The Great Escape 2015 – Day 3…

Posted on May 17, 2015December 15, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Day three. The final day. My broken sleep-deprived body is screaming for me to stop but I force myself out of bed and head down to Green Door Store for the Canadian BBQ (this is the second year I’ve found myself here, always go check it out as there’s good music and free food). First up was 36? who “create ‘part pop, part art-rock, part psych-jazz'”. They were certainly different. I actually enjoyed the music, but was slightly put off by two things. Firstly, just before the set started the drummer took his jeans off so played the set in t-shirt and boxer shorts. Secondly, the singer makes for a wonderful front man with some epic dance moves. Sadly the dance moves turned into strange thrusting motions against his keyboard and guitar, and were accompanied by a wide eyed, verging on psychotic, stare into and around the crowd. I moved slightly to hide behind the people in front of me. After 36? I nearly left, but stuck it out for Young Benjamins. Best decision I’ve ever made. They were excellent. A four piece band from Saskatoon who combine pop, rock and folk influences to make brilliant music. Plus, they all smiled and laughed their way through the set which I love. The Great Escape tends to attract a very hipster crowd/bands who think enjoying themselves isn’t cool so stand, stony faced doing a subtle head nod, so it makes me happy to see people breaking this tradition. Sadly there are no photos of either of these bands due to my fear in the first act, and sheer enjoyment of the second.

I had 15 minutes to get from Green Door Store to Komedia to see Lawson. ‘That’s easy’ you say? Not on a Saturday in Brighton when the sun is out, it’s mid Festival, Fringe Festival and Great Escape and you’re navigating the North Laines full of tourists and antique stalls. But I made it. As I stepped in, the lights dimmed and screaming girls surrounded me. What I didn’t realise at this point is that they had sold extra tickets for this gig, so I spent the whole set wondering how a load of under age girls with no wristbands had been able to get in. They also have a bigger following than I realised. I knew one or two songs, but the audience were singing along to every word, screaming out their love for members of the band and having a proper party. They were good fun, lots of catchy pop tunes and being surrounded by a crowd that were so enthusiastic for every single word and note got me really caught up in the atmosphere. I turned a bit fan-girlish. It’s catching.

As we enter the final stretch and rock up to the Paganini Ballroom for Sonar Soul, we are excited for the evening ahead of us. Sadly, one song in, we decide we don’t like Sonar Soul so head to Patterns to be super early for Lonely the Brave. As we sit waiting on their unfinished terrace (the place is like a building site) watching the sun set on our final day of festivalling, we get a text from The Great Escape saying the downstairs room is at capacity. No problem, we go in the main room, tell the bouncer we’re going to the toilet, go downstairs and in the back door. Sneaky sneaky. Lonely the Brave were a good shout for the last night. Loud, danceable, fun. Although we spend the whole set wondering why the singer hides at the back of the stage with no light on him. Apart from singing, he doesn’t say anything. Talking is left to the guitarist who stands front and centre, in the spotlight. We leave pumped up and ready for the epic queue for the Maccabees.

We get distracted en route by the photo booth in the Spiegeltent. Anyone in Brighton should go. £2 a go. It’s a hoot.

I don’t know what happened to my face here.

Then we get to Corn Exchange. Even a few riotous games of Heads Up in the queue can’t distract us from the fact we stood in the cold for an hour and a half and only got let in half way through the set. But the Maccabees were worth it. We had spent the whole queue talking about Latchmere and its wave machine. Two minutes after walking in, they chat about playing new stuff, but also rediscovering old songs and they burst into LATCHMERE’S GOT A WAAAAAAAVE MACHINEEEE. It’s like they waited for us. What with it being the final night, the audience are excited and drunk, making the most of the last night. The atmosphere is electric, everyone is dancing and singing along. As they hit the last note, glitter explodes over the crowd. We leave happy, all bad memories of queuing pushed out of our minds as we walk home. Tiredness kicks in and I slept for nearly 9 hours.

