The fourth annual Great Escape conference event and music festival, held from May 14-16 2009, saw Brighton truly rocking, as 15,000 music industry professionals and fans descended on the south coast to witness a whopping 400 of the newest and most exciting bands around doing their thing at over 34 venues spread across the city.
Visit Brighton's John Carmichael Commented: "Visitors flocked to Brighton & Hove over the weekend, filling up the city's 10,000+ bedspaces. The city's bars, pubs, clubs and venues were packed out too with people enjoying themselves in the UK's best city by the sea.
Best Conference Bits
Over 100 high-profile speakers gave 3000 Music Industry delegates some real food for thought during the event's 3-day programme at the Thistle Hotel, with key note speeches from Spotify's Daniel Ek who outlined future plans for the paradigm shifting music platform, John Leckie who gave some insight into India's music scene and his India project in conjunction with The British Council. Colin Greenwood, Alexis Petridis, Paul Morley and Simon Armitage introducing bi-annual tome 'Loops' and Nathan Lovejoy from Limewire was interviewed by industry legend Pete Jenner. Other conference highlights included panels and speeches from head of UK Music Feargal Sharkey, Will Page from PRS for Music, Big Champagne's Eric Garland, Google / You Tube's Patrick Walker, Music Ally who put the music industry on trial, Bristol Music Foundation who held their own mini-conference within a conference with Korda Marshall and Chris Morrison discussing past, present and future industry models and Chief Inspector Adrian Stubbs of Met Police, Clubs and Vice Unit who spoke in defence of the controversial Form 696. There was also a plethora of formal and informal networking opportunities for delegates to open up new dialogue and cement existing relationships
The Artist Village, the festival's newest arena and official back stage, held in the Parlure Spiegeltent played host to 2000 additional delegates and was the focus for artists and new entrants to the music industry to meet, network and learn with a schedule of educational panels, workshops and networking sessions kicked off by renowned Industry news service CMU Daily, plus the world-famous venue played host to some sublime musical treats from the likes of Ben Kweller, Marina & the Diamond and FlyTV In The Courtyard sessions.
Favourite Festival Moments
'More than 4,000 delegates, 400 artists and tens of thousands of punters attended The Great Escape festival in Brighton last week, defying the economic slowdown.' Music Week
'The Great Escape, signalled the start of the summer festival season. Over three days, the city played host to a mammoth collection of emerging musical talent along with a smattering of bigger acts.' Independent
'The emphasis is on new music, with a roster that accompanies everything from the entirely obscure to the acts whose next stop will be the top 10.' Guardian
'With a staggering amount of diversity and a carnival atmosphere, The Great Escape proves to be a great success...Over three days in bohemian Brighton, The Great Escape is as cool as Steve McQueen making that motorcycle jump. On offer here is a sense of exhilarating freedom, as fans are able to roam between more venues than you can shake a stick of rock at.'
VIRTUAL FESTIVALS
Visit Brighton's John Carmichael Commented: "Visitors flocked to Brighton & Hove over the weekend, filling up the city's 10,000+ bedspaces. The city's bars, pubs, clubs and venues were packed out too with people enjoying themselves in the UK's best city by the sea.
Best Conference Bits
Over 100 high-profile speakers gave 3000 Music Industry delegates some real food for thought during the event's 3-day programme at the Thistle Hotel, with key note speeches from Spotify's Daniel Ek who outlined future plans for the paradigm shifting music platform, John Leckie who gave some insight into India's music scene and his India project in conjunction with The British Council. Colin Greenwood, Alexis Petridis, Paul Morley and Simon Armitage introducing bi-annual tome 'Loops' and Nathan Lovejoy from Limewire was interviewed by industry legend Pete Jenner. Other conference highlights included panels and speeches from head of UK Music Feargal Sharkey, Will Page from PRS for Music, Big Champagne's Eric Garland, Google / You Tube's Patrick Walker, Music Ally who put the music industry on trial, Bristol Music Foundation who held their own mini-conference within a conference with Korda Marshall and Chris Morrison discussing past, present and future industry models and Chief Inspector Adrian Stubbs of Met Police, Clubs and Vice Unit who spoke in defence of the controversial Form 696. There was also a plethora of formal and informal networking opportunities for delegates to open up new dialogue and cement existing relationships
The Artist Village, the festival's newest arena and official back stage, held in the Parlure Spiegeltent played host to 2000 additional delegates and was the focus for artists and new entrants to the music industry to meet, network and learn with a schedule of educational panels, workshops and networking sessions kicked off by renowned Industry news service CMU Daily, plus the world-famous venue played host to some sublime musical treats from the likes of Ben Kweller, Marina & the Diamond and FlyTV In The Courtyard sessions.
Favourite Festival Moments
Top moments were many, and at the veritable smorgasbord of musical delights that is The Great Escape, no two experiences are ever the same. Highlights included local bands The Pipettes, The Maccabees and British Sea Power playing triumphant home town sets, plus Kissy Sell Out's rock n rave at Red Stripe's Concorde 2, Micachu And The Shapes' frenetic art pop, Fan Death's synth-stirrings, The New Wine's psychedelic wig-outs at Gaymers' Hector's House venue, The Vivian Girls' heads-down rock 'n' roll, Hockey's indie-cool and Noah & The Whale's folkish charm. Big hitters waded in with Evan Dando's solo set at Topman CTRL's Digital, Gang of Four's incendiary guitar salvoson on the MOJO stage, , The Charlatans' crowd-pleasing, hit packed show as part of the Road to V activity and Kasabian, giving it the stadium-sized bombast in the relatively intimate surrounds of the Brighton Dome hosted by NME. Music fans were also treated to a series of off the cuff Relentless Energy Street Gigs and several surprise guests climaxing with a road-block appearance from Babyshambles courtesy of Levi's® OnesToWatch®.
The Great Escape's partnership with Phase Five NZ Music saw some of New Zealand's freshest acts basking in the limelight and culminated with a show (and heart) stopping Haka performed at the Thistle Hotel in front of the event's co-founder Martin Elbourne. Extending the festival's international flavour there were showcases from across the globe with Canadian Blast, India Soundpad, and acts from Australia, Japan, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland and Ireland plus many more..
Already looking forward to next year?
Dates for next year are 13th, 14th and 15th May 2010
Early Bird Festival and Conference tickets are now on sale! CLICK HERE to purchase
'The Great Escape, signalled the start of the summer festival season. Over three days, the city played host to a mammoth collection of emerging musical talent along with a smattering of bigger acts.' Independent
'The emphasis is on new music, with a roster that accompanies everything from the entirely obscure to the acts whose next stop will be the top 10.' Guardian
'With a staggering amount of diversity and a carnival atmosphere, The Great Escape proves to be a great success...Over three days in bohemian Brighton, The Great Escape is as cool as Steve McQueen making that motorcycle jump. On offer here is a sense of exhilarating freedom, as fans are able to roam between more venues than you can shake a stick of rock at.'
VIRTUAL FESTIVALS
