After a packed first day we are ravenous for more new music. Today seems to us to be the best day. We stock up on plenty of free coffee and pastries as we know it’s going to be a huge day of discovery.

However in order to ease us in gently and to soothe a few sour heads we head to the iconic Brighton pub, the Prince Albert for some soothing Irish folk. Saint Sister are a duo using traditional Irish harp and folk to create what they describe as ‘atmosfolk’. We decide that there is no better nation to soothe us. The sisters do not disappoint with the synchronicity of their vocals gently brush away the aching heads and leave us refreshed and ready for another day.

We pop across the road for something a bit more lively. We find Ben Caplan And The Casual Smokers. His beard alone is impressive then his voice hits you. A huge bear of a man he is captivating and his humour and stage craft blow us away. His foot stomping, sea shanties tear the roof off and we know it’s going to be another wonderful day.

Now we really have the bit between our teeth, we rush to catch a bit of Dan Owen's acoustic set then pop round the corner for the livelier sounds of Ten Fe. It’s in a venue with a very low ceiling and these lo-fi rockers put on an amazing display. The four piece deliver a cleverly crafted swirling psychedelic pop sound to a packed audience. The combination of driving thumping basslines with intricate guitars is awesome. This is a band that we feel has a huge future and we would strongly recommend a listen.

Whilst we were attending this we hear amazing things about Cosovel. Her talents flow effortlessly over a simply electronic folk sound. We also catch a bit of Lebanese electronica from Wake Island as well as a quick glimpse of REWS, a London female two piece with electronic pop and a bright future.

We return to the Prince Albert for the Rusangano Family. A three piece Irish Hip Hop act that simply contain some of the most energetic dance moves we have seen on stage. Flinging themselves around whilst delivering full on hard-core Hip Hop is an unreal sight to behold. It sums up what this wonderful festival is. The ability to move from venue to venue and to discover not just new acts but also immerse you in music we may not have chosen. It challenges our preconceptions and open the door for more wonderment. After all that we decide that we need some fresh air. However there is no escape from the music and why would there be?

We remember back to the first day when we were entertained by the wonderful New York Brass Band followed by the Voodoo Love Orchestra. Today we have the highly crowd pleasing indie rockers The Dunwells. This is followed by the simply divine indie choir that is the Jam Tarts Choir. This collection of older member’s blast out indie hits. We get a wonderful rendition of Bowie’s 'Heroes' as well as a Kaiser Chiefs track and even Ronson’s 'Uptown Funk'. As you’d imagine it went down a treat.

Right into the evening sessions and we are off to see some angry South London indie rockers. The Bulletproof Bomb are five 20 year olds who are full of attitude and who put on a wonderful display of raw indie power.

We are now on Brighton seafront and will be dashing in and out of various clubs. This allows bigger audiences and therefore bigger acts. We pop in to the very busy venue to see the wonderful three piece Blackpool rockers Strange Bones. They are very loud and extremely good and we expect huge strides forward from this band. We then are treated to three quite superb soul acts in Tiggs Da Author - a combination of grime artist, poet and soul singer via East Africa who does it all so effortlessly. More than that it works and it’s a wonderful combination of styles. Up next we are in for a real treat with the polished soul sounds of a young lady who is quite simply going to be huge. Izzy Bizu has already received huge critical acclaim and this performance will propel her into stardom. Her clean arrangements are a refreshing change. A simple, stripped back sound and stunning vocals is all she needs.

Then comes the real treat of the night. The local boy made good, the soul singer with the power of a juggernaut. Its time for Rag 'N' Bone Man. Not only do we force our way to the front of the stage we suddenly realise that we are standing with his mum.

She is obviously an extremely proud lady and is apparently loving referred to as Mama Rag. Her son simply delivers one of the best vocal performances we have ever witnessed. He carries such power and authority in his voice. Yet he is shy and vulnerable onstage. The sheer range of his voice allows him to move from modern soul songs mixed with hip hop and straight up funk. He then pauses and ask if he could perform acapella, what follows is an incredible vocal performance which leaves not a dry eye in the house, simply stunning stuff.