Happy 10th Birthday Great Escape. We still love you. Thank you for the weekend.

Great Escape in numbers:

Bands seen: 22
Pints consumed: Too many to remember
Venues visited: 9
Average hours of sleep per night: 6

The Great Escape 2015 – Day 2…

Posted on May 15, 2015December 15, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

I survived day one. Hurrah. Day two started with the builders outside my window singing and clattering around at 8am, so I started my planning early.

Heading out at 1pm I return to my favourite place in May, the Spiegeltent, for the Northern Irish showcase – specifically Ciaran Lavery. Lovely ginger man in a brand new suit. My kinda man. He was the second act of the festival to rock the harmonica/guitar combo. Different vibe to Fraser A Gorman though. The audience is calm – this is probably due to a mix of hangovers, early afternoon gig and the beautiful calming tone of Mr Lavery’s voice. My sleep deprived body instinctively wants to curl up in a ball and fall asleep listening to his voice. Halfway through the second song, he interrupts himself to dedicate his set to anyone that walks in half way through thinking they were coming to an epic afternoon rave, but now had to stay out of politeness, before continuing with his set. Great voice and cracking sense of humour. Top marks.

Now for a real adventure: finding the Paganini Ballroom. Tucked in round the side of the Old Ship Hotel on the sea front and real different to everywhere else I’ve been. Balconies, chandeliers (classy, not Shoosh-esque monstrosities) and Regency carpets and wallpapers. Then Groenland burst onto stage. There is a lot of them on a tiny stage, so I was worried that the dancing might tip one off but they partied on like it wasn’t 3pm. They were brilliant. I enjoy anyone with a ukelele, violin, cello and melodica. Particularly the melodica. They quickly warmed the crowd up for a boogie and catchy clapping – sadly the girl behind me had no idea how to clap in time…

It’s evening. I’m outside Patterns again in what can only be described as a mahoosive queue. It turns out that it is because the venue isn’t open yet, so we move pretty quickly. Heading inside, the first thing I notice is the signs pointing towards the toilets – a relief after getting lost yesterday. A group of boys with wonderfully hipster hair appear on stage, everyone cheers, they start performing and people start looking confused. After the first song they thank everyone for coming out and introduce themselves as Osca. Now everyone looks very confused and starts pulling out their programmes. This is NOT Andy Shauf. As people start drifting out, the rest of us are rewarded with an uplifting and rousing set. When I get outside in the daylight, I see they were meant to be on after Mr Shauf. What happened to him?

I ponder this as I cross over to coalition (one of the only seafront clubs with the same name as my uni days) just in time for Beach Baby. A “London based four piece whose crisp, U.S-inspired take on apathetic alternative pop”. Coalition is rammed (I’ve never witnessed it empty) so I’m stood behind a post so no photos. Very uptempo and danceable. Not sure I would call them apathetic.

Aurora. Her show is definitely not suitable for epileptics. I know she’s only 18 but looks avoid 12. Big wide eyes, gesticulating hand motions. Her band create wonderful noise encompassing everyone in the venue. Rapturous applause from the crowd. “You make me blush and sweat”. Sadly this is another act ruined by drunk bar chattering. Running With The Wolves bought on huge applause, apart from the man next to me who seemed to refuse to clap the ENTIRE show. Judging from the crowd and twitter, she entralled every member of the crowd and made us all fall a bit in love with her.

I head to the Corn Exchange for my second queue of the night (again because the venue hasn’t opened) and basically run inside to see Rag n Bone Man. He does not disappoint. Three songs in he sings Lay My Body Down and I nearly started crying and then had to hold it together for the rest of the show. Deep, soulful voice. Lovely beard. To anyone wondering if they should go see him, yes. Yes is the answer.

He was followed by Sunflower Bean and DMA’s. I have to admit, I didn’t pay the closest attention here because I a) had found some friends and b) I had consumed 6 pints by this point. Apparently Sunflower Bean mixes Black Sabbath’s dark rock with psychedelia. DMA’s sound a lot like Oasis. A lot.

