The Great Escape Festival 

“Anyone doubting the vitality of the UK’s live scene should have spent the weekend in Brighton at The Great Escape” - The Guardian

Creative Scotland Development Officer Stuart Thomas, talks about this year’s Scottish Showcase at Brighton’s Great Escape festival.

The Great Escape was founded in 2006 and is fast becoming one of Europe’s key music festivals and showcases for the latest international talent. Taking place in Brighton over three days in May, it’s one of the first in the summer festival season and helps to introduce over 15,000 music lovers to the year’s key artists. Previous acts have included Klaxons, Kasabian, Glasvegas, Vampire Weekend and Bat for Lashes among others.

In the past Scotland has been well represented in terms of having the best of our up-and-coming artists and some of our best know bands playing the festival, however for the first time this year, with the help of Creative Scotland, Scotland hosted it’s own daytime showcase at Brighton’s hippest new venue the Green Door Store.

It was an early start with doors opening just after noon and we were worried it might be too early for delegates and for audiences, but turn up they did and we crammed in to hear Wooden Box With A Fistful Of Fivers open up the show in style.

They were followed by Carrbridge singer-songwriter, Rachel Sermani, who has been creating waves amongst the music industry and with audiences – so much so that none other than Warner Brothers vice president Seymour Stein turned up to catch the show.

As Admiral Fallow frontman Louis Abbot took to the stage to close showcase, all fears about people showing up were blown away as we gave up trying to get a glimpse of the show at the door of the packed venue and settled back to enjoy the final showcase of the afternoon.

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