The Great Escape announce 140 new acts added to the festival

Tuesday 28th March 2023 – Today, The Great Escape announces an additional 140 artists for its 2023 edition. The city-spanning Brighton festival promises appearances from some of the most exciting acts on the international circuit, including Yonaka, Moonchild Sanelly, VLURE, The Native, Jazmin Bean and many more.

Recognised globally as one of the most exciting festivals for new music, the festival will play host to over 450 emerging artists, underground acts and streaming staples. Spanning 35+ walkable venues throughout the city and boasting a 3-day conference featuring big music industry names, The Great Escape will take place from 10-13 May 2023. Tickets for The Great Escape festival start from £40 for a day ticket and £105 for the weekend which are on sale HERE.

Joining over 250 artists already announced for the festival, the new additions range from local Brighton indie rock outfits to breezy Australian punk bands and Berlin-based experimentalists. Recently announced rock royalty The Pretenders will be joined by a wealth of exciting talent, including Brighton locals and festival stalwarts Yonaka, promising to deliver their blend of punk riffs with pop DNA to their hometown. Globe-trotting South African pop goddess Moonchild Sanelly will also be making an appearance, alongside the formidable Glaswegian electro-punks VLURE and their intense dancefloor anthems. Down the coast in Plymouth, indie rock specialists The Native are cooking up their melancholy anthems for the Brighton crowd, whilst Jazmin Bean will bring her dark, theatrical pop-metal.

Also joining the line-up is British super-producer Future Utopia (AKA Fraser T. Smith) who has worked with the likes of Dave, DJ Seinfeld, Kojey Radical and poet laureate Simon Armitage to produce soulful British music with a scathing political undertone. Youthful rap prodigy Songer, whose incredible songcraft and freestyle flow has turned heads across the UK is also on the bill. With influences from Bon Iver to Bollywood, songwriter Jasmine Jethwa has also joined the fray, alongside rule-bending alt-psych auteurs TTRRUUCES, who combine Brit-rock influences with opera sensibilities. Also added is Lost Girl, providing an education in garage-infused pop, with flavours of club, reggae and R&B.

In addition to the above, The Great Escape promises to take music fans on a tour of the finest the UK has to offer. Brighton native math-rock merchants Orchards are set to excite whilst Burnley noisemakers The Goa Express, Isle Of Wight indie act Coach Party, introspective indie pop lovers modernlove. and Dublin’s primal guitar heroes Sprints will also perform. The line-up additions continue with Boyish and Tay Iwar, an NYC-based indie rock duo and Nigerian neo-soul savant respectively, joined by a member of London’s NINE8 Collective; Mac Wetha, a DIY pop innovator who’s pushing the envelope of pop expectations.

————————————————————————————————————————

ALT / INDIE

From glistening indie rock to dreamy alternative artists, The Great Escape is known as a place to discover the hottest upcoming indie music. Joining the ranks this year will be Swedish indie pop twin duo 7EBRA, Berlin-born experimentalist Albertine Sarges, Liverpool local Astles, Barnsley new age indie group Bedroom High Club, experimental Bristol crooner Bingo Fury, downbeat indie duo Boyish, 70s glam rock lovers Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Isle of Wight indie rock quartet Coach Party, emotionally relatable Cole Bleu, Cornwall alt-rock band Dirtsharks, lo-fi Mancunion indie artist Freak Slug and the melancholic, country-tinged indie of Gena Rose Bruce. Also announced are gritty dream-pop Brighton band HANYA, Cornish indie rock four-piece Holiday Ghosts, reflective singer-songwriter Jasmine Jethwa, dreamy acoustic artist Katie Phelan, Florida indie rock quartet KIDS, American indie rock musician Lael Neale, West London indie punk five-piece Lip Filler, Leeds alt-pop duo Lucky Iris, DIY pop innovator Mac Wetha, Eclectic Australian singer/songwriter MF Tomlinson, woozy surf pop sextet Midnight Rodeo, eccentric three-piece Minor Conflict, folk-influenced punk collective Modern Woman, catchy Irish indie-pop rising stars modernlove., Canadian duo OMBIGIIZI, breezy Aussie rockers Pacific Avenue, Sheffield-via-Totnes modernist pop trio Pale Blue Eyes, dizzying indie quartet Picture Parlour, intimate and honest London-based singer Sophie Jamieson, Swedish indie pop grunge duo Sötnos, indie-pop newcomer Spielmann, London based singer-songwriter St Lundi and emo-indie four-piece SUDS. Joining these acts will also be Italian/London-based producer, songwriter and vocalist System Olympia, Canadian post-rock shoegaze six-piece The Broken Islands, Nashville-based power DIY trio The Foxies, northern noisemakers The Goa Express, Scuzzy indie rockers The Kairos, anthemic indie five-piece from Plymouth The Native, the legendary rock band fronted by iconic vocalist Chrissie Hynde The Pretenders, expressive art punk The Umlauts, rule-bending alternative psych-pop band TTRRUUCES, Leeds indie pop artist Wax Works, Dream pop duo White Flowers and London dream-pop shoegaze band Whitelands.

