If you follow me on Twitter (click here), you might have noticed that last weekend I made my annual pilgrimage to the Great Escape Festival, Europe’s largest New Music Festival, which takes place in a multitude of venues in Brighton, East Sussex. Despite hearing the normal grumbles from some punters about not being able to get in to see certain gigs as venues reached capacity and seeing the odd complaint on social media from artists on the way they were treated at the event (like this – although I don’t really understand the ‘no water’ complaint – was there not a tap in the venue that artists could fill up a reusable bottle from?), from my perspective Great Escape remains a joy.
Where else can I see 39 full performances by mainly new bands and artists from all over the world in mainly small space for a £45 ticket? I saw acts from South Korea, Australia, The Netherlands, USA, Ireland, and Denmark to name just a few, as well as a whole host of acts from the UK. Not only that but since I first attended in 2007, I’ve seen Great Escape evolve from a mainly indie-guitar-centric festival to one which embraces diversity not only in the music but also in the characteristics of artists it features (the festival has been hitting high quotas of female and artists of colour for a long time). So it’s a festival you can never get bored at. And this year the App that Great Escape used included a venue capacity gauge giving you an indication of if there was a queue outside or not.
With Great Escape in mind, the next couple of posts on Breaking More Waves feature new artists that I came across at the festival that I knew little or nothing about prior to.
The first is KID 2 a Norwegian singer-songwriter who is currently based in Brighton. I caught her playing in a garage at a free Alt-Escape show at a small sun kissed courtyard just off Middle Street near the seafront.
She has released just 2 songs to date. Debut Leave Me Out in 2020 and August Morning in 2021. Both are tenderly unhurried pieces that will make you drift away, leaving you feeling a little bit melancholy and meditative. Club bangers they are not. But for those of you who want something calmer, performed with an air of confident serenity they’re worth a listen.
There will be more material from KID 2, but much like her music, it won’t be rushed. Expect something coming later this year.
Tickets for Great Escape 2023 are on sale now here. (Unfortunately they have now gone up to £70 after the 'secret' early birds at £55 and the super early birds at £60 sold out within a day or so)
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