Then came Django Django. The reason I waited in Corn Exchange for two hours. The venue was at capacity. The crowd was pumped. They put on a great show as always. We had a boogie. We started to sweat. It was now nearly 1am and my sleep deprived body needed a rest.

Day at two has basically destroyed me. One day left!

The Great Escape 2015 – Day 1…

Posted on May 14, 2015December 15, 2023 by jennyinbrighton

Its that time of year again. Time to put a wristband on, grab a programme and spend three days queuing running around Brighton trying to catch as many of the 450+ gigs as possible. This year is The Great Escape‘s 10th birthday, and my seventh consecutive year. Year one was a failure, I had a day ticket and didn’t understand the queuing so saw a total of two bands. Year two we only did evenings due to uni deadlines. Year three I worked at the wristband exchange, told Fyfe Dangerfield’s wife I loved him more than she did and fan girdled obsessively over the Guillemots. Years 4, 5 and 6 we successfully partied and so I’m excited for what this year will bring.

The wristband exchanged has stayed at its new Spiegeltent home and this year features an inside exchange area (perfect for today’s weather!) leading into the Spiegeltent area. Felt like a proper festival and was worried I hadn’t bought my sleeping bag. Grabbing a programme I ran back through the rain to the downstairs of Komedia for the end of the Australian Showcase. I arrived in time for Fraser A Gorman, a lad with a mighty head of hair (not that dissimilar to my fathers hair in the 70s) hailing from Melbourne. Considering it was 3pm on the first day, the room was packed and from the cheers arising from the crowd as song names were mentioned, he clearly has a following here in the UK. He kickstarted the set with “Better take your washing off the line because it’s raining” – very apt for the rain sodden city outside. Featuring catchy riffs, harmonicas and brand new tambourines, his set was good fun and got me in the mood for the weekend. Uplifting and highly bop-able.

Deciding against going back out into the rain I stayed inside for Holy Holy, which the programme describes as “huge, full band builds and crescendos, mixing distorted duelling guitars with warm, close harmonies and wild percussive rhythms.” Certainly a mouthful. As the room filled up around me and the buzz started to build, I started to think I had picked a winner. Hearing them for the first time reminded me of when I first saw Prides. Slightly blown away by the noise, and intrigued as to how much sound could come from so few people. They did indeed have full band builds and crescendos. They also had a bassist so tall I thought he would hit his head, and a guitarist that looked like Jesse Bradford in Bring It On but with Jon Snow’s hair (GoT Jon Snow, not channel 4 news Jon Snow).

So it’s now 11:30pm and I have survived my first day. After a trip home for food and Strongbow (don’t judge me) I journeyed across to Kemptown to Patterns. Which used to be Audio and now features glitterballs as its 80s name would suggest. But the bouncer fist bumped me on the way in so I’m a fan. Between that and paying £4.20 for a cider I got lost en route to the toilets and made many friends all equally as lost. Basically Patterns, sort your signage out. Patterns doesn’t help its 80s disco name with its decor. Neon blue and green on the walls, with pink fluorescent lights and mic cables. Here I saw Jagaara, a three piece sister act with some strong eyebrow game. Half an hour of dreamy electronic pop later, I headed upstairs and caught the end of Cold Fronts who were singing Sinatra’s ‘ I love you baby’ which was both brilliant as the singer wound his way through the crowd and on to the bar, and horrible because I had Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You flashbacks (RIP Patrick Verona). Plus I wanted to wash all of their hair.

After the ‘rock’ fest I was treated to the acoustic delights of Tenterhook. Sadly, he was ruined by the chatter going on by the bar which drowned out his singing, but he was wonderful. And wearing double denim, because, when in Brighton. He channelled his inner Ed Sheeran as he hit the high notes, and was the only act I saw tonight that didn’t make a joke about the horrible weather.

