Top 10 acts we saw at The Great Escape Pt 1

Over the weekend we went down to Brighton for the Great Escape festival of new music. Between discovering a new city, eating some amazing food and witnessing the marvel of music industry reps buying cans of Red Stripe on expenses, we saw some fantastic music.

1. Christine and the Queens

Comfortably our favourite act of the whole three days. Came on like a gender-swapped Bobby Conn in a white suit, performed Jacko-moves to electro-pop. And absolutely slayed with accapella.

See also this amazing acoustic cover of Who Is It - a later period Michael Jackson song I had previously thought was irredeemable.

2. Mary Epworth

Psychedelic folk with star-quality somewhere between The Band and Garbage. Had a song about opening the seals of Revelation which pressed my recovering evangelical buttons.

3. Wall

Songs for sleepwalking fanzine editors. Comfortably the most beautiful thing we heard.



4. Ryan Keen

One of the best acoustic guitarists I've heard in a long time. Held Brighton Unitarian Church rapt and got the staff dancing.

Also, claymation video!

5. Embers

Not the finished article yet on record or in stagecraft, but having seen them twice over the festival these young shoe-gazers could become something special. It's not every band that can veer from Bono to blast beats from song to song.