Brighton was now fully under the Great Escape spell as the second full day of music began yesterday.
Things started slowly and the buzz from Thursday took a while to resume thanks to the dreary weather, but the world’s music fans were here so soon sorted that out.
After the chilled atmosphere yesterday’s venues, it felt strange entering the high security of Shoosh where we were fully patted down, arms stretched. A stark contrast to the rest of the festival.
Once we’d gone through the security checks, we saw Lemonade Shoelace’s third of three sets this weekend, and you could see he had settled in to performing in the city.
The influence of Tame Impala is clear - tuneful melodies break through the synths and the guitars tie it all back together. A joy to watch.
Next, we headed to the beach venue which is one of our favourites but on a chilly grey evening didn’t quite match the atmosphere we’d seen here before.
As 86TVs started their set people flooded in to the Amazon music stage and the tent was buzzing.
A spin off of indie heroes The Maccabees, the three brothers have a natural chemistry and there is an ease to how they interact with one another and the crowd.
It’s refreshing to see a band where there is not one lead vocalist, and each brother offered a different style.
They are known for their guitars, drums and keys, but we liked to see this new element, with vocal harmonies revealing a softer side.
We hadn’t planned to see Oscar Browne but as we stepped outside of the Amazon stage we were drawn in by the beautiful, uplifting trumpet sounds.
The smaller TGE beach stage was cosy and the jazzy backing contrasted neatly with the indie vocals.
We just wish we’d heard more.
Later, we headed to see Acid Klaus, real name Adrian Flanagan, who has been making waves on the scene for two decades now and doesn’t mess around.
He’s worked under various aliases with a host of big names including Maxine Peake, Lias Saoudi from the Fat White Family, and even had a brief stint in Mark E Smith’s The Fall, but is now putting out superb dance and acid house tracks which sounded immense in a packed-out Chalk last night.
Flanagan is donning his signature thick, black shades and rimmed hat while commanding a synthesiser and spewing hilarious quips while getting stuck in amongst the crowd.
His tracks come alive with the help of Cat Rin who throws some sensational dance moves throughout the set.
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A really nice touch was using the melody from 808 State’s classic Pacific State as a brief segment of backing vocals to one of the tunes. It’s the little things.
But ask anyone at the show last night what the key moment was? It’s Flanagan being told he’s only got three minutes left having previously thought he had another 15. Ouch. He certainly wasn’t happy.
After, we headed to the beach to catch the last few tracks of The Murder Capital who played a blistering set to a transfixed crowd, with track Don’t Cling To life an absolute dream to witness. A wall of otherworldly guitar. And he loves a good crowd surf does our James McGovern. The perfect way to end the day.
And so that just leaves the third and final day of the Great Escape, which you can read all about tomorrow.
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