Over the past few years I’ve worked hard to round up all the unofficial gigs that take place over Great Escape weekend. This year I’ve had people asking when I’ll be making the post, and others asking for their gigs to be included. A lot of eyes will be on the unofficial gigs this year after bands pulled out of the main festival, so let’s get straight to it. There’s links for almost everything, so check back in for set times / line up changes. Where I haven’t put a line up it’s because it’s not listed yet, or it’s a multi day event. If I’ve missed anything please let me know!
Tuesday 14/5/24
Fail Better presents the Great Excuse / Prince Albert (Staff Party, Claw machine, Dog of man, Lavinia Whatley, Shark Stuff, Powellovision, Hotfiends, jack Pout, Brassic Parp, Under The Ivy, Two for Tea, Nine Dead Mice, Bee & Jackrabbit, M Woodroe)
The Great Boycott / Gladstone
Wednesday 15/5/24
SON Estrella Galicia presents Escape from the Albert (NOT FREE!) / Prince Albert (Swim Deep, Currls, Projector)
Fake Escape / Prince George (Amber Burgoyne, Alex Johnson, Comforts, Reid, Rosie Mark, Madz and the Martians, Mistress, Intimate Friends, Rose White, McEvoy, UrgentSea)
The Greatest Cape / Presuming Ed (DJ Night)
The Great Boycott / Gladstone
Palestine Fundraiser – 6pm-late (suggested donation £5) / Green Door Store (Secret Headline, Holiday Ghosts, The New Eves, Atticomatic, Ideal Living)
Brighton Noise / The Considerable Departure / Pipeline
Thursday 16/5/24
The Beluga Escape / Southern Belle
Joy / Unbarred RSVP Party / Unbarred Brewery
Acid Box Abyss Superfuzz Weekender / Daltons (Honk, The New Eves, The Stanford Family Band, Fez, Hutch, Sahra Halgan, Holiday Ghosts, Bon Enfant)
Fake Escape / Prince George (Amber Burgoyne, Alex Johnson, Comforts, Reid, Rosie Mark, Madz and the Martians, Mistress, Intimate Friends, Rose White, McEvoy, UrgentSea)
Brighton Rock’n’Roll Circus / The Font (12.00pm – The Outers, 12.45pm – m4x, 1.30pm – COWZ, 2.15pm – Shady Baby, 3.00pm – Better Joy, 3.45pm – Georgie Boyd, 4.30pm – TASH, 5.15pm – Lemondaze, 6.00pm- Enjoyable Listens, 6.45pm – JW Paris, 7.30pm – Sam Scherdel, 8.15pm – KEELEY, 9.00pm – Sick Love, 9.45pm – Berries)
The Greatest Cape / Presuming Ed
The Great Boycott / Brighton Electric
Strange Method / Bee’s Mouth (Kwasi, Harry Heart, Champion Fever)
No Friends in the Industry / Love Thy Neighbour / Hope & Ruin (PSYMON SPINE, The Belair Lip Bombs, Smol Fish, The Tubs, Florry, My First Time, For Breakfast, Hutch)
No Friends in the Industry / Love Thy Neighbour / Fiddlers Elbow (Joe & The Shitboys + Others)
Turtle Tempo’s Gr8 Escape / 1Up (Abi Clements, alx frncs, Bexx, Bryony Dunn & The Forest, Charlie Vaughan, Coco and the Lost, Daisy Veacock, Fox Jackson, frances mistry, Georgie Moon, hey bailey, j.flowers.mp3, Jack Howard, Safety Jacket, Szou)
Faber Alt / Bella Union (Keaton Henson, Tess Rose Jackson, Fyfe Dangerfield, Tawiah, Sam Brookes)
Alternative Escape / Secret Comedy Club, 42 Brighton Square (Marissa Burwell, No Windows, HMS Morris, Hotel Mira, Asha Jeffries, My Life Story)
Blinding Talent presents The Alternative Escape / Inn On The Square (Honeybadger, Tropic Gold, Brave Liaison, Dead Air, Sick as Thieves, Roses in December)
Platform B / Sussex Music Mag / Gladstone (World News, Lando Manning, Maximilian, Everyday Saints, Ladylike, Secret Headliner)
The Alternative Escape at The Venue / The Venue (Mithras House) (Amalia Susanu, Bedroomer, Frederick Skellten, Picture Day, Spooky Huge, Austen Showers, Brighton Uni Music Society, Like Robers + Adam Swain, Bedbugz, The Backdrops, Fever Rouge)
The Greatest Ape / Bella Union
Rain Dog Presents / Grand Central (Porchlight, dirtsharks, currls, marth eve joe perfect & the champagne socialists, Van Zon, Moon Idle, Modessa, Route 500, Lariat, Ideal Living)
