It is a long time since I have been to the O2. Unusually for a big London venue, I managed to get a photo pass from the very helpful team around Public Service Broadcasting. I call out poor experiences, so I have to say how much of a pleasure it was to interact with PSB’s team. I should not have been surprised, given the guys seem like some of the nicest people in music.

Given an earlier than usual start time, China Bears and Demob Happy both did a great job of setting up the evening, although to a relatively quiet crowd. However, by the time Big Special came on, the Indigo had filled out. It was clear a significant number in the audience were there to see the Big Special. Who can blame them? The band are on fire. I know they won over some new fans tonight.

Big Special continue to impress me. No matter how big the stage is, they own it. I think Joe’s vocals are amazing. I guess because most of the time he isn’t singing, when he does, the quality of his voice is even more obvious. Callum continues to inject humour and infectious energy at all points. Given how strong their albums are, it wasn’t a surprise to see new material bed in so well and there was no weak moment in their set.

I don’t know how many times I have seen Public Service Broadcasting. It must be at least twenty times. I don’t go and see them as often as I used to, simply because they now play venues I don’t like. But they make everything look effortless and are great fun. Tonight we were treated to EERA joining them, who added her ethereal vocals to songs from the ‘The Last Flight’, which sounded stunning live.

If you can measure a person by the actions of their friends. On the evidence of tonight, James must have been a very special person.

To find out more about Bowel Cancer and to donate to their research and support, please visit Bowel Cancer UK

Their new album evolved out of ideas that came to Mez as he walked coast to coast. It eschews the higher energy songs of their earlier albums, with the songwriting maturity showcased on their previous album. The last album had a song ‘Duck Egg Blue’ that initially felt out of place. But quickly became my favourite song on the album. This new album feels like a continuation. It’s more of slow burner than their earlier albums. But each listen, opens up more textures. Some of themes and even some of the textures, reminds me of Sea Power’s nature inspired songs.

Tonight at Resident Records, they played songs from the new album, which sounded great live. Mez continues to be a hypnotic presence at the front of the bands. Injecting humour and bringing the new album to life. The songs really work well live. A good thing. As I was seeing them at Rough Trade the next day.

The influx of delegates and the queues that came with it growing to become ‘the industry event’, stretched my patience with it. However, it now feels it has stopped growing and we have reached a balance between delegates and fans and I think I can live with the current queues.

With the arrival of SXSW London, I was concerned that London might draw the music industry and artists away from Brighton. But after last year’s atrocious SXSW music festival, and this year’s looking even worse, I think the immediate threat has gone away. For the time being TGE remains the primary new music discovery festival in the UK.

This year saw probably the biggest change to the music festival since I started to attend. For the last few years there has been an acknowledgment that many festival goers arrive on the Wednesday night and TGE programmed a small amount of events. This year, they fully embraced the idea of a fourth day, with a packed Wednesday evening, including a full evening of music at TGE’s beach venue.

Luckily for the festival, they had booked a relatively unknown Canadian band called Angine de Poitrine. I assume they were originally part of the Canadian music experience that takes place each year at TGE. However, after AdP’s KXEP performance went viral, the debate in the lead-up to the festival was where would the hyped band play? With the Kooks pulling out of their Wednesday night headline slot, it left the perfect slot on the beach stage available for AdP. Having become ‘one of the obsessed’, I had to be there. 

My TGE got off to a great start with the excitable Girl in the Year Above playing an excellent set, opening the Beach stage. Blending soaring vocals with reflective lyrics. They are one to watch.

Luckily I managed to be on the barrier for Angine de Poitrine. I was happy I didn’t bother to ask for a photo pass, as the pit was like the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark with the snakes in the tomb. There were bodies everywhere, as photographers climbed over each other to find an angle to photograph the band of the moment.

I have to admit, I was quite late to Angine de Poitrine. When their KEXP video appeared in my Youtube feed, I assumed they were a novelty act. With Mr Blobby on drums and the nightmarish Mr Noseybonk from 1980s children’s TV (he gave me nightmares when I was a kid), on guitar. It was only the multitude of reaction videos that appeared a few weeks later, that drew me in to their weird world of microtonal looping. Part of the joy of watching them has been trying to work out how they are creating their music.

And this is the point that maybe works against them…

The joy has been watching the intricacy of their musicianship from videos captured in small venues, where all their actions can be seen. From this point on, they will be playing big venues, and much of the performance will be lost and they risk turning into a novelty act, as the theatrical side of their performance becomes the audience’s focus. Being on the barrier, it was amazing to watch their performance as these two talented musicians weaved their microtonal magic. An absolute highlight of this year’s festival. But weirdly, I left feeling that I didn’t want to see them again if it meant watching them at a large venue.

