Far Out Facts: Everything you need to know about The Great Escape Festival 2024
Between May 15th and May 18th, hundreds of new artists from around the world and thousands of new music fans will descend on Brighton for The Great Escape Festival 2024. The festival will showcase some of the rising stars of independent music and open the door for others to follow in their wake.
Our personal picks to watch include Dutch indie band Pip Blom, who manage to combine punk and shoegaze influences in raw, punchy two-minute tracks that’ll have the crowd stomping on the spot. Think Wet Leg with more lo-fi, garage rock power chords and less detached cynicism.
Showcasing the festival’s vast array, there’s also a rampant serving of queer, vegan shitpunk from the Faroe Islands thanks to Joe & The Shitboys. As ever, The Great Escape provides a platform to help launch acts from around the globe.
There was British bedroom pop’s new kid on the block Alfie Templeman, too. But he’s now decided not to perform at the festival, along with dozens of other artists in the original line-up. This event was set to be one of Templeman’s first with the limelight squarely on him, previewing tracks from his upcoming second album Radiosoul.
However, the build-up to The Great Escape this year has been overshadowed by a petition condemning it signed by over half the artists in its line-up, including Templeman. The petition has been followed up by many of these artists pulling out of the event altogether and taken a principled stance to boycott the festival.
Nevertheless, it looks set to go ahead with its reduced line-up. While crowd numbers may also be affected, there should still be a sizable turnout with most tickets already sold.
And so, one of the first events on the UK’s summer festival calendar for 2024 will still be The Great Escape. A festival intended to encapsulate Brighton’s openness, diversity and progressive aspirations.
The signature Brighton festival?
When it comes to parties, this sunny city on the south coast of England takes some beating. Brighton is world famous for its annual Pride celebrations, of course, and boasts a superb CV of music-specific events, too.
There’s the annual Love Supreme jazz festival, one of the UK’s biggest, and few Brightonians of a certain age could forget city native Fatboy Slim’s iconic performances on Brighton Beach.
These days, though, The Great Escape takes pride of place as Brighton’s number one annual music event. Its exclusive focus on new, up-and-coming artists as well as world music, without an emphasis on preferential headline slots, chimes with the city’s reputation as one of the most progressive and welcoming places in the UK.
The festival partially lived up to its billing as a new music haven in 2023, promoting The Last Dinner Party before they became one of the year’s biggest breakout acts. On the other hand, it did include established artists like Arlo Parks and The Pretenders as well.
So, who’s in the 2024 line-up?
In addition to Pip Blom and Joe & The Shitboys, The Great Escape’s full line-up for 2024 originally featured over 500 music acts, most of whom will be brand-new discoveries for attendees. While some of these acts will no longer be performing due to their boycott of the event, the vast majority of them seem to be going ahead with their sets.
The festival organisers have chosen to highlight American folk singer-songwriter Faye Webster in their special Spotlight Show, as well as R&B/dream pop talent Benét. The third act to be spotlighted is Max Clarke, aka Cut Worms, whose 2023 self-titled album received widespread acclaim from critics.
You can find the rest of the line-up on the festival’s official website here.
Why is there an artist boycott of The Great Escape this year?
The issue which has triggered the petition against and boycott of The Great Escape concerns its partnership with sponsor Barclays Bank. Musicians around the world are raising their voices against the Israeli state’s continued bombardment of Gaza and those who are supporting it militarily and financially.
In the words of Lambrini Girls, one of the boycotting artists: “Barclays provide financial services of over £1bn to companies supplying military technology and weapons to the IDF, perpetuating the horrors unfolding in Gaza.” As such, artists are refusing to perform at a festival sponsored by Barclays as a political stance against the IDF’s military campaign.
Speaking exclusively to Far Out, The Menstrual Cramps, who were the first act to pull out of the festival and spearheaded the boycott, explained of their decision: “Music festivals can’t go ahead without musicians, and so musicians are the ones who have the power, even though a lot of time, it doesn’t feel like that.”
Who’s involved in the boycott?
Lambrini Girls, who also took part in a boycott of the SXSW festival earlier this year, are far from the only prospective participants now boycotting The Great Escape. As well as Alfie Templeman,, others include alternative band Cherym and the entire artist roster of record labels Alcopop! and Big Scary Monsters, which have pulled the plug on anyone signed to them performing.
Jazz-punk band Opus Kink are the latest act to drop out. They’ve released a statement on social media explaining that they believe “the most effective way to help is to add to the growing noise around the BDS [anti-Israel boycotts, divestment and sanctions] boycott.” They’ll be organising benefit gigs around Brighton this week, as an alternative to their appearance at the festival.
Additionally, mew music patrons, Future Bubblers, have dropped out of hosting a stage at the event. Furthermore, promoters How To Catch A Pig, who helped start the original petition against the festival, have backed the boycott, calling it “the minimum that musicians can do”. The Musicians’ Union in the UK, meanwhile, has released a statement in solidarity with the boycotters.
There is a possibility that even more of the 300+ signatories of the petition, with Kneecap and Mary In the Junkyard among them, will follow suit. With the festival starting tomorrow, the organisers are on tenterhooks as they continue to hold the line and refuse to comment on their partnership with Barclays.
By contrast, Nick Cave, who has a history of defying musician boycotts against Israel, has urged artists to play at the festival.
Other things to look out for if you’re attending
If you’re planning to attend the festival but still haven’t got your ticket, you should know that all single-day tickets have now sold out. However, 2-day and 3-day tickets are still available, as are specific tickets for Faye Webster’s show.
Bear in mind that the festival is located across 30 different venues in Brighton city centre, as well as a pop-up venue on Brighton Beach. If you’re aiming to see artist sets at different venues back-to-back make sure you plan your route beforehand to avoid missing out on one of the sets.
And one last thing. The weather forecast predicts rain through much of the festival, so bring waterproofs with you to all outdoor venues. It wouldn’t be a British music festival without the rain, though, would it?