I’m down at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton and, so far, not an auspicious start. Team attempt to see the majestic Vampire Weekend fell at the first hurdle with the impossibly huge queue snaking out of Concorde 2 and although some of our merry band persisted and watched ’em though a side door. A splinter group went in search of other amusement.
Audio, for the Young Knives, had a queue at least as long as VW so it was on to the King and Queen (affectionately known as ‘Crinkley Bottom’) for Canadian five-piece Volcanoless on Canada who were enjoyable. A tight outfit, energetic, kinda rocky and just, well, quite Canadian. In a nice way.
Late start, schedule cock up, hopeless festival going error: we’d managed to miss Future of the Left at the Ocean Rooms. Envelope at Hector’s? Packed to the rafters. So onto The Hope and Peggy Sue and the Pirates walking past hundreds (many hundreds) of people queuing for the Barfly.
What of Peggy Sue and her Pirates then? I’m sure these girls are great. I’ll go and see them again. But we couldn’t muster more than about 10 minutes in what was the hottest room in Brighton. We spent longer in the queue. Thankfully cold lager beer downstairs was just what the doctor ordered.
Hoping for a better Friday. But it does feel like they’re trying to cram too many people in to a lot of too small venues.