The alternative-Escape felt bigger this year. With so many bands playing off-festival sets, it bolstered the amount of music and it made it easier to catch some of the buzzier bands. After the alt-festival bailed out the festival in 2024, when bands pulled out over Barclays. This year it felt like the festival embraced the alternative events. For me, this is the best way for the festival to grow and gave us more options in the evenings when there are more delegates who get priority in queues.

I started Thursday at two of these alt-venues. First, I headed to the Inn on the Square, for a terrific performance from Barbican Estate. I have been trying to catch this band for ages. Heavily influenced by psych and unsurprisingly for a band who met at a Thurston Moore gig, Sonic Youth. I loved the way they were unafraid to allow the music to head off in different directions and then return it back to where it started. A perfect start to my Thursday and a highlight of the festivall.

Just up the road, Orchards were playing in Alphabet. This Brighton band seems to have become a staple of my TGE, with their high energy performances, they are always a good way to fill half an hour of my time.

Up at the Bella Union store, hyped band of the moment, Lemonsuckr played to a packed room with ‘one in one out’ and a large audience, including me, watching through the shop’s windows. Many said they were one of their bands of the festival. I didn’t see enough of their set to come to this conclusion. But I enjoyed what I saw.

In the evening, a genuine pleasure was seeing John Mouse play a fun set in the Fiddler’s Elbow. He usually takes a bunch of students to Krankenhaus and I promised I would catch one of his sets. It is always a pleasure when you don’t have to lie about enjoying a set.

I was hoping to catch Madra Salach in Chalk. But the place was rammed and after the first two songs, I decided to bail and catch them in a more conducive environment. I have come to the conclusion that unless you are at the front in Chalk, it is a pretty awful venue. It is just such a weird shape that the sight lines can be pretty bad.

Sadly, the choice of going to Chalk meant it was one in one out at the Latest Music Bar for Walt Disco and I missed pretty much all their set. However, it did mean I was able to grab a good position for one of my favourite bands, LIFE, who returned to the stage after two years away. Playing mostly new material from their forthcoming album. The new songs are more reflective and less high energy than their older material. Tonight, and at the second set I watched the following night, the new material sounded like they were maturing as song writers.

Friday, I decided to have a lazy start to the day by visiting Fabrica, the venue closest to my hotel. DOLDER, stated the day. A pop alt-folk band comprising of twins, the daughters of the drummer in Prefab Sprout. Despite the strong industry buzz about them, sadly they didn’t work for me. It felt like I was watching an embryonic version of Staves. Songs were pleasant, and there’s clearly potential, but I didn’t feel like there was anything to differentiate them from the rest of the alt-folk scene. My view of them was probably also biased by my the fact I think there’s underrepresentation of working-class artists and get a bit annoyed when I see kids with connections being offered opportunities. I know there is nothing DOLDER can do about their dad’s connections. They are doing the right thing and taking the opportunity to do the thing they love. I just feels unfair that some artists have cheat codes to success.

SpaceAcre are one of the more interesting local bands who have played The Horn in recent years. It is a few years since I last saw them. Playing to a decent crowd in Daltons, it was good to see how far they have developed as a band. Their indie rock with pop sensibilities, continues to create catchy indie songs.

I spend a lot of the time off festival in places like the Black Lion. The organiser had dropped a hint that he had a big name later in the day and true to form, current Radio 1 favourites Keo, played to a rammed Black Lion. I don’t feel like they offer much new, but each generation needs bands like Keo to foster the love of rock music

In the evening, the Orchestra For Now, with their expansive music, really impressed. Definitely one to catch again when they play a fuller set in a more appropriate venue.

Talking about how each generation needs artists that invigorate their love with rock music, Rooks, tread the ‘northern lad rock’ line straight down the middle of the road. Derivative of Oasis, right down to their singer mimicking Liam’s singing style. They are a band who felt out of place on a bill of new music. But the north continues to produce these bands and no doubt but they will continue the regional love of lad rock and will find their audience.

But I was there for my second dose of Life. I love this band.

Weirdly, I hadn’t visited two of my favourite Brighton venues, The Prince Albert and Green Door Store. So I started Saturday sampling some of the fair both venues had on offer. Highlight was Why Horses. They played an enjoyable post-punk set. Nothing new, but I enjoyed their set. I keep thinking post-punk is dead. But while there are bands willing to play it and people like me willing to listen, it seems like it is not dying out any time soon.

In Komedia, Yumi and the Weather, a Brighton artist who has played TGE before, but for some reason I have never seen before, played a perfect afternoon Saturday slot. Full of pleasant textures that gave me a spring in my step for the rest of the day.

In the evening, Afternoon Bike Ride in the One church, basically describe their sound. Musically, it was a like a nice bike ride in the countryside on a summers day, lots of pleasant textures, but it is a bike ride with a friend who you felt confident enough discuss some difficult topics. A very enjoyable set.

