The Great Escape announces First Fifty names - grab tickets to Dork's showcase, featuring Joey Valence & Brae, LIP CRITIC and Deyaz

The Great Escape has announced details of its annual First Fifty events, and Dork is coming along for the ride.

Introducing the first names for 2023's Great Escape line-up via a series of East London shows on 15th November 2022, we're set to take over The Shacklewell Arms.

There, you'll be able to catch rising stars Joey Valence & Brae, NY electro-punks LIP CRITIC and Really Very Buzzy Londoner Deyaz, ahead of their appearance At the festival proper next May.

The full details read:

The Great Escape and Dork Present
Joey Valence & Brae
LIP CRITIC
Deyaz

The Shacklewell Arms
71 Shacklewell Ln
E8 2EB

Doors: 7:30 pm
Ticket Price: £10 adv | 18+

It's part of a wider series of shows that feature the likes of impossibly exciting Manchester gang Witch Fever, the brilliant Jessica Winter, New York alt-popster Sarah Kinsley, and loads more.

The full line-up reads:

You can find more details on all the shows at greatescapefestival.com.

Alongside the First Fifty news, Italy has been announced as the lead country partner for 2023's The Great Escape. There'll be two special Italian showcases across the three days of music, as well as a networking reception, all coordinated by the music export office Italia Music Export.

Nur Al Habash, Italia Music Export explains: “We're really happy and excited to have Italy as the lead country at The Great Escape 2023. We've been working on exporting Italian music since 2018 and have already achieved great exposure for our artists. We've been experiencing a renewed interest in our music scene (perhaps this has something to do with Måneskin becoming world famous, I suppose!) so we hope TGE23 will be a great occasion for British music professionals to discover some up-and-coming artists from Italy.”

The Great Escape itself will feature more than 450 up-and-coming audiences across 35+ walkable venues, plus a music industry-led conference, between 10th and 13th May in Brighton. Tickets, starting from £70, are on sale now.