Three days, countless new favourites, and enough seaside chaos to keep us going 'til festival season fully kicks in—The Great Escape is back and brighter than ever. From future pop icons and noise-rock heroes to buzzy newcomers just finding their feet, Brighton once again delivered the goods. Here are nine standout acts from TGE 2025 that aren't just promising great things down the line—they're proving that the future of music is already in seriously safe hands.
Florence Road
Having spent much of their adolescence honing their live craft and cutting their teeth on stages across Dublin, Florence Road arrive at The Great Escape near enough fully formed. With only a couple of the tracks the Irish four-piece play today out in the world - introductory single 'Heavy' hitting hard mid-way through the set, and freshly dropped 'Figure It Out' packing a necessary punch - they perform with the presence of a band far more established.
There's a certain magic between the girls that only comes with a lifetime of friendship, so they're incredibly fun to watch, even when the songs are unknown. Their debut mixtape 'Fall Back' is around the corner, and judging by the crowd they draw today, it doesn't get much buzzier than this. (AF)
green star
Emerging from strange beginnings, green star are a multi-national Spanish-American trio formed in a London warehouse, making music that sits between New York no-wave and Japanese shoegaze. In the hazy upstairs of Brighton's Charles Street Tap, all neon lights and sticky floors, it feels like an ideal backdrop for green star's noise rock.
Hot on the heels of their debut EP release 'bleeding swirls', the trio double down on the fuzz they present on record, Sonic Youth and Swans indebted tracks like 'spiders without eyes' and 'replication' drowning in walls of reverbed guitars. With no talking between tracks, the set flows into one long drone that's a real flashback to the alternative rock of decades past. (AF)
Witch Post
Already shrouded in lore, the transatlantic duo Witch Post met by a chance encounter one half of the band had with the other's music while both releasing solo. Their legend says they're rarely in the same room together, but on stage, that mysterious veil slips and reveals an undeniable closeness between the pair.
Effortlessly in tune with one another as they exchange lines on 'Ragged', that and 'Spell' from their debut EP 'The Beast' are quiet and intimate. When they let loose, it's irresistible fun, with the 90s alternative lean of 'The Wolf' and closer 'Chill Out' embracing the raw power of yelping vocals and scuzzy riffs. With the clock ticking closer to midnight and the temperature rapidly dropping, it does feel like you're witnessing a bit of magic hidden away in the smaller of the two beach stages. (AF)
The Itch
The Itch emerged last year with their wonderfully outrageous debut single 'Ursula', a twisting 7-minute epic that felt hopeful despite the despair that underpinned the dancefloor banger. Their furious live show only added to the hype, but then things went quiet. Thankfully, the band returned earlier this month with a pair of new singles, followed by a last-minute gig at The Great Escape.
Taking to the sweaty confines of Rossi Bar, The Itch open with the wonky disco stomp of 'Co-Conspirator', a surprisingly tender anthem of community delivered over pulsating electro-punk. From there, things get more intense with the glitching snarl of 'The Influencer' and the hammering 'No More Sprechgesang'. There's an obvious fury behind The Itch's music, with lyrics that tackle political turmoil, idol worship and modern-day ignorance, but there's also a desperate need for joy. There isn't a moment of their beat-driven, 30-minute set that doesn't demand movement from the crowd, with pop, disco and punk coming together to inspire one hell of a good time. It's a glorious return that also feels like the start of something very special. (AS)
Sunday (1994)
"I promise you, we're actually pretty good," says Sunday (1994)'s Lee Newell after abandoning 'Stained Glass Window' due to technical issues. After a polite word with the sound technicians, they restart their country-inspired anthem of forbidden love and quickly prove they're so much better than "pretty good".
Opening track 'Blonde' finds hopeful freedom in coming-of-age heartbreak after a cinematic intro track that quotes Hollywood legend Joan Crawford's thoughts on love and bitterness. From there, Sunday (1994) merrily weave dark humour, pained lyrics and a healthy dose of melancholy around pop optimism. 'Still Blue' is a gnarly burst of catharsis that sees the band play with searing post-rock, and the bittersweet viral hit 'Tired Boy' feels triumphant when sung by a room full of people. Then there's 'TV Car Chase', a pretty love song for the end of days. Not many bands could get away with leading a venue-wide singalong to the line "My head is in the oven", but Sunday (1994) are masters at making pained indie pop feel celebratory. It's perhaps why the twinkling drama of 'Blossom' is so explosive today, its positive message underlined by vocalist Paige Turner holding up a placard with the encouraging lyrics "you got it baby" for all to see. With a smirk, Lee once again addresses the room: "See, I told you". (AS)
Chloe Qisha
The Great Escape isn't typically the playground of pop music, with indie, rock and folk far better suited for taking over some dark corner of a dingy Brighton venue. Still, that doesn't stop Chloe Qisha from giving her 30-minute set absolutely everything.