Brighton Noise / The Considerable Departure / Pipeline
Smithereen Takeover / Black Lion (Chit Chat, Car Park, Porchlight, Meat Sweaters, Slate, Bernard Butler, Alien Chicks, She’s in Parties, Yard, Jools, Tom Vek, Enjoyable Listens)
Smithereen Takeover / Mesmerist (LLSN, Gracie Moore, Neomi, Genevieve Hayward, Daisy Chute, Emily Barker, Make Friends, Secret Show, Really Big Really Clever)
Friday 17/5
Alt Alt Escape / St Nicholas Church (13.00 Ebony Grace, 14.20 Merrick Winter, 15.10 REID, 16.00 AK Patterson, 17.00 Heights, 18.00 Scarlett Fae, 19.00 Soft Top, 20.00 Night House, 21.00 The Leaning, 22.00 Cub Zoa)
Shy Cat Publicity / CNTRL_ESCAPE / 1Up café (Currls, Comforts, Amethysts, Soft Top, Martha Eve, Maximilian, Ochre, Marta Per, ZZZ Sunnie)
The Beluga Escape / Freemasons
Joy / Unbarred RSVP Party / Unbarred Brewery
Mr Bongo & E Soul celebrates the Great Escape / Mr Bongo Shop – 6 Gloucester Yard
Acid Box Abyss Superfuzz Weekender / Daltons (Kottu, Plantoid, Opal Mag, Hot Garbage, System Exclusive, Electric Cowboy Club, Karma Sheen)
Fake Escape / Prince George (Amber Burgoyne, Alex Johnson, Comforts, Reid, Rosie Mark, Madz and the Martians, Mistress, Intimate Friends, Rose White, McEvoy, UrgentSea)
East Solidarity Tap / East Street Tap (Orchards, Noah and the Loaners, Gurf, Cowz, Francis Pig, Definitely not Haunted, Mascot Graveyard, Le Rox, Georgie Boyd, Enjoyable Listens, Dan Ottewell)
Brighton Rock’n’Roll Circus / The Font (12.00pm Poppy Rockett, 12.45pm Work In TV, 1.30pm Morning Tourist, 2.15pm Wild Mother. 3.00pm WEZ KING, 3.45pm TOM SAINT, 4.30pm Barking Poets, 5.15pm Perchard’s Wall, 6.00pm Floodhounds, 6.45pm RETROPxSSY, 7.30pm CARSICK, 8.15pm Safari Inn, 9.00pm Noah And The Loners, 9.45pm Avalanche Party)
END OF THE TRAIL / FIERCE PANDA / Grand Central (Enjoyable Listens, China Bears, Noah & The Loners, Sasha Assad, Dan Ottewell. The Marble Arches)
Slackscape / Gladstone (Hutch, Holiday Ghosts, Cordelia Gartside, Hollow Hand, Nina Kohout, Vanzon, Baby Gem, Jopy)
The Greatest Cape / Presuming Ed
No Friends in the Industry / Love Thy Neighbour / Hope & Ruin (Flat Party, Ugly, Plantoid, Ellie Bleach, Maruja, Ducks Ltd., Home Counties , Caitlin Rose)
No Friends in the Industry / Love Thy Neighbour / Fiddlers Elbow (Really Big Really Clever, Battlesnake, Triple Drain)
Escape to the Pipeline / Strong Island Records / Pipeline (Slow Fiction, Cardinals, Ugly, C Turtle, The New Eves, Lipworms, YHWH Nailgun, Woody Green)
The Greatest Escape / The Dorset (Top Left Club, Electric Cowboy Club, The Tribulizations)
The New Alt Escape 12-6 / The Walrus (Tyler Crude (BCNR), Borough Council, Holy Loaf, The New Eves, Ike (Tapir), Fliptop Head)
Extreme Music 6-11pm / South Lanes Studio (Meat Sweaters, Ben Narcis, Heights, George Dewhurst)
Escape to the Future / Fitz Regent (Sametime, Comforts, Collect Call, Blue Eyed Giants, Fighting Colours, Alex Saint Ivy, Ahno, Night House, Maximilian)
Palestine Fundraiser / Folklore Rooms (Holiday Ghosts, C Turtle, The New Eves, Fliptop Head)
The GOOreat Peliscape 2pm-10pm / Pelirocco (Oral Habit, Quaking Aspens, The Roebucks, Everyday Saints, Jopy, Owners Club, My Fat Pony, The Stanford Family Band)
ROM / Shipwrights Yard Sessions / Shipwrights Yard (Faux Real, My Life Story, Genevieve Heyward, Canty, Rendolent, Caitlin Rose, Feet, King Hannah, Ishmael Ensemble, Queen Cult)
The Alternative Escape at The Venue / The Venue (Mithras House) (Imogen Thomas, Jack Samuel, Frederick Skellten, Slowwave, Park Crescent, Mike Fillery, Fire Escape, Cas, Grace and Danger, Flavours, My Fat Pony, Two Pounds Down, Lunar June, Oral Habit)
The Greatest Ape / Bella Union
Smithereen Takeover / Black Lion (Currls, Secret Show, Frozemode, Snayx, Noisy)
Smithereen Takeover / Mesmerist (Jack Boyd, Floral Image, Dirty Blonde, Leona Rue, Blaire Davie, Milo Korbenski, Fraulein, Will and the People, Tatyana)