After Afternoon Bike Ride, I was going to leave One Church. But I decided to stay and watch Greta Svabo Bech. This was definitely the correct decision. It was such a beautiful set.

Listed as playing a late night slot at the off-festival Font, Chest were not the interesting French band who I had seen earlier this year at Rockaway Beach, but a band from East Anglia who were not anywhere near as interesting. I dealt with the disappointment with a few pints.

As is usual with Saturday night, unless I wanted to queue, the opportunities were thinning out. So I closed evening off at Fabrica with a decent set by a band Roomer and headed to the pub to edit some photos. 

After every TGE I question if I should return the following year. As Brighton hotels makes this a very expensive few days. This year cost over £900 for a fours days music. But it was still an enjoyable break. I suspect I will be back next year. In fact I have already booked my hotel at a significantly cheaper price. Okay. Yes, I will be back

This year’s headliner, Deadletter were a great signing, having already sold out venues like Koko. It is great for an established band to revisit venues and help shift tickets. It is a while since I last saw Deadletter play, as I jumped off when they started to play larger venues. With the recent release of their second album, it was an opportunity to see how far they have progressed since I saw them all those years ago playing the Social on a ‘one to watch’ bill (I had also seen Deadletter when they were Mice on Mars). Their new material adds depth to their set, showing the growth they have made as song writers. Tonight, featured many new tracks along with many of our favourites and was a fine way to end a great day.

On the undercard were several bands who might be playing similar size venues in the next year or two.

As always, not all music was to my taste. Arguably the band most likely to be playing bigger venues by the end of the year, Little Grandad, did very little for me. I found them bland, part of that trend of playing alt-country tinged tracks. After two songs I had seen little of interest and bailed to get some food. While, Little Grandad weren’t for me, other bands did stand out.

I had been hearing good things about Makeshift Art Bar, and their set left me wanting to see more. Their driving post-punk featured a slide guitar, that they attacked with screwdriver. Slide guitar is a much underused instrument, and perfect for building up waves of feedback expertly crafted by the band. There was a clear Gilla Band influence, right down to singer’s t-shirt. That’s never a bad thing.

I managed to catch snippets of Leminsuckr at the Great Escape. It was great to see a fuller set. I can see why they are making waves. They are definitely a band I would go and catch at a festival. I’m not sure I would travel into London to catch them. For me, they sit in the Fat Dog adjacent space, with driving, dancy beats, and energetic performances.

Bugbear, have something. Mixing grungy guitars, electronics and textured vocals. I’m not sure all the pieces are in place yet. But they were doing things that peaked my interest. Hopefully, I will catch them on a bill at some point, to see how they have progressed.

Likewise, the awfully named indie pop band, Canned Pineapple, are a band I will keep an eye on. In their singer, an Elvis Costello look-alike, they have a fun presence that made watching them, a joyfully experience.

Sound in the main room down at the front near the speakers, was at times poor. With bass overpowering the rest of the mix. Tanzana’s goth-tinged textures suffered the most. The lead singer’s vocals were really good, but the mix near the speakers lost all the guitars. It was just screeching vocal (in a good way) and drums. However, there was enough about their performance to make me want to see more.

Most of the rest of bands didn’t really do much for me. But that’s music for you. You can’t like everything.

Special mention goes to the always ‘Enjoyable Listens’ who played a full band show and opened the day. They are a staple of this festival and I for one, always love catching up with them. A perfect way to open a festival.

Esquires do a great job putting these all-day lineups together. If you haven’t been to one. They are well worth giving up some of your time.

Other bands playing were Home Counties, Vehicle, Disgusting Sisters and Your Mate’s Ex

(I didn’t take normal camera gear for this. It is easy for this festival to be overpowered by photographers.All shot with a 35mm pocket camera. It was quite nice to not have to drag gear around all day. Unfortunately, I kept out of the way near the speakers. It kind of limited what I could do)

It was obvious we weren’t going to see a normal Hamish show, as the stage at the Bloomsbury theatre had been turned into a living room, with a cozy settee taking pride of place. 

I assumed this was going to be a one man show. However, Hamish entered the stage, accompanied by two musicians who throughout the evening provided an atmospheric ambient soundtrack to Hamish’s performance. One was even playing Ivor Cutler’s own harmonium. 

Hamish explained that he would be telling stories and singing Ivor’s songs alongside stories of his own childhood, in a Scottish sitting room. To differentiate, whenever he wore his red hat, those bits were Ivor’s words and music. The conceit worked well. 

Of course, all the singing parts were glorious. Hamish has such warm vocals. I suspect Ivor’s songs have never sounded so good. 

Stories of his own childhood, acted as introductions to Ivor’s songs. Hamish would move between sitting on the floor and the settee telling warm stories of a childhood he clearly remembered with fondness. These were small warm stories helped by Hamish’s charm and it did feel like you had been invited into his sitting room. The stories worked so well for me, because they reminded me of my own positive feelings about my childhood.