We don’t feel that anything can top that but,being dedicated to music journalism, we pop in to see the 1960s inspired psychedelic rockers Black Honey who deliver a sound not dissimilar from Pixies.

We also hear wonderful things regarding soul sensation Samm Henshaw and also the hugely talented rising stars of Tibet. But for us that’s the end of a magical day of new music.

Well here we go again, thirty venues, 500 acts in three days. We accept we can see it all but we are going to give it a damn good go.

We decide that the best way is to ensure that we and our various friends spread ourselves far and wide in order to ensure we see as much as possible, yet we know that this will only scratch the surface.  

The first thing we learn is that the festival is apparently named after the Great Escape ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped from England to the French coast some 250 years ago. So we fuel ourselves on free coffee and pastries from the wonderful people at the vinyl bar Dead Wax Social. Here we rub shoulders with a mix of promoters, band members, lots of beards and general freebie searchers like us.

First up is Valois Alps an Australian two piece synth band. They produce interesting beats from a box of tricks, whilst a female vocals pierces the venue with an angelic voice. Across town we hear good things about Leif Ericsson with his psychedelic swirling guitar sounds.

The wonderful people at Sounds Australia are putting on a great afternoon show so we decide to stay for a bit for the Indie band fusion of crafted pop backed hip hop bears of Slum Sociable who deliver a great vocal performance complete with one of the most energetic tambourine displays we have ever seen.

We hear wonderful about Welsh hip hop act Rejuel Elijah. At Prince Albert for a very busy Ali Barrie for their incredible performance and across town the wonderfully talented Tomas Cohen is giving us a Bowie inspired performance to great reception that will cement his place as certainly one to watch for the future.

After refuelling on beer on pizza we decide to visit a few outdoor stages and mix with the general public. We watch a great rock performance by Miamigo and are then soothed by the local talents of Oktober in the sunshine of the busy north lanes in Brighton, set in the grounds of Brighton pavilion it's a lovely site to behold.

As the sun goes down we decide to head indoors to the Unitarian church a beautiful venue for the sounds of Isaac Gracie whose incredible voice although battered from a full UK tour still managed to enrapture us.

We catch a bit of an inspired young man backed by his band, Mirror Signal has the voice of an angel and we sip our Red Stripe and plan the night ahead.

We have plenty of options as we lean towards a night of Indie rock with Tangerines and Otherkin providing us with the fuel we need. We go for Skinny Girl Diet whose amazing female growling voice rewards our choice with full on indie power. We scamper across town to catch Night Beats for more indie rock mayhem. However we receive a real treat with the exceptional talents of Dagny. They draw obvious comparison with Blondie as the stunning blonde female singer backed by four male indie rockers deliver a virtuoso performance in catchy well-crafted pop songs that set the place on fire. 

In the open air stage we catch a bit of Tom Walker, a solo act with guitar with a collection of J Dilla beats before we descend to the amazing construction of the Spielgeltent to see Kiko Bun finishes off in style with his modern reggae vibes which soothe our now aching feet. We leave thinking that if this is just the first day we are surely in for a great weekend. 

Prior to attending this year's Great Escape for us Rob Crozier has put together his thoughts about one of his favourite events by way of previewing what you can expect to read about next week.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. If you like your music new and slightly undiscovered. The Great Escape festival in the wonderful setting of Brighton features a host of clubs and bar venues usually reserved for party people.

Alongside this is a host of more unusual venues such as churches. Throw into the mix a strong 500+ of bands and quite quickly you see how this has grown into the UK's answer to SXSW. It's obviously impossible for anyone to see it all. The wonderful phone app helps us listen to new and exciting acts and plot our listening preferences. However one of the attractions is linking up with friends, mates and fellow musos to discover the acts we missed.