QM Escape / The Actors (Goetia, DRNE, Ellie Pepper, Red Shakes, Cherry Seraph)
Saturday 18/5
Alt Alt Escape / St Nicholas Church (13.00 Sekinue, 14.20 Reema, 15.10 Bee and Jackrabbit, 16.00 Michael Baker, 17.00 LLSN, 18.00 Franklin Mansion, 19.00 Yumi And The Weather, 20.00 Sock Drawer, 21.00 Hutch, 22.00 Karma Sheen)
The Beluga Escape / Gladstone
Hanover Psychedelic Club Presents Technicolour Hours of Emergent Happenings NOT FREE / Annunciation Ballroom
Fake Escape / Prince George (Amber Burgoyne, Alex Johnson, Comforts, Reid, Rosie Mark, Madz and the Martians, Mistress, Intimate Friends, Rose White, McEvoy, UrgentSea)
East Solidarity Tap / East Street Tap (The Menstrual Cramps, Orchards, Noah and the Loaners, Gurf, Cowz, Francis Pig, Definitely not Haunted, Mascot Graveyard, Le Rox, Georgie Boyd, Enjoyable Listens, Dan Ottewell)
Brighton Rock’n’Roll Circus / The Font (12.00pm Shark City Mayors, 12.45pm Max Bianco, 1.30pm TUCO, 2.15pm RAPTUROUS, 3.00pm Harmony Bo, 3.45pm Generation, 4.30pm Ventrelles, 5.15pm Soaked, 6.00pm Cross Wires, 6.45pm Hadda Be, 7.30pm 88 BUNKFACE, 8.15pm Marseille, 9.00pm Another Day, 9.45pm Laurie Wright)
END OF THE TRAIL / AJM / Folklore Rooms (Georgie Boyd, Better Heaven, Bollo Bollo, The Raymonds, Candid, The Ultra Violets, The Outcharms, Dirtsharks, Noah & The Loners)
The Fake Escape / The Rosehill (Bunty, New Gardeners Society, Sebastian Müller Alien Alarms; Rollinson; Cederick Knox; Amoeba.av; A Basic Fault, Mafu, MOSS.)
The Greatest Cape / Presuming Ed
No Friends in the Industry / Love Thy Neighbour / Hope & Ruin (Van Zon, Cruush, Bumble B. Boy, Flip Top Head, Glasshouse Red Spider Mite, Full Flower Moon Band, Parker Fans)
No Friends in the Industry / Love Thy Neighbour / Fiddlers Elbow (Handcuff, Marathon + Jools)
Filthy Pedro Presents: The Great Peliscape 2024 (Alt Alt Great Escape) / Pelirocco (9:30 Fruity Water, 8:45 Red Peril, 8:00 En Heat, 7:15 Lucy’s Diary, 6:30 The Phone Call, 5:45 The Clocks, 5:00 Boy in the Cupboard, 4:15 Mike Fillery & the Other Two, 3:30 Melt Plastic Group, 2:45 Larry Pickleman)
Escape from the Escape / Saviour Records / Pipeline (Carpark, Naïve James, Nuns of the Tundra, Holocene, Laura’s Dream)
END OF THE TRAIL / PLAY IT LOUD / Pipeline (Enjoyable Listens. Noah & The Loners. TBC, Niche Crush, Georgie Boyd, Genevieve Hayward )
Live Music @ 1Up (Nature TV, Natsuma, Sunda Blue, Arjun Nala, Sabrina G, Mud Coffee and Aperture.)
Folklore Alt Alt Takeover / Folklore Rooms (THE HALFWAY KID, IDEAL LIVING, SAMUEL NICHOLSON, ROWENA WISE, EDWIN RAPHAEL, TATYANA + LILY LYONS)
Club The Mammoth / Daltons (Girls In Synthesis, Floral Image, Karma Sheen, Looking Glass Alice, ELLiS-D, + secret guests)
Alt Alt Escape / Rossi Bar (Secret Headline, Lip Worms, Trip Westerns, Ideal Living, Kill The Icon, Daay, Harper, )
Escape to the Future / Fitz Regent (Snake Eyes, tbc, Hops, Icebeing, Giant Peach, China Bears, Porcelain Doll, John Jones, Wave Chase)
First Word Records 20th Birthday (£10 tickets) / Alphabet (Essa live + DJs)
The Alternative Escape at The Venue / The Venue (Mithras House) (Kathleen Marsh, Victoria Bishop, Billie Boatman, Demsey, Lana Death Ray, D’Arcy, Mudd Factory, Car Boot Sale, Fever Rouge, Ry-Guy, Trashed, Amongst Liars)
The Greatest Ape / Bella Union
Family Store presents the Substantial Abscond / Brighton Electric (the Kitchen Sink, Gurf, The Baby Seals, Crab)
Smithereen Takeover / Black Lion (Chum, Jopy, Stanford Family Band, Owners Club, Secret Show, Shader, Shambolics, Laurie Wright, Projector, Monakis, Secret Show, City Dog)
Smithereen Takeover / Mesmerist (Ruby, Marnie Marie, Cowz, Hutch, Aysanabee, Last Living Cannibal, Secret Show, Sametime)
Sunday 19/5
The Beluga Escape / Lion & Lobster
Brighton Music Blog 