Great Escape 2009

[RaymondM]

I'm gonna be tweeting live from the festival - you can follow it on http://themusicalchairs.com

I'm so glad the day is finally here. Have fun everyone!

[rseamer]

Another great weekend then.

No problems with getting access to any of the gigs i wanted to see.... as long as you advance plan and take into account venue capacities / likely band popularity it works fine.

Saw about 20 bands play in total I think. Will post up a link to my blog of the whole thing once I have time to write it in a couple of days time...

[freeak]

I had a good weekend too, managed to get into everything I wanted to see with mostly no queuing. Well worth the £35 ticket price.

[RaymondM]

Brilliant weekend - I'd go again next year. I'm gonna be posting stuff on my music blog, The Musical Chairs, all of next week for those who fancy a trip down memory lane.

I saw 16 bands in total, which I think is very respectable.

[krisskross]

only missed out on seeing holy f**k, but it would have been a miracle to get in 5 mins before they went on stage. Clocked in at 17 bands i think...

Anyone else see the Black Lips wreck Audio?

[rseamer]

Clocked in at 17 bands i think...

Edited May 17, 2009 by rseamer

[Stooza]

Awesome work. Thanks!

[freeak]

Did it serve you well? I think the only thing we got wrong was The Duke Of Yorks gigs which actually worked out better for me. Epic weekend. I think I may be damaged though.....

[RaymondM]

Here is the complete list of artists I saw:

D.M. Stith

Fanfarlo

Emmy The Great

Future Of The Left

The Acorn

The Hundred In The Hands

The Maccabees

Slow Club

The Phantom Band

British Sea Power

Polly Scattergood

Fever Fever

Bearsuit

Three Trapped Tigers

School Of Seven Bells

Patrick Wolf

The Pavilion Theatre was easily the place to be that weekend - I saw five artists there in total.

[krisskross]

Emmy was a bit poor. Did you see BSP at the sallis benney or digital - were fantastic at sallis benney did an hour and 15 min slot cos mystery jets pulled out. made my weekend!

[RaymondM]

Yeah although I think the reason why I didn't enjoy Emmy was because of a poor venue choice. Somewhere like the Pavilion Theatre or Po Na Na would have been much better.

Ah really? I didn't know Mystery Jets pulled out! I heard on the text service of a lineup change saying that it went The Veils, extended Micachu set, Mystery Jets DJ set and then British Sea Power. I asked their merch guy earlier on and he said they were on at half nine. But yeah, British Sea Power were great - I enjoyed them lots.

[Corporal Clegg]

Another great time at Great Escape.Didn't have any disappointments personally apart from the almost inevitable Charlatans gig at the Coalition having no chance of getting into that one.I probarbly wouldn't say this if I was in there but surely a bigger venue should have been organised for them?!

Anyway apart from that the band of the weekend for me was The Acorn who more than lived up to expectations-wonderful stuff.

Other highlights in no particular order were Mumford and Sons,The Week That Was,My Latest Novel,Blind Pilot and probably the best find of the weekend was Hey Rosetta who were amazing.

Disappointed with Emily The Great-did nothing for me whatsoever.And Crystal Antlers were not what i expected although really liked the last song they played.

Good times late into the night at the Ocean Rooms as usual too.

All in all £40 well spent!

[The_Spoon]

Also had a fantastic weekend. Saw 14 bands in total, a few more may have been nice but we saw everyone we planned to see. In order, we saw:

Video Nasties

Mika Miko

Naive New Beaters

The Moi Non Plus

Baby Venom

The Temper Trap

Marnie Stern

Metric

80 Kidz

Beast

De De Mouse

The Soft Pack

Hockey

Evil Nine

For anyone that saw them, Beast, Marnie Stern and Evil Nine were absolutely outstanding. However, did anyone else feel that the stage setup at HoneyClub was a bit stupid, there was a foot high step about 4 foot from the barrier so unless you were right at the front or upstairs you couldn't see a thing... luckily we managed to get to the front but it was pretty uncomfortable there due to so many people trying to cram on the step.

Although that was my only slight complaint of a great weekend, defo going to try and go again next year.

Also - did anyone else get the text about Babyshambles doing a gig at audio on the Saturday? I don't follow/like babyshambles so didn't pay any attention to it but isn't them doing a gig a pretty big thing? I thought they had split a few years ago.

Edited May 18, 2009 by The_Spoon

[krisskross]

wasn't overly impressed with the shambles. Not a big fan of pete though...

[Denip]

I saw:

Wintersleep - I've bought the album already. Great.

