The Great Escape, taking place from Wednesday 10 May to Saturday 13 May in Brighton, today unveiled its full festival and conference schedule for 2023, which can be accessed HERE, and via the official Great Escape mobile app.
Helping navigate the mammoth line-up of 500+ artists, the Great Escape mobile app helps festival and conference goers build their own personal schedule and offers live updates on site, now available for free download HERE.
Additionally, the festival reveals further 2023 stage hosts including Amazon Music and TikTok, legendary venue the Royal Albert Hall, independent music companies Speedy Wunderground and Transgressive, talent agency ATC Live and many more.
The Great Escape, the festival for new music, will kick off the 2023 festival season, playing host to over 500 emerging artists and hotly tipped talent across 35+ walkable venues, alongside the music industry led TGE conference in Brighton. Tickets for the Great Escape festival are available now and are on sale HERE.
The Great Escape is thrilled to be continuing its partnership with immersive audio entertainment service, Amazon Music. Amazon Music will once again join forces with the Great Escape to take over the festival’s pop-up beach site Amazon Music presents TGE Beach.
Artists performing across the weekend on the seaside main stage include North London indie rockers Sorry, trance influenced Londoner Rose Gray, LA singer songwriter Deb Never, retro inspired duo The Heavy Heavy, social media sensation Mae Stephens, indie pop vocalist Nieve Ella and Brighton natives ARXX on Thursday 11 May, alongside Irish post-punks The Murder Capital, upcoming popstar Caity Baser, Liverpudlian punks Stone, The Maccabees’ Felix and Hugo White’s new project 86TVs, indie four piece The Luke State, Scottish singer songwriter Katie Gregson-Mcleod, and musician Michael Aldag on Friday 12 May. +44 from Amazon Music will also be showcasing an evening of exciting black music artists with +44 Live presents TGE Beach on the Amazon Music Stage on Saturday 13 May. +44 is a space to celebrate and amplify Black music genres, the artists that make the music, as well as the culture behind it – connecting audiences to the artists they love via playlists, podcasts, events and original content. The +44 Live line-up will be headlined by South London superstar K-Trap, who will be joined by North London rapper AntsLive, Birmingham MC Miss LaFamilia, rising star Zakhar and Nigerian-born singer songwriter Shae Universe.
The festival is also delighted to be partnering with the popular global social media platform TikTok to present an exciting showcase of upcoming talent on Thursday 11 May at Patterns Upstairs, featuring performances from the elusive DJ collective Rain Radio, who will open and close the takeover, R&B vocal group No Guidance, rising TikTok star Mae Stephens, and South East London breakout rap star ENNY.
Great Escape regular Steve Lamacq returns to host BBC 6 Music and Introducing’s stage on Thursday 11 May at the Paganini Ballroom (The Old Ship) featuring dreamy shoegaze from Whiteland, buzzy Nottingham newcomers DIVORCE, Glaswegian post punks Vlure and Northern noisemakers The Goa Express.
This year also sees The Independent partner with the Great Escape for the first time, with the news outlet hosting a show at The Old Market on Friday 12 May featuring the highly rated breakthrough indie-rocker Blondshell and legendary group The Pretenders, with more artists TBA.
The Great Escape is proud to reprise its partnership with one of the UK’s most iconic venues, the Royal Albert Hall, who will present a showcase at One Church on Friday 12 May, featuring the South-Australian pop band Germein, Irish singer-songwriter Sorcha Richardson, impressionist music from solo artist Strawberry Guy and Californian band Sylvie.
A returning supporter of the Great Escape, Marshall Amps will take over Chalk on three consecutive days. Thursday 11 May kicks things off with a guitar heavy line-up that includes punk multi-instrumentalist RØRY, Nottingham indie rockers CUCAMARAS, Brixton band The Last Dinner Party and dreamy indie-rockers The Big Moon. On Friday, local Brighton duo Snayx take to the stage, along with Belfast band Chalk, fiery Brighton punks Lambrini Girls, and outsider pop maverick Acid Klaus, rounded off by Brighton rockers YONAKA. Saturday 13 May will welcome composer and multi-instrumentalist James Ellis Ford, followed by the enigmatic pop-poet Flossing and the genre-hopping South London trio PVA, closing things out with a headline performance from indie rock kings Gengahr.
Notion present a packed line-up at The Arch on Friday 12 May featuring French alt-pop duo Quasi Qui, alternative soul punk poet VC Pines, jazz-infused rap from Nix Northwest, teenage Malaysian Irish dance producer Yune Pinku, and Somerset hip-hop duo Sad Night Dynamite.
