The Great Escape announces The Kooks spotlight show + over 100 new acts added to the bill

Thursday 5th March – Today, The Great Escape partners with globally renowned music and pop culture brand NME to announce British indie favourites The Kooks will headline a special 20th Anniversary Spotlight Show at the TGE Beach on Wednesday 13th May 2026.

Formed in Brighton in the mid 2000s, The Kooks were among the breakthrough acts to perform at the very first edition of The Great Escape in 2006, the same year they released their now multi-platinum debut album ‘Inside In/Inside Out’, also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The record, featuring era defining hits including ‘Naïve’, ‘She Moves in Her Own Way’, and the aptly titled ‘Seaside’, helped establish the band as one of the leading lights of the UK’s indie resurgence. Last year, the band landed a UK Top 5 with their seventh studio album, ‘Never/Know’, before embarking on a headline arena tour of the UK including a career defining performance at The O2 Arena.

Returning to the seaside where it all began, this special Spotlight Show, presented in partnership with NME, celebrates 20 years of The Great Escape and the enduring legacy of an album that soundtracked a generation, bringing one of the festival’s earliest success stories back to Brighton for a landmark anniversary performance, supported by Irish/Cornish fivepiece Girl In The Year Above.

Access to The Kooks’ Spotlight Show will be via standalone tickets, available on general sale on Friday 13th March via greatescapefestival.com, with artist and TGE presales on Tuesday 10th March.

Luke Pritchard, The Kooks said: “Brighton always feels like coming home in a way no other city does. The Great Escape is special because it’s fundamentally about music happening in rooms where you can feel people breathing. There’s something really powerful about when the distance between the band and the crowd just disappears. It always takes us back to the beginning and why we started this in the first place. I hope people leave feeling like they caught something rare, we can’t wait to see you there!”

NME Managing Editor (Music) Karen Gwee said: “We’re thrilled to partner with The Great Escape to celebrate two decades of music discovery – and to bring The Kooks back to the festival for a special show in a full-circle moment. Here’s to 20 years of new music and many more ahead”.

The Great Escape has also unveiled the addition of over 100 new acts to the 2026 line-up today. Showcasing a further exceptional range of emerging talent from around the globe, the festival will continue to spotlight some of the most exciting new artists spanning pop, rock, rap, R&B, folk, soul, indie, electronic and more.

Heading to Brighton this May, the latest line-up additions include UK alt-indie six-piece Adult DVD, with Irish rock duo Dea Matrona bringing guitar-driven energy, while London’s soulful hip-hop artist Bella Barbe and Birmingham rapper-producer Tony Bontana add grime and rap firepower. Experimental math-rock duo Angine de Poitrine from Quebec and Australian post-punk four-piece dogworld push genre boundaries, alongside 90s alt-rock trio HEADSEND, melodic London five-piece Marsy and alt rock shoegaze London band benchwarmer. Meanwhile, London alt-indie outfit Dead Dads Club, led by ex-Palma Violet frontman Chilli Jesson, injects post-punk flair, R&B polymath Wesley Joseph adds smooth, genre-blending grooves, whilst rising Sunderland singer-songwriter Tom A. Smith brings his anthemic indie rock and sharp lyricism to the bill.

Fans of indie innovation will also welcome New York trio Chanpan, Brooklyn alt-indie frontwoman Julia Cumming of Sunflower Bean, Halifax rock trio The Orielles, Margate Afro synth-funk five-piece Pigeon, Cardiff post-punk/disco five-piece Why Horses?, and emotive indie folk singer-songwriter Heidi Curtis. London-based pop singer-songwriter Lauren Auder and Australian songwriter Matthew Ifield round out a line-up brimming with global talent, with many more acts still to be revealed.

Today the festival has also released individual day tickets and two-day (Friday and Saturday) tickets for purchase. For music fans unable to attend the full four-day weekend, these tickets give the perfect opportunity to sample some of the exciting acts on offer at this year’s festival whilst visiting the Brighton seaside for the day. Tickets are available to purchase now from HERE.

Synonymous with new music discovery and acting as a springboard for rising artists, The Great Escape is the festival for new music. Playing host to over 450 up-and-coming artists and hotly tipped talent across 35+ walkable venues, alongside the music industry-led TGE conference, the festival will kick off the 2026 season from 13th – 16th May in Brighton. Tickets for The Great Escape festival are on sale HERE.