————————————————————————————————————————

POP / DANCE

Holding the flag for the pop fans and dancefloor obsessed is a host of brilliant acts. This includes Sheffield electronic pop producer Acid Klaus, Dublin-based singer-songwriter Anna B Savage, queer synth-pop outfit CATBEAR, British Australian D&B newcomer Charlotte Plank, Danish pop storyteller eee gee, Liverpool-via-Madrid popstar Ellie Moon, Leeds composer and producer Jessie Marcella, catchy pop singer-songwriter Jo Hill and hyper pop and club influenced songwriter LVRA. Joining these exciting artists is the vocally intriguing, inspired pianist Marina Herlop, Australian dance-pop prodigy Memphis LK, addictive German pop outfit MOON MATES, Spanish pop singer OROVEGA, hypnotic pop Petite Noir, broken beat-maker and bassist Polite Bureaux, audio-visual alt-pop artist Proteins of Magic, trance influenced brit-pop Londoner Rose Gray, Bollywood-meets-pop crossover artist Saloni, British-Bengali born electronic producer Surya Sen, Aussie alt-rockers The Rubens, TikTok breakout songwriter Valencia Grace, dark electronica new-wave acts Voya, experimental Canadian artist Wallgrin and Norwegian space pop artist Whammyboy.

————————————————————————————————————————

FOLK / AMERICANA / COUNTRY

Baby Cool | Edie Bens | Núria Graham | rainbow frog biscuits | The Dimpker Brothers

Representing folk, Americana, country and beyond are a fine selection of new acts, including psych-folk songwriter Baby Cool, Welsh folk-inspired singer Edie Bens, breezy homespun folk-pop songwriter Núria Graham, quirky folk-influenced pop act rainbow frog biscuits and Sweden’s answer to folk-pop The Dimpker Brothers.

————————————————————————————————————————

GRIME / RAP / HIP-HOP

Bringing the heat to The Great Escape is no mean feat, but the following artists have been handed the gauntlet to hype up the crowds throughout the city. This group includes hyped drill rapper Abigail Asante, South London rap duo AE, Irish Neo-soul collective Bricknasty, South East London lyricist David GotSound, Canadian experimental singer/rapper Debby Friday, Ivor Novello and Grammy winning producer Future Utopia, female-led grime and rap DJs from GIRLSofGRIME, Manchester poet and producer HMD, Cardiff-hailing rapper Juice Menace, garage-influenced rappers Lost Girl, South Wales MC Luke RV, Cardiff based grime and hip-hop artist Mace the Great, rising American rapper McKinley Dixon, South African rapper, singer and ‘Queen of Gqom’ Moonchild Sanelly, hypnotic British-South Asian artist NAYANA IZ, UK female drill artist REEMUNNII, multi-faceted UK rap prodigy Songer and hip-hop and R&B fusion artist YOHVN BLVCK.

————————————————————————————————————————

JAZZ / R&B / SOUL

Providing smooth soul sounds and funky jazz experimentation to The Great Escape are these next artists. Ranging from silky R&B vocalists to neo-jazz collectives, there is something in store for everyone and anyone. This includes northern R&B singer-songwriter ADMT, R&B freestyler Alana Maria, versatile German soul singer Becky Sikasa, Wolverhampton R&B lover Benny Atlas, lo-fi soul artist Delilah Holliday, community-driven drummer and vocalist Donna Thompson and Brightonian jazz funk quintet Ebi Soda. They are joined by soul-bearing Birmingham singer Ella More, smooth R&B singer-songwriter Elmiene, neo-soul auteur Emiko and Fari Chiketa, post-rock jazz seven-piece Flip Top Head, Berlin-based singer-songwriter May, Canadian R&B soul singer Odreii and soul-jazz fusion artist Sophie Faith. Lastly, they are joined by neo-soul singer Tay Iwar, Sheffield-based R&B singer TENN, acapella and Zulu-influenced South African natives The Joy, psych-Afrobeat 10-piece The Scorpios, unique groove funk band Thumpasaurus and the Exploratory London-based songwriter Toni Sancho.

————————————————————————————————————————

PUNK / ROCK / METAL

Heavy licks are always championed at The Great Escape, with acts ranging from art-punk collectives to gritty Australian punk, there will be no shortage of head-banging at the festival this year. Bringing this six-string fury will be hardcore punk band Animal Shithouse, the loud and vitriolic Teesside punks Benefits, pop-punk rapper Berry Galazka, Ealing noise rock outfit Butch Kassidy, London hardcore metal duo CRASHFACE, London-via-Yorkshire post-punk six-piece DEADLETTER, UK punk powerhouse HotWax, dreamy-grunge artist Jazmin Bean, ethereal DIY rockers Junodream, Greek-Welsh punk electro duo Minas, Brisbane psych-rock quintet Nice Biscuit, glistening math-rock band ORCHARDS, Berlin-based power trio PABST and Bristol post-punk outfit PEACH. They are also joined by hardcore Irish rockers Problem Patterns, Brighton native art-punk band Public Body, heavy-hitting German band Rauchen, Australian post-punk band RVG, Brighton alt-rock Band Signature Gold, Dublin garage-punk provocateurs Sprints, Hard rock Glaswegians Spyres, abrasive Chesire indie rockers The Luka State, progressive and gritty Chichester trio TRAAMS, angsty grunge act Trout, Glaswegian post-punks VLURE, alt-rock duo WREX and local heavy rock quartet Yonaka.