The frequent conversations of "OMG did u catch The Parrots who played on Brighton pier" is one of the festival's highlights

Alongside this is the ability to wander, sometimes with purpose, sometimes not, throughout Brighton's clubbing heartland waving our lanyards and carrying our goody bags with simply a name of a band as a point of reference. This comes sometimes from a friend of a friend’s recommendation and it’s a wonderful way to discover new music.

Modern technology has given us phone apps and Spotify playlists but still the feeling of standing in front of a band with no idea of their sound or stage presence is for us one of the reasons we love live music.

So with all the best will in the world and with our running order sorted I still hope we stumble across some random noise band or equally the Jam Tarts Choir.

We will be trying to tweet all the bands we see so please follow us via the festival hashtag #TGE16 and obviously via @musosguide.

Our current recommendations include The Parrots, The Hunna, Kiko Bun and Rag 'n' Bone Man to name but a very small few.

But who knows what else we will discover? We will bring you all three days in their hazy glory with the amazing acts we found, the ones we missed and even the ones we wish we didn't bother to queue for.

Last minute tickets for The Great Escape are available here.

Tonight sees the launch of 5 Dollar Shakes’ long awaited second EP, Come And See Enough To Stay, which was recorded at the National Concert Hall. A prerecorded piano intro and atmospheric lighting introduces the five piece from Gorey. Ricky Deering’s bass guitar fades in and controlled feedback from the guitars of Colin Doran and Caleb Dowdall builds slowly as the crowd assembles on the dance floor.

The newly-bearded band members are fresh out of college. They have been playing their high energy guitar pop together a few years now. All those sessions on the stage of the UCD student bar have evidently paid off as 5DS play faster and tighter than I have seen them do before.

They are looking a bit more manly now too. Frontman ‘Handsome’ Jack McEvoy has lost the blond from his hair, which is now longer and falling over his face. There's a big cheer from the female contingent as Jack strips off his black leather jacket, down to a wife beater.

Ever the performer, he jumps into the crowd for ‘Clear Signs’ and picks up a pair of drumsticks for the outro, slamming the cymbals of Ciaran O`Doherty's kit ‘til they near shatter.

The smiles on the bands’ faces suggest that they are very much enjoying playing the bigger venue. The tunes are as catchy and imaginatively arranged as ever. The new songs are rougher and edgier than their previous Franz Ferdinand influenced output and they make a point of not playing ‘Dutch’, a single from a couple of years back. They have moved on musically.

After the show McEvoy tells me that they are now playing the music that they want to play rather the music that they feel they should play. They've kept some of older songs though and beefed a couple of them up so they sound meatier. But some of those from their first EP sound weak now compared to the newer material.

5DS play with the pop appeal of a boy band but the energy of a rock or pop punk band, like the Kaiser Chiefs around the time of their debut album. Its singalong songs rather than dance tunes.

The garage rock of new EP track ‘Stuck In The ‘80s’ kicks ass, as does brand new song ‘Waiting For Aimee’. It’s their first time playing it live. It’s only about a minute long, and punky as you like. There’s a 'Blitzkrieg Bop' feel to it and the band indulge in some headbanging. The faster songs suit them much better. I'm sure they'll hate me for this but they are the Irish McBusted, but with better tunes.

They finish the main set with 'Arthouse'. It's the lead track from the EP and is given a great reception. It's a downbeat tune with overtones of The Cure in the rhythm section, the Robert Smith lead guitar and the extended guitar solo.

We’ve had over an hour of original material from a band with a couple of EPs and singles to their name. They are not even talking about an album yet. By the time they get round to that, their setlist will be amazing.

The familiar chant of “One more tune!” rings out around The Opium Rooms. The band are prepared with an oldie, ‘Fire To The Sun’ from their Back To The Start Again EP and announce that the party is set to continue into the night in Whelan’s round the corner.

Come And See Enough To Stay is available from cdbaby.