The Great Escape: Brighton's 'Cannes of music' at 20

Brighton has a reputation for taking its music seriously, and The Great Escape is the biggest part of that. Often called the 'Cannes of music', it's the UK's leading festival for new music, and the 2026 edition was a big one: the festival's 20th anniversary, running from 13 to 16 May across more than 30 walkable venues and a pop-up site on Brighton Beach. Around 450 up-and-coming artists played, with the line-up taking in rock, alternative, indie, punk, hard rock, dance, techno, electronic, acoustic and hip hop. It's the kind of event that turns the whole city into a showcase, and it's why it gets compared to South by Southwest in Texas.

The 2026 bill gave plenty to choose from. Confirmed names included Nectar Woode, Mandy, Indiana, Working Men's Club, Gabriella Cilmi, Walt Disco, Lizzie Esau, Rafferty and Oumy, alongside international acts La Plata, Tian Qiyi, showmore and BANSHIMOKU. A lot of the programming was shaped by scene hosts: Billboard UK, BBC Introducing, Clash, DIY, Dork, Kerrang!, Notion, So Young, The Independent and The Line of Best Fit all ran showcases, with NME making its debut at The Old Market on the Friday with Any Young Mechanic, Chanpan, Girl Scout and Mandy, Indiana. Agencies ITB, ROAM and WME, management firm Raw Power and labels like Bella Union, Hospital Records, Rough Trade, Transgressive Records and Third Man Records also had their say.

For those who wanted to keep going after the main stages closed, The Late Escape ran from 11.30pm to 4am in key Brighton venues, directed by Hospital Records to mark 30 years of the drum and bass institution, with a b:electronic collaboration bringing Etherwood, Hoax, Solah and Stay-C, and Tru Thoughts taking over Room 2. At the same time, the New Press initiative gave emerging media platforms their own stages, with The New Age Magazine x Still Listening at Horatio's, Crafting Room at Komedia and Kinda Weird at Patterns.

There was a serious side too. The Great Escape Conference ran from Wednesday 15 to Friday 17 May, marking its own 20th anniversary, with speed networking, a keynote conversation between Peaches and ILĀ, co-founder of TRANS VOICES, presented by The Independent, and panels from PPL, PRS and AWAL. More than 4,000 delegates attended, with the usual industrial partners like ACS, Bandcamp, Downtown Music, Qobuz, SESAM, The Orchard, Vevo and Virgin Music back on board.

It's worth remembering the festival isn't without its drama. In 2024, more than half the line-up signed an open letter asking the festival to drop Barclaycard as a sponsor over its links to the Israeli military, and over 163 bands pulled out in protest, which ended up cancelling the opening showcase. The pandemic also left its mark, with no event in 2020 and the 2021 edition held entirely online. Beyond the official bill, the festival has always leaned on The Alternative Escape's unofficial shows, spotlight shows, secret gigs and spontaneous collaborations, which are a big part of what makes it feel like a city-wide takeover rather than a gated event. If you've never caught it, the 2026 anniversary edition was a good reminder of why it's become such a fixture on the UK music calendar.