The Great Escape 2011

Hello Everyone!

Wow, it feels like it's been so long! I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with your posts, but I have had so much going on. I have had tons of college work, we are trying to sell our house because my parents have seperated, and I have also seperated from my boyfriend. But, I am back and ready now :D.

From Thursday to Sunday, Nicole and I were at the wonderful Great Escape Festival in Brighton. You basically get a wristband which allows entry into lots and lots of venues across Brighton, hosting new music. It was awesome! I had the best time ever.

Warning: This post is going to be long and musical, so if you aren't interested then i suggest that you leave now! No offence taken :).

THURSDAY

The first band of the day were this weird and wonderful french band called GaBle. I suggest you check them out, I can't really describe it but they were pretty theatrical and very funny! Not to be taken seriously. Go here and a code for some free songs is GABLE4FREE.

We then checked into our hotel. Our bed was major comfy, they had the best pillows :).


What we wore:








We didn't mean to colour co-ordinate, I swear!

We then watched a band called Deep Sea Arcade, who were pretty cool and catchy, but nothing amazing.

We then headed over to my favourite venue of the weekend - Hector's House - to watch a band called Two Wounded Birds. I absolutely loved them! They are like a dark and edgy mix of Beach Boys and The Ramones. Love! I definitely think you should check these songs out:





We then walked from Hector's House to Horatios, which was at the end of Brighton pier. A lovely shot of Brighton on the way:


We then saw another awesome band, The History of Apple Pie. The line up just said "special guests" so we had no idea who to expect. AND they had the coolest female bassist. I would definitely recommend them, head here.


Next we headed over to The Haunt to watch LA based Group Love. They describe their music as "best friends skydiving." Not sure what that means but you can listen here :).



FRIDAY

The first band of the day were an Aussie four piece, called The Jezabels.The singer had such a beautiful voice, and their sound is dramatic with poignant piano leads. Check them out here.

We then went to watch Brother & Bones, who were awesome live, but when we got their CD back to the hotel, we were pretty dissappointed as it didn't sound anything like the live music... So I'm not sure if I should reccommend them to you...

PS I Love You - difficult to describe. I LOVED them. Kinda grungy and cool.



Back to Hector's house for an awesome band who definitely looked like they were from 90's Seattle. They were called Tripwires. Again, I would totally recommend that you check them out here.




After that was a band that I was very much looking forward to, The Heartbreaks. This was also at Hector's House and I made sure I had my spot at the front. :). They did not dissappoint at all; they put on an amazing show that definitely had me singing and dancing ;). To top it off, we met them afterwards and they were lovely, charming lads. The frontman and Burberry model, Matthew was especially charming. I think all the guys have modelled for Asos too actually. Cool right? They dress awesome! You should definitely check them out:







Here's Nicole with the drummer, Joseph.


And me with some random cool guy from LA? He was nothing to do with The Heartbreaks though, haha...


We kind of hung around with them afterwards which was fun. We didn't actually get to bed untill 7am :| It was a little crazy...

So as a result, we got up reaaally late on Saturday. We hardly watched any bands at all - Die! Die! Die! were pretty cool, but the band I was most looking forward to were the lovely Frankie & The Heartstrings! I've mentioned them on here before, and I was really excited because they were playing twice. Both performances were amazing, especially the second performance. They have a wonderful stage presence, and frontman Frankie did his first set standing on some sort of speaker/sound system, and the second set standing on the bar! I have met them before so I was really happy to talk to them afterwards. They are such a great bunch of lads. It was fabulous, check them out!








Me and my dear friend Michael, the guitarist. He's my favourite, sorry guys...



Nicole with Den, the bassist. Pretty cool guy!



All in all I had the best time, and I would like to thank my dear friend Nicole, Frankie & The Heartstrings (including awesome merch boy Rory - i love doritos and free merch!), The Heartbreaks and all of the other bands for making it special.

For anyone who managed to read this all the way through, thanks!


Love Harriet xxx