The Great Escape (part one)

I recently visited Brighton for the inaugural Great Escape festival, dubbed "the UK's answer to South By SouthWest". 100 bands performing at over 15 different venues over the 18th-20th May and at less than 40 quid for a three day wristband, it looked particularly appealing.

Sadly, however the festival didn't quite fulfil its initial promise but I'll cover that in the final part of the Great Escape trilogy of posts. Onto the bands...

Pressure Point, 7pm: You Say Party! We Say Die!
"YSP!WSD!'s insanely catchy beats and viciously fun live show are reaching fever pitch in Vancouver's indie rock scene."
We say: Die. Not really, but even if we ignore slightly irritating frontwoman Becky Ninkovic, they were a bit of a mess. Disappointing.
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Audio, 8pm: Action Plan
"the lovechild of Trail Of Dead's mental-ness and Interpol's sexy dark fury, making sh*t-kicking, guitar-mangling mini anthems with great shouty bits."
A marked improvement from when I last saw them over a year ago, very impressive.

Action Plan - Stendhal

Buy Stendhal from Puregroove.
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We caught a fair bit of The Tenderfoot, whose acoustic affair was a bit too unexciting so we returned to the Audio to catch some of Tinydancers, whose acoustic-led pop was surprisingly entertaining.
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Audio, 10pm: The Spinto Band
"2006 saw the band's ascension into indie-pop royalty, with the release of their debut proper 'Nice And Nicely Done', a collection of songs that frogleap from Flaming Lips-esque quirkiness to immediate Arcade Fire choruses."
Absolutely fantastic. Such was their effect on the audience, two young females started kissing halfway through the set. Tongues and everything.
The Spinto Band - Oh Mandy
The Spinto Band - Brown Boxes

Buy Nice And Nicely Done from HMV.
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Other notable acts worthy of mention on the 18th include Kid Harpoon, The Rumble Strips, VV&TV, Buck 65 and BSP. Canadian blog iheartmusic covers The Cribs and Seal Cub Cubbing Club, both of whom also performed on the Thursday night.