The Great Escape (Day 1)
@ Venues throughout Brighton, UK 05/15/08
By Dany Sloan
Photo by David Emery
After a week of running around England, starting in London, and then up to Leeds and Sheffield, a night in Hull (never go there), back to Leeds and then back to London, I still had more time in the country, but luckily the best was saved for last -- the third annual Great Escape in Brighton.
Brighton is a seaside town on England's south coast (home of Blood Red Shoes, The Maccabees and The Kooks) that is known for summertime fun, but the weather was decidedly unsummerlike with temperatures in the 60s and generally overcast skies, but there were 200 some bands playing over three days and I was determined to see as many as I could.
In the end, I saw 20 bands, which wasn't bad -- you can't be at every place at once, right? Plus, I didn't stay up until 2 am for the Club NME shows either, which caused me to miss stellar sets from The Go! Team, The Ting Tings, Sam Sparro and Yeasayer.
Things could have kicked off Thursday afternoon with severely underrated Brighton locals Heels Catch Fire, but I opted to miss them after just arriving in town just 30 minutes prior. The first band I saw was one we have been buzzing about for quite a long time, Leeds' Sky Larkin, the female-fronted trio that is slowly percolating into one of England's finest new acts. Despite the bit of trouble with the drumkit, the band won the crowd over.
London's The More Assured started the night at Revenge on a penis-shaped stage and played a frenetic set of Libertines-inspired jangle, including the brilliant "Zones." As always, bassist Slinky Sunbeam was all over the stage and crowd, complete with his jacket emblazoned with "The More Assured" in spray paint.
I also managed to catch Ladyhawke and Captain, a band that should have been huge by now, but unfortunately they've been lost in the EMI shuffle. Debut album This is Hazelville is magnificent, while the tunes from the upcoming Distraction indicate that these guys know no limit.
Night one ended on a high note with Late of the Pier (pictured), a group that is on the tip of everyone's tongues at the moment. They pulled off the unimaginable by getting every skinny white boy in the audience to freak the fuck out for 30 minutes. Tunes like "Bathroom Gurgle" and "The Bears Are Coming" are in the same vein as the Klaxons, yet still weird enough to scare people.
Check back tomorrow for recaps of Friday and Saturday, including reviews of Glasvegas, Mystery Jets and the only band we caught twice!
|
