The Great Escape Festival

This article is about the UK music festival. For the Australian music festival, see The Great Escape (festival).

The Great Escape
GenreRock, alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, hard rock, dance, techno, electronic, acoustic, hip hop
Location(s)Brighton and Hove, England
Years active18 years
Most recent2023
Next event15–18 May 2024
Websitegreatescapefestival.com

The Great Escape Festival is a four-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music[1][2] from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and hosts roughly 500 bands across 30 venues throughout the city.[3] It has been likened to South by Southwest.[2][3][4]

There is also a music industry convention section to the event,[2] which is attended by over 4000 delegates. The 2011 to 2022 conferences have been programmed by the team from music industry publication CMU.

Anna B Savage, 2023

In addition to the main festival, there is also The Alternative Escape, a further strand of 'unofficial' shows.

There was no event in 2020, and the festival was held in 2021 but was entirely online, both due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

Coach Party, 2023

In 2024, over half of the lineup signed an open letter to the festival to drop Barclaycard as a sponsor[6][7] due to its involvement in the supply of arms to Israeli military forces.[8][9] Over 163 bands pulled out of the festival in protest, resulting in the opening showcase being cancelled.[10][11]

  1. ^ Petridis, Alexis (15 May 2011). "The Great Escape festival – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Price, Simon (15 May 2011). "The Great Escape, Various venues, Brighton". The Independent. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b Sturges, Fiona (14 May 2012). "The Great Escape, Various Venues, Brighton". The Independent. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  4. ^ Harley, Kevin (10 May 2013). "Pop festival of the week: The Great Escape, various venues, Brighton". The Independent. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ^ Richards, Will (12 May 2021). "The Great Escape 2021: 10 unmissable artists to catch at the virtual new music showcase". NME.
  6. ^ "Dozens more artists join Great Escape 2024 boycott, as half the line-up demands festival drop Barclays sponsor in solidarity with Palestine". NME. 17 April 2024.
  7. ^ Forrest, Ben (5 April 2024). "Calls to boycott The Great Escape Festival over controversial sponsorship deal". Far Out Magazine.
  8. ^ "Barclays: Don't Bank on Apartheid". Palestine Campaign.
  9. ^ "'Thousands in UK close Barclays accounts' over bank's ties to Israeli military suppliers". Arab News. 20 March 2024.
  10. ^ Bakare, Lanre (14 May 2024). "More than 100 acts quit Great Escape music festival in solidarity with Palestine". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  11. ^ Coady-Stemp, Emily (17 May 2024). "Acts pull out of festival over Israel-Gaza conflict". BBC. Retrieved 20 May 2024.