The Great Escape’s Lead Country Partner for 2023, Italy, will host two special Italian showcases across the festival, titled ‘La Festa’, presenting some of the best upcoming artists the country has to offer as well as a networking reception, all coordinated by the music export office Italia Music Export. Anna Bassy, San Soucis, and Maria Chiara Argiro will take to the stage at Patterns Upstairs on Thursday 11 May, and The Gluts, Milanosport, BLUEM, and Eugenia Post Meridiem will perform at Three Wise Cats on Friday 12 May.
A whole host of record labels responsible for discovering and nurturing the hottest new music talent have continued to partner with The Great Escape to showcase their latest rising stars. Highlights including AWAL’s turn to take on Komedia with DIY dream-rockers junodream, the Chinese genre bending DJ Alice Longyu Gao, East London troubadour Hak Baker and the empowering singer songwriter L Devine on Friday 12 May, whilst indie fans will rejoice as Dork and Chess Club join forces at The Arch on the evening of Saturday 13th May, presenting angsty grunge act TROUT, alt-pop singer Cole Bleu, and West-London indie punk five-piece Lip Filler, headlined by Isle of Wight indie rock quartet Coach Party.
The well-loved indie label Transgressive takes to The Old Market on Thursday 11 May with an eclectic lineup, ranging from the thoughtful indie folk of Marika Hackman to UK punk powerhouse HotWax, and two South African artists – The Joy and Moonchild Sanelly, who will deliver her unique combination of ‘electro-pop-ghetto-funk’.
Independent record label Speedy Wunderground will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a South London heavy lineup at the TGE Beach Stage on Thursday 11 May featuring a range of talent from their cutting-edge roster – Cornish new-wave punks Moreish Idols, epic existentialism from Joyeria, 90s-style indie sleaze with VIJI, explosive jazz two-piece O., and gothic post-punk artist Heartworms.
Several of the world’s leading music talent agencies will also be hosting showcases throughout the festival, bringing some of their hottest new artists to the stage. WME’s showcase will kick off the TGE Beach Stage on Thursday 11 May featuring Hot Wax, otherworldly singer Maeve, Southampton singer-songwriter Saint Harison, electronically-infused reflections from May, and Ivor Novello and Grammy winning producer Future Utopia. ATC Live’s line-up takes over Komedia Basement on Thursday 11 May with Peckham-born rising artist Sam Akpro, Yorkshire singer-songwriter Billie Marten, Oxford-born artist Willie J Healey, Blondshell, American indie-rockers Enumclaw, and the post-punk six piece Deadletter.
FULL CONFERENCE SCHEDULE NOW AVAILABLE IN THE TGE APP
The full schedule for this year’s TGE Conference available via the The Great Escape app. Industry delegates have access to three full-day CMU+TGE conference strands, a series of keynote in conversations, a stack of panels and parties presented by TGE’s industry partners, plus networking sessions and the TGE Elevate Sessions.
This year’s TGE Conference programme includes three full day strands curated by CMU. The first, MUSIC+EDUCATION on Wednesday 10 May, will put the spotlight on the best ways to support future music talent. Then on Thursday 11 May, MUSIC+DEALS will review how deals are being done in today’s music business and identify which will best help artists achieve their objectives. Finally, on Friday 12 May MUSIC+THE CREATOR ECONOMY will look at the tools, marketplaces and platforms being used for music creation, and how the wider creator economy intersects with music.
Saturday 13 May sees the return of the Arts Council England supported ELEVATE SESSIONS, a full day of panels, interviews and workshops addressing the challenges of early-stage artists and music entrepreneurs.
In addition, this year’s TGE Conference includes a full schedule of activity from TGE’s partners, as well as extensive international networking opportunities. Presented by the Department For Business And Trade, these speed meetings provide delegates with the chance to connect with influential festival bookers, live agents, music supervisors, digital pressing (NFT) platforms and promoters from around the world.
A number of conference partners will be organising activities throughout the event. On Thursday delegates can head over to Sentric House at Block Bar, where Sentric Music will be hosting their Publishing 101 Mixer, with Horus Music hosting their Happy Hour at Tempest Inn. Meanwhile, PPL will host a 10-Year Anniversary Drinks Reception for the PPL Momentum Music Fund at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Waterfront.
On Friday, M for Montreal will host their Fresh Start Mixer at the Prince Albert, DITTO and Opulous takeover the Tempest Inn, and delegates can join PPL, PRS for Music and PRS Foundation over at the Harbour Hotel.
Tickets for The Great Escape can be purchased HERE.
