rhythms and vibes on Friday night. Self-described as a “hybrid set”, Savara plays a drum machine, traditional drums, performs all the vocals, dances, teaches the crowd impromptu choreo, and everything in between. “I don’t want to talk much, I just want to dance,” he tells us at the top of his performance. And after giving us a taste of his more recent solo tracks as well as Sauti Sol hits such as ‘Shake Your Bam Bam’ and (my personal favourite) ‘Sura Yako’, that’s all we want to do too. MS
Wesley Joseph
The Wesley Joseph who headlined a show at KOKO in 2023 is not the Wesley Joseph in front of me at Chalk on Friday evening. That Wesley Joseph had just released his GLOW EP, was experimenting with staging and costume changes, had a surprise cameo from Jorja Smith for their collab ‘Patience’ (2021), and was overall more grand. This Wesley Joseph at The Great Escape 2026 is a lot more subdued but somehow grander in his laid back approach. Fresh off the release of his album Forever Ends Someday, Wesley Joseph shows growth in breath control for both his rapping and vocalising, as well as a newfound confidence on stage. The experimentation hasn’t left, but a stronger sense of self is ever-present, and it’s clear we’re watching the future megastar of British hip hop and R&B. MS
Maddie Ashman
The chances of an artist’s name being chanted at a showcase festival are generally pretty remote. Equally bashful and overjoyed at the effusive praise she received throughout her singular show across the event, the audible approval ringing around the Komedia Basement was testament to the feverish following that Maddie Ashman has accrued on social media, as atypical as her take on avant-pop may be. A microtonal menagerie of looped melismatic vocals, saintly cello, ethereal electronica and crackpot time signatures – made all the more dramatic by the never-ending plumes of dry ice – Maddie was genuinely spellbinding. Eerie emotional depth (particularly ‘Seraphim’), endless imagination and enviable technical prowess, the 30-minute show whirled in a realm between futurist Tokyo rave and heart-stopping classical recital. Mouths were agape in astonishment – and likely haven’t sealed shut since. TCH
Adult DVD
For all the chat about the Angine de Poitrines queues, I think people are missing how long the lines outside both of Adult DVD’s Friday shows have been. They’ve only had a couple of singles out since last year but they’ve played a lot and I think their festival-ready energy is catching on in a big way for the Leeds band. There’s a northern swagger not a million miles of Kasabian to them, particularly from Harry Hanson’s vocals, which pairs so well with their bloopy dance-punk sound which takes big influences from The Chemical Brothers and LCD Soundsystem. Part dance floor part mosh-pit, it’s absolutely pops off during ‘Bill Murray’. JB
Tooth
It feels like there’s an especially big pool of alt-rock bands with an emo edge at The Great Escape this year, and Tooth might be one of the best. The guitar tones have the perfect combo of glitter and gnarl – see ‘Restless in Bloom’ – and for all the crashing moments in unison there are also plenty of spaces to breathe, giving a dynamic sense of catharsis and makes them the perfect support for emo legends Sunny Day Real Estate in July. JB
Find tickets to see Tooth around the UK this summer
Glasshouse Red Spider Mite
I remember hearing a song on shuffle last year and soon losing its name and wondering what that scintillating and slowly drifting song was thereafter. What a treat to hear it floating back to me on Saturday afternoon by Brighton’s own Glasshouse Red Spite Mite at Komedia, who are treating a weary crowd to an emotionally wrought post-rock that would please fans of Cigarettes After Sex and Radiohead. The song is called ‘Everyone Loves You’, something that this swaying crowd is clearly in need of hearing right now. JB
PVA
PVA have entered a new age of liberation since leaving record label Ninja Tune. Sleek and unshackled, the indie techno trio’s second album No More Like This – which made up the bulk of their set – felt tailor-made for nightclub Quarters on Brighton’s promenade. Aided by the venue’s crisp, crunchy sound quality, the noir-ish physicality of PVA’s leftfield trip hop palpably pounded away like the blood-pumping tantalisation of a forbidden desire simmering into fruition. Seductive stuff. TCH
The Great Escape takes place 12-15 May 2027 – early bird tickets are available now