After my trip to Patterns, I went to Shoosh, That is a sentence I never thought I would say. It is as hideous as I expected. White chandeliers. Seriously. They then charged £4.50 for a bottle of Rekorderlig and she threw half of it away because it wouldn’t fit in the plastic glass. Luckily Astronomyy kicked off their set with “Nothin on my mind“. 30 minutes of catchy electro pop later, they (along with Jagaara) proved you don’t need a bassist to be great. Plus they sampled some Destiny’s Child “Say my name” which I NEVER object to.

10pm. Heading to Brighton Spiegletent. One of my favourite things about the Festival. I grabbed myself a £6 cocktail from the van (gin, elderflower, cucumber, soda and lemon – very sugary, very alcoholic) and headed into the tent for Fismoll. Two guitars and a cello. Half the crowd gathered on the floor. It’s a touch time slot. The majority of people at this time are tanked up and ready to party so for a band to hold their own at this time is an achievement. Quiet. Calming. Soothing.

Got me perfectly ready to come home and sleep (by sleep, I mean write this). So I didn’t make it to Jack Garratt, but he is playing tomorrow so all is not lost.

Don’t forget I’m on Twitter for random updates of who I’ve seen.

Two Birds Gin – a review

Posted on May 8, 2015January 22, 2024 by jennyinbrighton

This review is a bit late. I actually first experienced Two Birds gin in October after the lovely Morgan Rees bought me some as a present (October 10th for those wondering when to send gifts). Then I started my blog and got distracted by other gins and unemployment and new job and working all bank holiday weekend in Liverpool. But a conversation with my manager prompted me to get my act together and do this. Plus I was scared because I have so little left and I’m dreading the moment when it runs out 🙁

So. Two Birds. Another small batch gin, this one made in batches of around 100 bottles in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. As well as their London Dry gin, they also make a Vodka and Absinthe (plus some fun flavoured Vodkas depending on the season). This is the bottle that started my love of pretty designs on bottles.

(Note: the bottle doesn’t normally come with a polka dot bow. This is Morgan’s version of wrapping and I enjoy it too much to remove it)

The bottle is a screw top so whilst you don’t get the satisfying noise of a cork popping out the bottle, it is much quicker to break your way in (an important factor in my gin drinking life). The smell from the bottle is dry with the juniper coming through as the predominant note. I did the standard mixing it with water to release the botanicals and, unusually for the gins I’ve been drinking recently, you don’t get a hit of citrus. It tastes smooth on the tongue, no nasty screwed up faces ensue when drinking. It leaves a warm lingering tastes in the mouth and the dryness comes through leaving you wanting more.

Time for the G&T test.

For the test I’m using Tesco Low Calorie Tonic Water. This isn’t to be sniffed at. Tesco do a great range of tonics from normal tonic water to some flavoured with cucumber, jasmine and elderflower. They also do a great bitter lemon, and they are 4 for £1.50. And, most importantly of all, it isn’t Britvic.

Moving on. It is reminiscent of the Blackwater No.5 Gin in that it is smooth and fresh as you drink it. Whilst it doesn’t have the big punchy characteristics of some other gins, the smooth quality makes it very quaffable (it is seriously running low in the bottle). I usually love a citrus garnish but I don’t feel this needs it. Quite dry on the tongue (a good point in my books), Two Birds leaves you wanting more. I imagine it would work well in a cocktail or as a good base to any mixer as the simple flavourings would allow any added flavours to come through.

The gin is made with four botanicals (and juniper) which helps to explain why there is less going on, but bottled at 40% and a 70cl bottle setting you back a mere £28, I think this is a good buy. This gin will be great as an everyday G&T but it is special enough to feel like a treat. Plus look at the bottle. How beautiful will that look on the shelf filled with fairy lights (the current fate of all my empty gin bottles).

You can order Two Birds spirits from their website here, and you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and Instagram for daily rantings and gushes.

Jenny in Brighton

I'm Jenny and I live in Brighton

Month: May 2015

The Great Escape 2015 – Day 3…

The Great Escape 2015 – Day 2…

The Great Escape 2015 – Day 1…

Two Birds Gin – a review