REVIEW | THE GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL 2018 (@THEGREATESCAPE)

The Great Escape of soulful singers, magnificent melodies and rated rappers.
In the 2 days I spent here the amount of talent here was soaring. Starting things off on the Friday in a small atmospheric underground pub was Kyle Miller aka Aeris Roves, he’s a 20-year-old singer-songwriter who hails from South Yorkshire and lives in Greenwich, South East London whose most recognised song is“Best Dressed Man”. He has been compared to Frank Ocean damn he didn’t disappoint a melodic, soulful acoustic performance at only 20 years old! I am sure we will hear more from this rising young talent in the future so keep your eyes open.

Moving on to the Beach stage there was Grace Carter who is remarkably in touch with her emotions for a 20-year-old, London born Brighton raised with a voice that gave me chills down my spine. She has learned to channel that deluge of emotion into her music and used her voice to allure the audience who was magnetised by her movements. Check out her single “Silhouette” big things coming from her in the future no doubt about it.

Next up, I walked into a calm vibe of what seemed like an art gallery, where British raised, Polish Born Luke Marzec was blending genres to play something that is deeply atmospheric, he reminded me of bit of Maverick Sabre! But he has his own unique style. His “Chances EP” is a smooth artistic creation & my favourite song on there is “Will we ever carry on”.

I moved on from the gallery to Patterns, a renowned late-night club in Brighton there was a young rapper of the name of Kofi Stone. He’s reppin’ Birmingham Town with his on point, chilled beats with a funky flow. His releases to date are two singles “Stories in pyjamas” & “Daddy Don’t Want This”, they are easy listening records and remind me a bit of the 90s vibes. His stage presence was great and the crowd were bouncing to his tracks and energy.

I headed over to the comedy venue Komedia to the studio where Awate was awaiting to come on stage.

He was born on Eritrean Independence Day & named after the man who helped that happen, he is an Eritrean refugee who fled to Saudi then migrated to be raised in Camden, North London. He’s known to have collaborated with the likes of Lowkey. I managed to cross paths with him before he played really grounded guy was a pleasure to meet him. A Knowledgeable man with a descriptive smooth flow and a nice soulful sound. He played a remake of Fresh Prince that got the crowd pumping. He also smashed the hooks with his sweetly timed voice, all in all great performance.

Next up back on the beach front was Jazz collective who was led by Kamaal Williams a keys player from London performing upon his release of their first album “Salaam”. It took them a while to setup (they did look like they had been enjoying the festival quite too much!) but they played a real mellow set and the drummer played outstandingly. That was the calm before the storm as I entered back into Patterns the energy was young, wild and heated and on stage was a young tattooed performer who goes by the name Slowthai reppin’ Northampton, shouting “F*** Theresa May” down the microphone.

There was a lot of young male energy here, and a circle pit was rampaging. The young performer was concentrating on trying to make the whole crowd mosh more than the rapping. The music was playing in background and Slowthai himself was in middle of the mosh the majority of the 30min set, keeping the energy levels high. Giving instructions to the crowd Saying the odd word from his song down the microphone. The

DJ rewind cutback several times to keep the crowd hyped. It wasn’t a musically skilled performance but thoroughly enjoyable nevertheless at one point I even managed to lose my shoe. Timothy Lacoste with the song “Subway System” was the final act I saw of the evening and this took an awesome day of raw fresh talent to a close!!

Saturday kicked off in the evening with a performance in Bau Wow which I had never entered before. Welcomed on stage was Tshegue a collective of African, French powerhouse rhythms all the way from Paris led by a woman who goes by the name of Faty Sy Savanet, a braid-swinging vocal shape-shifter born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They blended a unique coalescence of sounds, so many styles and for me they were the best act I saw over the festival, the combined power of the music and the quality of the musicians mixed with energy and style; they absolutely killed it! Check out the “Survivor EP” & you can also find Tshegue : Influences playlist on Apple Music. Next up was on the beach front bar, The Teskey brothers. Australia. Coalition seafront possessed and old skool Motown style sound takes you back years. Amazing voice and a real blend of soul and blues. “The Half Mile Harvest” is their album title.

Back to the underground bar where collective from Amsterdam Day Fly were performing, they had a great voice, their sound reminded me of a Drake record. They are seeking a rapper to collaborate with at the moment so reach out to them if you think that’s you. I then rushed to see Fredo, MoStack and Mist but instead I was able to catch a glimpse of Jazz by Broadstrokes before heading back to the beach to Shoosh to watch rising Bermondsey rapper Funmi Ohiosumah aka. Flohio spitting some ferocious, grimey and postcode reppin. Rhymes.

My Great Escape journey came to an end with the last but not least the grime star Ghetts who is originates from Plaistow, East London, a legend in the British grime seen and he performed a banger. I was itching for him to play his new song with Lights “Vibe we Bring” which sampled the “Vivrant Thing” Q Tip masterpiece but a flawless performance nevertheless. Other tunes to check out DJ Raff “Latino & Proud” was one I missed on Thursday. All in all it was a blast, I absolutely loved the different energies and vibes of these performances over the two days. One to put on your festival list for next year for sure…