Great Escape Festvial
Brighton
14/05/2009 – 16/05/2009

Thursday at Great Escape passes without Sun. Fortunately we’re being warmed in the Revenge club by The Joy Formidable, who offer much-needed relief from the rain. Ritzy Bryan melts everyone’s minds with her massive, fuzzy guitar sound. She’s the new Kim Deal and she’ll lead her Welsh outfit straight to your heart.
Titus Andronicus dose us up with American sleaze at the Volks, with their barking harsh vocals and raw guitars. At Sallis Benney Theatre, Future Of The Left battle a crippled bass rig to bring us a sensational show packed with ace new songs. Down on the seafront, Evan Dando spins a spellbinding set armed just with a guitar, chucking in a weary-sounding version of ‘It’s About Time’ that is so heart-wrenching that it’s almost worth bursting into tears over.
Audio sees Dananananaykroyd turn from polite quiet’uns to bonkers stage-beserkas, but their onstage juggernaut isn’t the sort of thing your brain has time to question; tonight, they set a benchmark for adrenaline-veined carnage, ‘Totally Bone’ and ‘Black Wax’ both hiding ace melodies inside their raging art-punk rattle.
Having busted bassist Jared Swilley out of jail in the nick of time to make it to Brighton, Black Lips play a riotous set that further enhances their status as garage-punk heroes; ‘Drugs’ and ‘I’ll Be With You’ are ramshackle rock’n’roll perfectly aligned with hooky, hollered melodies, whilst the mass singalongs to ‘Katrina’ and ‘Bad Kids’ prove that they’re now both bona fide anthems.
Meanwhile at Concorde 2, We Have Band flounder in their Datarock buildup slot. Their laidback, aimless dance music, drifts into the background. The crowd need someone to take charge of them, but there’s no Lovefoxxx-like personality pulling rank.
Conversely, a very-late-indeed Datarock control things completely. Dressed in red tracksuits, the Norwegian outfit’s funk/electro anthems whisk even the most exhausted members of the early morning audience into a frenzy.
Friday arrives, and with it come The Chapman Family. Apparently, they’re not here to have fun. Clad all in black, their dark, spiky pop is suited to the dingy hall of the Concorde 2, but their half-hour set is mostly murmured into the mic. Single ‘Kids’ is a rare highlight, but the rest leaves us cold.
Over at the Pav Tav, casual suit-wearing kids Abe Vigoda are the politest band we’ve seen all weekend, bursting with delicate guitars and subtle rhythms, even inviting us to take the stage as they’re joined by NY chums Vivian Girls.
On the Levi’s OnesToWatch stage at Audio, meanwhile, CHEW LiPS prove that the summer’s electro-pop battle isn’t just a two-horse race, y’know. Tonight’s set, emboldened with an arsenal of spiky, beat-laden dancefloor anthems, is easily as good as anything that both Little Boots and La Roux have to offer. Don’t bet against them getting their noses in front by the time the summer’s out.
Next are Dinosaur Pile-Up, who sound like they’re in denial that electronica exists, their malevolent rock roar snapping away at eardrums from the off. The fuzzy riffarama of ‘My Rock’n’Roll’ is the highlight, whilst ‘Traynor’ is about as subtle as a steamtrain, a rampaging, relentless neo-grunge thrill.
The Twilight Sad thump out a gorgeously miserablist set, which sees frontman James lose his temper with a dickhead in the audience during penultimate song ‘Cold Days From The Birdhouse’, whose refrain “Where are your manners?” takes on a whole new dimension as the twat is removed by security.
Elsewhere, Metronomy reveal their new line-up (complete with female drummer) at the Corn Exchange and succeed in filling the large space with a mature and accomplished sound, proving they have come a long way since their days of bedroom sequencing and gimmicky dance routines.
Early on Saturday night at the Hobgoblin, Blakfish explode their crowd into a beery mess, with their punk which has more twists and turns in it than The Fly can keep up with. Over at Pav Tav, instrumental London twosome Banjo Or Freakout keep things freaky with half an hour of mind warpingly complex polyrhythms and endlessly pounding percussion. They’re followed by the hotly tipped but disappointing Three Trapped Tigers, whose on-record volatility is traded for an in-the-flesh shambles.
At Audio’s Levi’s OnesToWatch stage, The Soft Pack’s Matt Lamkin is the coolest frontman we’ve ever seen, largely due to his insouciant, disinterested stage presence. One random between-new-songs segment even lurches into an impromptu auction where he’s trying to flog a “used diaper”. Us neither. ‘Future Rock’, ‘Faithman’ and ‘Extinction’ were sensational, though.
Hockey’s album isn’t due out til August, but that doesn’t stop them being treated with a rapturous, floor-shaking reception. The Portland art-poppers sound like The Strokes getting their groove on – ‘Too Fake’ inspires a beer-soaked moshalong, whilst the art-funk strut of ‘Work’ is a summer anthem-in-the-making.
From such highlights, the only way is down, and sloppy glam-rock duo The Gay Blades are the very lift porters to send us to our descent. Going down in more ways than one, their try-hard meanderings are typified by frontman Clark storming into the crowd and demonstratively gobbling up the mic just above The Fly’s head with all the slobbering zeal of a rabid tramp on cock-suck Saturday. Gay, but about as sharp as a Brighton pebble. Thank fuck, then, for The Boxer Rebellion, whose incendiary show at Coalition threatens to shake this packed-out red-brick cavern to its very foundations. Thunderous, relentless, verging-on-ethereal songs are the order of the day, with superlative single ‘Evacuate’ – which receives the best reception we’ve heard thus far – bringing a due sense of sky-bound ambition that typifies this long-underrated band’s current state of mind: inventive, inviolable and invigorated with a newfound sense of purpose. 
Late on Saturday, the Parlure Spiegeltent is the perfect venue for the glamorous stylings of Patrick Wolf. Showcasing a darker direction, dressed all in black and strapped into an electric guitar, the singer uses the opportunity to showcase his new heavier material, even rejigging set-standard ‘Tristan’ with raucous chants and loud chords as where violins ought to be…
And so it is, that knackered, busted and drunk, we shuffle off into the land of the sleepy. Love you Brighton, see you next year…

WORDS: Jess Hazel, Johnny K, JJ Dunning, Niall Doherty, Ruth Offord, Stephen Brolan.