The Great Escape music festival will showcase the best of new talent

The Great Escape music festival is set to unleash the hottest upcoming artists upon Brighton and Hove, with more than 700 shows on the streets and in pubs and clubs all over the city from Thursday to Saturday (May 17-19).
Idles at The Haldern Pop Festival in 2017. Photo by Alexander KellnerIdles at The Haldern Pop Festival in 2017. Photo by Alexander Kellner
Idles at The Haldern Pop Festival in 2017. Photo by Alexander Kellner

More than 500 artists will perform at 60-plus venues for an expected 3,500 industry delegates and 16,000 music fans.

South London rapper Novelist will undoubtedly raise the roof as he showcases tracks from his highly-praised debut album Novelist Guy. While one of the hottest properties in rock at the moment, Bristolian five-piece Idles promise a ‘visceral barrage of joyous bile’.

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BBC Music will also make its mark on the festival, with 1Xtra bringing the energy to Jubilee Square where DJ Target will be broadcasting live on Thursday night (7pm-9pm) and BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Steve Lamacq will take the reins on Friday (4pm-7pm), with live music and guests.

There will be two very special ‘BBC Music In Conversations’ at Brighton’s The Old Courtroom which will be open to all delegates and festival goers.

Huw Stephens will have a one-to-one with the man who shaped the UK music scene for over three decades recording artist, producer and co-founder of XL Recordings Richard Russell; and legendary grime DJ producer Sir Spyro will talk up a storm with Novelist.

This year also sees the debut of a new 2000-capacity festival site on Brighton beach. On Saturday the new venue, called The Beach, will feature an all-Brighton line-up including The Magic Gang, Demob Happy and The Go! Team.

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Rory Bett, MAMA Festivals CEO, said: “The excitement this year is off the scale, with an incredible programme of artists across all genres and from every corner of the world, a convention programme tackling some of the biggest issues facing the industry and some of the most highly-respected tastemakers coming on board as partners, we are ready to unleash the full effect of TGE upon festival go-ers and delegates.

“With so much to see and do, there really is no other place like it and on top of it all we have a brand-new beach site, enabling us to expand the festivals future.”

Three-day tickets and Saturday-only tickets are still available. Visit greatescapefestival.com