Festival Coverage : The Great Escape - Day 3
- Written by Rob Crozier
The final day rolls around. By now we are feeling a tad groggy to say the least, so we start at the free open air stage known as the Hub. This is situated right in the centre of Brighton and huge crowds pass by as Saturday shoppers mix with Brighton Festival folks and our ‘friends’ the Morris Dancers burst into an impromptu performance.
Unsurprisingly this does not help our fuzzy heads. We plump for Jacko Hooper and the allure of free deck chairs. Jacko is a local Brighton singer songwriter. With simply captivating songs. His calm acoustic ballads are met with the outbreak of sun through grey skies.
Once rested and refreshed it's off to the Dome theatre to see electro outfit KAMP! The Polish-themed Great Escape has provided us with some great bands and KAMP! are no exception to that, delivering hazy electro with a crescendo of dense electronic beats that brings the afternoon session to a close.
On this final night we push on with our aching limbs for one more round of 
shenanigans. We start off upstairs in Audio to catch the Concrete Knives with the sexy French outfit packing this small venue. The band provides upbeat high energy fun fuelled pop punk. Their cover of 1990s dance classic ‘Hotstepper’ is greatly received by the crowd and a sing-along breaks out.
We push out of Audio and into Digital (formally the Zap Club) to catch Danish artist Karen Marie Orsted who goes by the stage name MO. There are some stunning visuals to accompany the very bass heavy sound lead by female vocals. The soaring and intense nature of the vocals are compounded by drums, bass guitar and a DJ with an electronic box of tricks. As we leave Digital the queue for the next act is the largest we have seen at the festival and we soon realise that it’s for Scottish 3 piece indie rockers Chvrches. We wish the queue good luck in attempting to get in as we start to make our final decisions for the remainder of the night.
We discuss the allure of a secret gig by punk supremos Parquet Courts or maybe Sweet Baboo. However we plump for our favourite venue the Warren and Tres B. The 3 piece outfit play moody guitar rock with singer Misia Furtak sporting a butterfly shaped bass and performing many beguiling head movements.
Afterwards we stand outside chatting away to friends; we even manage a quick chat with a member of The Strypes and their very proud parents. The band is a musical oddity, they age between 15-16 years old, dress in sharp suits and play fast and furious straight rhythm and blues. They bash out their new single 'Blue Collar Jane' alongside cover versions of blues classic such as 'Ce Ce Rider' and 'Rollin 'n' Tumblin''. These guys are clearly talented and the crowd realise that they are for real and not some curious one trick pony.
After the gig we all mingle, exchange numbers with our new found festival friends and sink a last pint before we all split up to go for our final acts. We head for the Concorde to dance away the festival in style with Toddla T followed by David Rodigan MBE. They provide what we want and we dance till 3am soothing ourselves with jump up party tunes as this amazing 3 days comes to an unwanted close. The aching feet & fuzzy heads have all been worth it for one of the best musical experiences we have known.
All of Laura's photographs from the event can be viewed here.