Review
Review
The Horrors headline the Ticketmaster New Music stage at this year’s Great Escape
Two line-ups across two days saw Chloe Slater, Armlock, Witch Post and more hit Brighton beach
The Great Escape may be the country’s best festival for new music, renowned for its ability to create a buzz around, and launch careers for up-and-coming bands, but this year it was old heads who caught the festival’s attention. A packed stage down on the beach greeted The Horrors, who have been turning heads for 20 years now.
Whilst the sun had been out, it couldn’t seem to penetrate inside the stage, such is the gothic power of the band. Opening with ‘The Silence That Remains’, the band spent the first few minutes of their set concealed as silhouettes, hidden behind a wall of smoke. When they did step out of the shadows frontman Faris Badwan was on his usual top form, thrashing about around a mic stand and prowling round the stage; their sound has evolved but it seems, onstage at least, the band haven’t forgotten their garage rock roots.
‘Still Life’ followed and was an expected highlight. Hands were in the air, voices were singing along. “When you wake up you will find me” sings Badwan, and it did feel like we were all about to go to bed dreaming of The Horrors. We weren’t done yet, though, with a mix of old and new seeing us through until the end, before closing out the evening with the fuzzed-out power of ‘Who Can Say’. It was a triumphant end to the first full day of the festival, and despite all the talk of who the next big thing to emerge might be, The Horrors proved why they were still the name on everyone’s lips.
They weren’t the only band on Ticketmaster’s New Music Stage to get people talking, though. Falkirk’s Brògeal had got the crowd going with their take on Celtic folk rock. Loud and rowdy, whilst keeping their traditional folk front and centre, comparisons to The Pogues are obvious, and perhaps already a bit cliche. But whilst other bands have been compared to Shane Macgowan et al, seemingly only because of geography, here it is certainly justified. But it isn’t all harking back to previous influences for Brògeal, who add modern indie sounds into their repertoire. It all makes for a heady mix; and it wasn’t just the pints that were intoxicating.
Credit: Nici Eberl
Following it up was the indie rock of Chloe Slater. The Manchester based artist has had a hell of a year. A series of song snippets exploded online, and here she is taking to the main stage at The Great Escape. She doesn’t seem to quite believe it. “Bloody hell there’s a lot of people here” she says before launching into ‘Death Trap’. It’s much like the rest of her material, with its anthemic nature intertwined with scathing social commentary. Musically there’s hints of modern indie icons; think Sam Fender and Wolf Alice. But despite much of the heavy lyrical material, Slater and her band seem to be having the most fun of any band at The Great Escape. Smiles are plastered on all of their faces for practically the whole set. Viral hit ‘24 Hours’, the song which put Slater on the map in the first place, and latest single ‘Fig Tree’ play us out, although it feels like Slater and co have a lot more left to give.
Thursday also saw brilliant sets from Florence Road, with the Irish band opening the Ticketmaster New Music stage, as well as from the likes of Nxdia and Laurie Wright, with the dreampop of Sunday (1994) proving to be a real highlight.
The New Music showcase moved to the other beach stage for Friday, where we were treated to exceptional sets from hotly tipped grunge revivalists Keo and the lo-fi indie rock of Armlock. In between those, Laundromat Chicks provided the perfect sounds for a sunny day by the beach; their jangle pop couldn’t have been situated in a more perfect environment, and injected some fun into proceedings.
Credit: Nici Eberl
The showcase closed with the trans-Atlantic indie of Witch Post, combining the best of their Scottish and American musical upbringings. The original witch posts may have been used to ward off the supernatural, but this modern namesake isn’t warding off anything. Having to compete with English Teacher on the other stage, they more than held their own. Tracks from new EP Beast felt as if they’d been around for years, as opposed to only freshly released, and the whole thing was a masterpiece in succinct yet impactful songwriting – short but most definitely sweet.
Tickets for The Great Escape 2026 are on sale now here
Photo credits: Nici Eberl