Since the release of their debut single 'VCR Home Video' last July, Chloe has been championed as the next pop superstar. That hype was underlined with her self-titled debut EP, while the recently released 'Modern Romance' EP was more precocious, more daring and, somehow, even more exciting. It's no wonder that her slot at Patterns is perhaps the hottest ticket in town.
The twinkling '21st Century Cool Girl' brings the drama, while the slinking 'Sexy Goodbye' is the sort of track that would have the whole room dancing if only there was space to move. 'The Boys' is a coming-of-age indie banger that knows exactly what it wants before 'Scary Movie' brings stadium rock & roll to Brighton seafront. Chloe Qisha may have only played a handful of gigs before, but the smirkingly playful 'A-Game' was clearly written with live shows in mind, and the pulsating pop banger 'Modern Romance' brings a free-spirited euphoria to the short and sweet gig.
"The one thing I love writing about is sex, but this next one is also about drugs and existential dread," Chloe grins before the off-kilter 'Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread'. It's perhaps the ultimate festival anthem. The celebratory revenge of 'Evelyn' and the urgent 'I Lied, I'm Sorry' close out the set in raucous fashion, further underlining Chloe's superstar future. "I guess I'll see you soon," she tells the crowd with a smirk, knowing she's absolutely nailed this. (AS)
My First Time
"The Great Escape, I see you drinking and schmoozing. It's time to get off your phones and move your feet," grins vocalist Isaac Stroud-Allen, gently hazing the crowd that's packed into The Deep End. Luckily, My First Time provide an irresistible soundtrack that demands a reaction.
Bringing together aggy post-punk, snotty pop and a touch of dance, their furious music is matched by a ferocious onstage energy from every band member. Jordanna Forsey plays the drums like she's headlining Wembley Stadium while James Mellen and Niamh Jones merrily throw themselves about the stage. Then there's Isaac, who delivers playfully venomous lyrics with a sneer. Opener 'Brand New' is a swaggering hulk of chaos, while the giddy sarcasm of 'Wind Up Merchant' is joyful but menacing. The fizzing 'Man Of Ill Repute' ends with Isaac reciting Charlie Chaplin's speech from The Great Dictator with unwavering intensity before they're joined onstage by someone in a neon tracksuit who adds hectic synths to their final track. "Let's boogie, baby," smirks Isaac, and everyone takes him up on the offer. There is biting anger unpinning the band's wonderfully electric music, and, live, that energy encourages a communal purge. It all feels wonderfully joyful. (AS)
Luvcat
Doing her level best to make the cavernous (by The Great Escape's standards, anyway) Chalk feel like a prohibition-era jazz bar, Luvcat gives a masterclass in sheer vibes. Opener 'Lipstick' sets the tone, a glamorous alt-pop-meets-country banger that's as slick as it is fun.
"There's a lot of faces in here!" She says with a laugh between songs, and she's not wrong - the whole venue is heaving from front to back. 'He's My Man' is the standout track, a murder ballad about slowly poisoning someone's food, which isn't quite as bleak as it sounds, we promise.
Rattling through a tight half-hour set, Luvcat manages to make more of an impact than a lot of artists manage at a headline show. Just maybe don't let her cook you dinner. (JH)
Westside Cowboy
It's a packed-out beach stage for Westside Cowboy's fourth show of the weekend - and it's only Friday afternoon. Buzzy newcomers who are just two singles in, but impressive enough to win the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, it feels like the band are the worst-kept secret in music right now. A setlist that is necessarily light on released material could go either way, but it's a credit to Westside Cowboy that every song feels as strong as the two we've heard before. Debut track 'I've Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)' is the highlight, but every song is tight, focussed, and polished enough that the band feel like they've been playing forever. Still, if they keep doing two gigs a day, they'll soon overtake even the most seasoned bands in onstage experience. Catch them on small stages while you can because we have a sneaking suspicion they'll be graduating to much, much bigger venues in short order. (JH)
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