The Great Escape, the festival for new music, has announced the full festival line-up and conference schedule for 2022. It can be accessed here. With a phenomenal line-up of over 500 artists the official The Great Escape app will be essential for festival and conference goers to navigate the musical treats on offer, and can be downloaded from here.
In addition, the festival is pleased to announce a new partnership with Amazon Music and reveal further 2022 stage hosts from platforms including BBC Music Introducing, independent music company Transgressive, talent agency ATC Live, and the addition of a Download Festival stage.
Tickets for The Great Escape festival are available now and are on sale here.
Amazon Music will join forces with The Great Escape to take over the festivals’ pop-up beach site, which will be known as Amazon Music presents The Beach. Artists performing across the weekend on the seaside main stage include Goat Girl, Baby Queen, Crawlers, Sinead O’Brien, Priya Ragu, Rachel Chinouriri, and Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn.
One of the UK’s most coveted new music platforms, BBC Music Introducing, is set to return to The Great Escape with an exciting showcase of up-and-coming talent hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Gemma Bradley at The Paganini Ballroom on Thursday 12 May and Friday 13 May, featuring performances from artists including soul singer Leo Lore, art-rock five piece Youth Sector, alt-R&B singer songwriter Jazmine Flowers, indie rockers Honeyglaze, Brighton band CIEL, Belfast duo Dark Tropics and Dutch four piece Opus Kink.
Independent music company Transgressive will be taking over The Old Market on Thursday 12 May with a selection of artists from their roster, including pop duo Let’s Eat Grandma, R&B collective MICHELLE, rapper Wesley Joseph, South African musician Moonchild Sanelly and the exciting addition of The Waeve, the newly announced project from Blur’s Graham Coxon and singer songwriter Rose Elinor Dougal. Fans are encouraged to come down early to the showcase as opening up will be a must-see performance from breakout US artist Mykki Blanco in a very special one-off UK appearance.
Canadian independent label Royal Mountain Records will raise the volume at The Great Escape Beach Stage on Thursday with performances from Brooklyn punk band Gustaf, LA grunge trio Kills Birds, 00s garage rockers Ultra Q and Canadian punk four-piece Bad Waitress, whilst electronic label Erased Tapes will host a stage at St. Mary’s Church with performances from super-group Penguin Café, singer songwriter Douglas Dare and Japanese musician Hatis Noit.
AWAL will take residency at Komedia on Friday 14 May with art-pop foursome Porij, indie wunderkind Alfie Templeman, Dublin singer songwriter CMAT, R&B singer-songwriter Tamera, London-based singer-songwriter Eloise and break out TikTok star Renao.
2022 is the 25th anniversary of Brighton-based label Bella Union, which will host special birthday celebrations at their stages with artists including post-punk act Warmduscher, psych-pop artist BC Camplight, London-based post-rocker AA Williams and the visceral Sophie Jamieson taking to The Old Market on Friday 12 May and Isle of Man’s melody makers Penelope Isles, Brighton’s own solo act Laundromat, dream-pop band Tallies and experimental quartet PLANTOID hitting the iconic The Great Escape Beach Stage on Saturday 13 May.
Heavenly Records will celebrate their 30th anniversary looking at the past, present and future successes of their fiercely independent label with performances from their rising stars – Atlanta rock’n’roller Mattiel, folk-pop singer-songwriter Katy J Pearson, Madrid duo The Parrots, alternative electro duo audiobooks and hip-hop artist OneDa at Horatio’s on Saturday 13 May.
This year’s festival will also showcase the most exciting bands in the global rock scene, curated by tastemakers and the scene’s experts, Download Festival, in a new stage partnership. Thursday 12 May will see Tapie Huston, a new venture from Myles and Layne Ulrich feature alongside Canadian goth rock duo Softcult, TikTok rising star Scene Queen and Australian heavy rockers Banks Arcade. Friday 13 May will be rocked by Norwegian electro-metal band Fixation, raucous London two-piece CRASHFACE, metal-core group Defects and Manchester all-girl punk grunge band Witch Fever.
Girls I Rate, who celebrate the best and exciting new women in music, will host sets from Kay Young, SHA’SIMONE, Amaria BB, NQOBILÉ and N’isha at Patterns on Friday 13 May. Founded in 2016 by songwriter Carla Marie Williams, who has worked with the likes of Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Naughty Boy and many more, Girls I Rate was created to unite females and create opportunities within the music and creative industries.
Ticketmaster New Music will take over Coalition on Thursday 12 May with a line-up of future stars featuring young punk revivalist Kid Brunswick, singer-songwriter Isabelle Brown, electronic-jazz artist Conor Albert, Ivor Novello award winner Mysie, soul-jazz experimentalist Kwaku Asante and Glaswegian star Alex Amor.
The full TGE Conference schedule is now also available via the The Great Escape App. Industry delegates have access to three full-day CMU+TGE conference strands, a series of keynote in conversations, a stack of panels and parties presented by TGE’s industry partners, plus networking sessions and the TGE Elevate Sessions.
The programme includes two strands curated by CMU that are focused on new talent development. The first – MUSIC+EDUCATION on Wednesday 11 May – will look at how music educators and the music industry can better support and inform early-career music-makers. The second – TGE ELEVATE SESSIONS on Saturday 14 May – is directly aimed at those in the early stages of their music careers, on or off stage.
The full-day MUSIC+EDUCATION strand will identify the 40 things DIY artists need to know in order to build a career and a business around their music, with speakers discussing the crucial role of music educators and talent development organisations in communicating that information.Industry experts helping to compile the 40 things DIY artists need to know include: Adam Joolia from AudioActive, Charlotte Caleb from cSquaredLDN, Chris Chadwick from Famous Friends, Chris Hunte from Addition, Erika Thomas from WMA, Fiona Mcauley from Atlantic Records UK, Henriette Heimdal from Family In Music, Liam Craig from North West Regional College, Dr Maha from BIMM London and Shikayla Nadine from SNM Management.
The TGE ELEVATE SESSIONS, supported by Arts Council England, combine a series of speedy seminars from CMU:DIY with a full day of panel discussions explaining how the business of music really works.
Among the speakers sharing insight, tips and advice are Aly Gillani from Bandcamp, Cleo Amedume from MUVVA, Chris Goss from Hospital Records, Phyllis Bezels from Heliocentric Entertainment, Rebecca Prochnik from UTA, Sadie Thompson from Motive Unknown, and James Lightfoot and Sheema Siddiqi from TikTok.
Music Venue Trust will be celebrating their amazing Revive Live campaign by hosting their very own stage at the TGE Beach Site, filled with brilliant artists across all three days.
Over at the Harbour Hotel on Friday, delegates can join PPL, PRS for Music and PRS Foundation as they present #OnTrack. The day will be filled with networking, 1-2-1s and educational sessions with PRS for Music and PPL members that have received PRS Foundation support.
The Great Escape is making up for the lost years and returning with a bang.
