Brighton after dark: 7 May 2014
BEN BAILEY
On planning a Great Escape route
It’s the crazy time again. Whose bright idea was it to drop a four-day music festival onto Brighton in the middle of May? It’s not like we’ve got anything else going on at the moment, except the largest annual arts festival in England.
Now in its 9th year, The Great Escape has stuck to its remit of showcasing hundreds of up-and-coming bands you’ve never heard if, at the same time as putting on a handful of well-knowns to sweeten the deal. Heading the bill this year is the milkshakin’ R&B queen Kelis (Dome, Sat 10 May) and UK pop rapper Example (Dome, Thurs 8 May).
The choice of headliners seems almost like TGE is making a concerted effort to break away from the stereotype of it being all about the skinny-trousered indie kid. If so, last week’s news that Kaiser Chiefs are set to make a secret appearance over the weekend has probably undone all their hard work. The Leeds indie rockers are set to play on Friday night at an as-yet-undisclosed secret venue; if you’re really determined to see how much credibility Ricky Wilson has left since presenting The Voice you might have to forego watching anything else that day, except Twitter.
Those who like their indie a bit more raw might try to catch Dolomite Minor (Hope, Fri 9 May) who’ll no doubt be looking to pick up where they left off after their buzz-building set last year. If the Southampton duo’s Zeppelin-esque rock’n’roll puts you in the mood for something even louder, then luckily for you, the Fat White Family are playing the same day at Coalition (as well as headlining the NME’s night at the Haunt on Saturday 10 May). The London six-piece have been making a big noise, both on and off the stage, thanks to their knarly attitude and sloganeering punk rock.
Elsewhere we have Wild Beasts and Jon Hopkins, The Strokes’ guitarist Albert Hammond Jr and recent chart sensations Clean Bandit. Brighton bands always feature heavily in TGE line-ups and this year the city’s represented by the likes of Royal Blood, Phoria, Beautiful Boy and Traams.
Yeah, there’s too much to mention: 400 bands over 35 venues. Luckily, anyone who can’t make the whole weekend can now buy one and two-day wristbands. However, Saturday tickets have now sold out, so you need to be quick about it.
Brighton Noise
Chris Kuzmiski on the week’s best gigs
Well of course it’s The Great Escape this week. There are bands absolutely EVERYWHERE. You could barricade yourself into your basement, turn off your electricity and an acoustic gig would just randomly pop up around you. Bearing this in mind, lets focus on the poor souls bookending the weekend.
Years ago this writer was at a Martin Creed show. Being the clumsy ape he is he walked straight into one of the sculptures and pushed it lopsided. No one noticed he made a – ahem – great escape. Sorry about that. Either way, Mr Creed has a band and they are playing on Tuesday at Brighton Dome Studio Theatre. It’s dad-post-punk with comedy swearing. If that’s your thing, knock yourself and sculptures out! (Leave the sculptures alone. – Ed.)
Londoners – specifically East London, apparently that’s important? – Bleech are doing their power-pop-alt-rock-all-fuzzy revue on Tuesday at The Hope. Much loved Brightonian’s Keel Her are bringing their lovely warm tunes too. There is a might buzz about Keel Her, go see them while they still fit into the Hope’s cosy confines. You really are spoiled, you do know that?
Asian underground demigod Talvin Singh is doing his thing at Brighton Dome Concert Hall on Wednesday. And by his ‘thing’ we mean playing lush live scores to classic Indian art house flicks Raja Harishchandra and Devi. Everything Singh does oozes quality, this is exactly the kind of gig you’ll pretend you were at in the pub on Saturday.
On Monday there is a huge bloody great night of metal at Green Door Store. Metal 2 The Masses no less. The dictionarily-challenged Kremated are bringing their ‘London thrash’ down even further south. Supported by the really, really fast or glacially slow Hawka Hurricane, Apotheosism and Spinning Death Machine. Ten points to Spinning Death Machine for being called Spinning Death Machine.
If you are in anyway a big gig goer you will be frothing at the mouth over the amount of great bands this weekend. Don’t forget that there is the Alternative Escape where the real dirt lives. Brighton Noise have a massive preview up now and we’ll tell you where all the bodies are buried after. Cause we just love you guys that much!
Should we tell the NME indie lads that photos in front of the decaying West Pier are just, like, sooooo obvious dahling? Nah, it’s always worth a giggle on the Wednesday.