Magic Magic - impressive

Dan Auerbach and the Fast Five - Hilarious percussionist but disappointing from the Black Keys guitarist

Hey Rosetta - Pretty good

Arkells - overrated

Ohbijou - Wonderful vocals, lovely strings. Worth a visit.

Meme Love - nice voice. Potentially good songwriting

Connan Mockasin - Hysterically funny and great

Liam Finn - Fab as always

Ben Kweller - Great. Love the new album

Temper Trap - Truly awesome and amazing!

Marina and The Diamonds - Truly crap.

Patrick Wolf - superb with Tom White (from Brakes) on guitar. Really worked the crowd.

[rseamer]

Ok as everyone else is doing it I'm gonna list who I saw as well

William Fitzsimmons

Vile Imbeciles

Charlie Calleja

Dan Mangan

Blue Roses

Mirrors

Grasscut

The Lyrebirds

The Maccabees

James Yuill

Slow Club

Casio Kids

The Mae Shi

Mumford And Sons

Metronomy

Valerie Francis

Iain Archer

Angel Pier

Fight Like Apes

Gold Teeth

Yes Giantess (Twice)

Blogs of day 1 and day 2 up on my blog now, day 3 to follow on Wednesday. Read it On the link I posted above or click here

[Glowed Like Burnin' Coal]

However, did anyone else feel that the stage setup at HoneyClub was a bit stupid, there was a foot high step about 4 foot from the barrier so unless you were right at the front or upstairs you couldn't see a thing... luckily we managed to get to the front but it was pretty uncomfortable there due to so many people trying to cram on the step.

[Glowed Like Burnin' Coal]

Oh and I forgot to add, what a terrific festival the Great Escape is. It makes an absolute mockery of the Camden Crawl and actually exposes it for the scam/sham that it is. Camden Crawl? You must be kidding, Camden Lockdown more like. Pick a venue, cross your fingers you'll only have to queue for half the night to get in, then like it and lump it pal, you're staying there all night. £60 for that utter shambles, quite unbelievable!!

Whoever organises/manages the Camden Crawl has a lot to answer for and needs their motives thoroughly explored. It's bordering on the corrupt.

If the Great Escape remains largely in it's current state it'd be a victory for us lovers of all things musical and creative.

Cap doffed to you Great Escape, a superb job. Although Gaymers as the event drink is a massive disappointment. It's a stain on the wonderful cider market to call it such. Lucky I'm a big Red Stripe fan too though

[frankp]

awesome festival. Saw loads of full sets

The Computers

And So I Watch You From Afar

Titus Andronicus

Dan Auerbach

Nelson

Fresh Legs

Ill Ease

Vile Imbeciles

Pulled apart by horses

the maccabees

die!die!die!

Haunts

james yuill

slow club

casio kids

mae shi

mumford and sons

fight like apes

the chapman family

banjo or freakout

three trapped tigers

ghost of a thousand

[rseamer]

If the Great Escape remains largely in it's current state it'd be a victory for us lovers of all things musical and creative

[Glowed Like Burnin' Coal]

Couldn't agree more

[rseamer]

Fantastic blog by the way Robin. Keep up the good work.

[bettiss]

had another really good weekend

Highlights for me were: We were promised jetpacks, Brakes, Polly Scattergood, Die Die Die and Idelwild.

[krisskross]

Polly Scattergood a highlight? wow!

I guess i'll list too:

Panama Kings - pretty good, not to fussed though

The Haunts - wouldnt see again

Friendship - doesnt quite work

Pulled Apart By Horses - fun, best song name with E=MC Hammer

Emmy The Great - poor, didnt seem to care

Dananananaykroyd - awesome

The Black Lips - got spat on by the guitarist! lovely :s ps. not in a nasty way just happened to be nearby

The Moi Non Plus - good experimental stuff, worth to watch again

The Veils - passionate singer / songwriter + band. v good

Micachu - great band, mica is one talented lady

British Sea Power - best gig of the weekend - a bit of a reliable choice though

Polly Scattergood - poor, bit bland cept for one good song

The Chapman Family - scary suicidal singer - good stuff though

Babyshambles - a shambles *yeah worst pun evar (sic)

Rogues - not too original but great at what they do

Fight Like Apes - were a bit poor but usually far better than they were

The Soft Pack - was hoping for something more

Juliette and the New Romantics - shes still hot - the music, err... shes still hot (had a few beers by then so not sure, fuzzy memory really not unashamed letching loved a really bluesy song she did)

really want to see:

And So I Watch You From Afar

die!die!die! - saw one song but was on the move so didnt stay for the set

We Were Promised Jetpacks

[rseamer]

The final write up of my crews weekend at Great Escape is up now on my blog (Breaking More Waves) which you can access by clicking HERE

Edited May 20, 2009 by rseamer