GREAT

Mystery Jets and Go! Team just confirmed

The Sugars are playing 2 shows at Great Escape.

Fri 16th May

Noon. The Elipse.

8pm. Unitarian Church

http://www.myspace.com/thesugars

here's a timetable http://arandomurl.com/ might make it easier to plan your day/night

http://arandomurl.com/post/The-Great-Escape-Festival,-Brighton-2008-Timetable

which is putting on the frankly shit-sounding The Rifles, so i'll sort of be there. Just not enjoying it as much.

Mainly for the Hold Steady and whatever else I stumble upon.

Ya reckon I'll need to be down early to the Old Market to get in for The HS - capacity is 500. I guess they aren't one of the buzz bands this year either.

10pm at the Hope

Thursday Bon Iver, Sunset Rubdown, Okkervil River, Yeasayer

Friday Broken Records, Times New Viking, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Black Lips

I'll do well to top that again!

how did everyone's weekend go? Highlights for me were No Age and Ungdomskulen (both on the Thursday) Born Ruffians and The Strange Death of Liberal England on the Friday and I enjoyed Black Mountain last night even though my day was slightly runined by food poisoning eugh!

Who did you enjoy? Any thoughts on the festival as a whole?

THURSDAY: Elle S'Appelle, Fanfarlo, King Blues

FRIDAY: Dirty Disco, Cadence Weapon, George Pringle (everyone was talking during her set... she was rubbish), Lovvers (amazing), Crystal Castles (really good)

SATURDAY: The Displacements, Broken Records, Team Waterpolo, Thomas Tantrum, Hot Club De Paris... went to the pub, met a girl, hazy memories from there but I was at Pressure Point for a bit!

Okkervil River stole the show (despite not knowing anyone on here, everyone watching looked like a DISer!), but Broken Records were also superb. Honourable mentions for Sunset Rubdown and the Lionheart Brothers.

Btw, even with delegate tickets we didnt even get near the Barfly, anyone see Yeasayer or Black Lips?

Thursday

Elle S'appelle
Sunset Rubdown
Nic Nell
Envelopes

Friday

Elle Milano ('t wasn't their luck day)
White Lies
Late of the Pier
..i think i ended up in digital, cannae remember, too drunk.

Saturday
Esser (outside the library - really good show, props to the two small girls with wet hair having a dance)
Elle Milano (much more luck today)
These New Puritans

and then paid a ridiculous fee to get in to see Erol Alkan et al.

Very good weekend, very sad to come back home.

Awesome weekend though! Gig of the festival was Matt & Kim for me, closely followed by Okkervil River, The Hold Steady, AA Bondy, Sunset Rubdown, Times New Viking, and Eugene McGuinness. Also really enjoyed Let's Wrestle (after hearing mixed things about them on here), Tubelord (should have played longer) and Telepathe (even though I felt like I was watching an advert for America Apparel). Although I enjoyed the energy of Pete and the Pirates, and they seemed good at what they do (I've not listened to them before), I still wouldn't say I liked them and have no desire to actually go and listen to them. Worst gig was probably The Go! Team, as the sound was just crap (at least near-ish to the front). Also, I'd been wanting to see the Lionheart Brothers for a while, after watching them I could take them or leave them live, but I think that's just because Matt & Kim were so awesome beforehand, and I was too excited for The Hold Steady after. Also, the guy on just before AA Bondy, someone Gipson, was fucking awful. Lyrically it took four lines into the first song for me to go to the empty bar in the Pav Theatre and escape him.

Doll and the Kicks, Elle s'appelle, Okkervil River, Slow Club, The Mae Shi, Telepathe, Times New Viking, Frightened Rabbit and the Twilight Sad.

Then Nina Nastasia played. The world stopped. Everything else ceased to matter.

Basically it was a brilliant weekend. Can't believe I hadn't done it before. Thanks to the organisers and how often can you say that?

Okkervil River,
The Hold Steady,
AA Bondy,
Sunset Rubdown,
Godwits,
White Lies,
Teenagers,
A Silient Film,

and some bad bands in The King and Queen.

Oh and I was quite excited to see Wojik (speeling) who used to be in Symposium playing on The Pier - really bad - Venue didn't help

I nearly cried at one point they were that good. I envy their talent and their knack for writing such clever songs, then pulling them off live with such precision. If you haven't seen this band before then go and see them next time you get the opportunity, they will amaze you. The Mae Shi were good fun too, I saw Mike Diver dancing at the front looking very happy. Got to see SoKo 3 times and made me smile every time. Gutted I missed No Age and Times New Viking, but overall the weekend was great, and queues were minimal.

I had tickets to Girls Aloud on Saturday so I was a Thursday and Friday person only. To make up for this I went to Jay Reatard / Times New Viking / No Age in London on Wednesday night and all three were great. (Soiled Mattress.. were OK, not really sure about it though)
Started at Eugene McGuiness who was a great start to the night (let’s not talk about the selection and price of beers at Digital.) followed that with being the last person not to get in to Bon Iver and watched as delegates stole my one in one out place by sauntering up late. Did get in for last ten and saw Skinny Love in the crowd. After that Lionheart Brothers played a really tight set and the last song they played was the most epic thing I remember from the weekend. Ladyhawke after that was a little subdued with little atmosphere and the band looked a little tired. Saw three songs of The Boat People on the pier and though it was alright, they didn’t play the more jangly stuff which I like. Alphabeat straight after that was great fun pop in a perfect setting of the karaoke bar, they also weren’t checking wristbands so there were plenty of shitmunchers in there too and they seemed to enjoy dancing to it. Tried to get in for Yeasayer at the Barfly but Ting Tings fans were round the block stopping that so we ended up at some nightclub after that.
Saw Whitestar on the pier at midday with Friday’s first beer and an odd song about killing horses. We then took part in the music quiz at Komedia were we finished third two point behind David Quantick and Simon Price’s journo team and some people who were about a hundred years older than us collectively. Won special editions of Bummed and Pills and Thrills, New Futureheads album and Norwegian showcase material. Caught three We Are Scientists songs in the road which was a high point for it’s traffic slowing impact Friday started properly again at Digital with £4 cider bottles at Cadence Weapon who had a good flow and got involved with the crowd but seemed keen to get up to Fabric by the end of the set. Didn’t get in to Johnny Flynn (those reviews this month obvious struck a chord) but seen him before. Saw a bit of Tubelord which I didn’t like before sitting on the floor like a bunch of hippies for Slow Club on the pier again and they played a good set with plenty of banter and giggles. We all agreed that we love Rebecca and we would fight each other for her. Soko in the church was good and I’m glad she wasn’t in the mood she seemed to be on Saturday (see NME) and Peggy Sue (minus her Pirates) walked into the venue and was invited on stage for I Wanna Be A Tiger (with Soko wearing a tiger hat) Couldn’t get in for Ida Maria but I’ve seen her before a couple of times so we saw Primary 1 which was alright but can’t really remember much about it. Big queue for Barfly but we got in this time, Ipso Facto were alright but it was the wrong time for their distant rumblings, should have been a more upbeat band I think. Black Lips were set back by technical problems so we left after getting frustrated with not being able to see or hear or by this stage feel my feet.
Not sure what I would have done Saturday but as I’ve seen Laura Marling and Glasvegas and most the bands I really like before I don’t feel like I really missed out. For value for money, it was excellent, a few more options late at night would be a real improvement as I doubt many people actually call it a night at 11 and the number of venues reduces dramatically after that.

Here are some photos from the Festival (taken by my boyfriend)

http://flickr.com/photos/daleharvey/collections/72157605128017126/