ONE of the busiest Saturdays of the year saw The Great Escape join Brighton Festival and Fringe in a crowded day of culture. The 35 venues hosting gigs as part of the new music showcase ranged from plush hotel suites (Paganini Ballroom) to a pub at the end of the pier (Horatio’s Bar).

It was one of the less orthodox sites, the village hall-like Brighthelm Centre, that hosted Leeds heavy rock band Weirds at midday. The four-piece’s performance wasn’t without its technical setbacks, from a broken snare drum to disconnected microphone lead after singer Aidan Razzall’s ventures into the crowd, but it was never less than thrillingly ferocious.

A slow-building start to the set soon gave way to fierce overdriven riffs, guitarist Zachary Thomas’s Black Sabbath t-shirt and lank hair revealing his heavy metal leanings. At the other end of the spectrum was Sabella at The Hope and Ruin. Hers was a short but sweet set, demonstrating her knack for an arresting pop hook. Final song Fortress in particular would fit seamlessly into the Radio 1 playlist. Certainly one to watch. Between about 4pm and 6pm there was a lull in proceedings, with only a handful of acts taking to the stage. The festival must have a good reason for this gap, but it jarred a little, especially when there are so many clashes elsewhere in the day.

New York songwriter Julie Byrne’s recent album Not Even Happiness was well-reviewed in the music press earlier in the year, and she displayed her delicate, languorous finger-picking at the Paganini Ballroom as part of a line-up of BBC-promoted artists. Her introspective songs (“I’ve got a complicated soul” she sung on Follow My Voice) were complemented by her haunting vocal. This is melancholic music for gazing out of rain-soaked windows.

The long queue for Brighton rock band Abattoir Blues’ set at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar raised expectations that their performance did not live up to. Their one-dimensional thrash might have been visceral but it was completely lacking in nuance. Their songs were indistinguishable from one another, making for shapeless disarray.

Two hotly-tipped bands, Drones Club and HMLTD, played within a stone’s throw of each other at Green Door Store and Prince Albert respectively. A cruel clash, and this reviewer opted for the former band’s life-affirming electronica. The boiler suit-clad collective almost tore the pier from its foundations at last year’s festival and they impressed again here.

They stationed veiled dancers in the crowd to instigate audience reaction, and by the end of their set everybody in the room was in the groove. Closing song Hurricane was an irresistible example of Drones Club’s blissful, entrancing sound and an uplifting way to end day three of the festival.