From his sullen older teenager sister, picking the decoration for the top of the Christmas tree and for a brief moment allowing her sullen teenage veneer to crack. To stories of the local mobile fishmonger upselling fish and each week leaving a lingering smell of fish after he would always ingratiate his way into the house to use the family’s facilities.. Each story was warm and familiar.

Playing members of his family, and clearly revelling playing the big characters he remembered from his childhood. Hamish occasionally cracked into laughter. Especially when playing Ivor.  

It was all very wholesome and I left with a with a wistful nostalgia.

This was a special evening. Introducing me to the world of Ivor Cutler, and opening the door to Hamish’s own childhood.

(No performance photos as we were under theatre rules)

Bringing a roster of the ever reliable Lost Map label. The Kentish audience were introduced to three excellent sets from Blind Yeo, Dominie Hooper, and the ever fun Owen and the Eyeballs.

Although a bit of trek from Hertfordshire, requiring me to use the dreaded rail replacement buses. The event had a great warm feeling about it. The venue was fantastic. The Kent audience clearly appreciative of this new festival and Daylight’s contribution to it. If the festival happens again, next year, I would be tempted to stay and experience the full weekend of music.

Big photo dump of the soundchecks and performances.

As usual the music was a buffet of music styles to sample. Not all of it was to my taste. But for me, that’s not the point of these all-dayers. It’s a chance to catch new bands without the need to traipse between stages. Highlights for me the gothy Velvetine, Spanish Horses, St Clair, the last minute subs, Sounds Mint and the Adult DVD.

Before the music even starts I have already booked for Rockaway Beach 2027. Is this the perfect way to start the New Year, or is there actually something wrong with me? If this is an addiction, I am not sure it is one that I want to fix.

This is the earliest a Rockaway Beach has started. If I am honest, it is too close to the New Year for me and there were notable absences amongst friends who felt the same. A few years ago, I missed one due to COVID and I now tend to be careful in the run-up to the festival and restrict my activities a few day before it starts. Being so early, it put a slight damper on the end of my Christmas holidays. The early start, also didn’t give me any chance to work off some of the Christmas excesses and I have to admit, after nearly two weeks of sitting in front of the TV, I found the whole weekend a bit of an effort. Next year, the festival is at the end of the first week of January, which should work much better.

This year’s Rockaway Beach departed slightly from their usual template of legacy bands headlining and younger bands playing during the day. With two relatively young bangs headlining the Friday and Sunday, in the form of Soft Play and English Teacher, with PiL playing the Saturday night. I think this is a really positive move. I much prefer to see a new band, than a legacy band and it gives young bands the opportunity to move themselves up the booking lists for summer shows. It was great to see both young headliners, stepping up. But more on that later.

Arriving on site, it was clear that Butlins also found this to be an early start. They had literally just kicked out their New Year’s party guests and during the Friday, there were signs everywhere of the New Year festivities. I think everyone must have had streamers, they were everywhere, even the photo pit. (My room was clean through). However, as always, the wonderful Butlins staff managed to clear away the mess and by the evening, only the festive lights and the cold, reminded us that we were still in the Christmas holiday period.

Friday started a little bit later. Several bands had pulled out due to illness. The big risk for a January festival. I imagine the organisers dread every email and phone call their receive over the Christmas break. The later start meant the venue was probably the busiest it has been for the first act. Y, opened with an an impressive set of catchy songs that really warmed up the audience. I have seen Y a few times. But this was their best performance so far. A really excellent way to start the weekend.

This year, Rockaway continued to use the Centre Stage for the daytime music and the big warehouse-like Studio 36 for the evening headliner. The sound in both these venues is good. However, the problem remains that Studio 36 is pretty soulless. Several people I spoke to wanted to go back to Reds. But like me, they were the same people who complained about the poor sound in that venue. As much as I miss Reds, I think this is the better compromise.

The bigger stage also allows the young bands to hone their stage craft. Several of the bands said that Centre stage was the biggest crowd or stage they had played. I think Rockaway is becoming a winter training camp to ready bands for the summer’s festivals.

Stepping up at the last minute and the winner of Rockway Beach 2026 was ELLIS-D. A late replacement for one of the bands who had called in sick. ELLIS-D was new to most in the audience. Like Denmark, who in 1992 came from the beach to replace Yugoslavia in Euro 1992 and went on to win it. ELLIS-D completely owned the big stage, blasting through a tight set of his gothy post-punk psychedelia. When he said he only had one more song, there was a genuine sound of disappointment, only to be matched by the joy of him telling everyone it was 10 minutes long. I hadn’t seen ELLIS-D for about 18 months. On this evidence. The band have stepped up to another level. A really excellent performance.

Opening Studio 36, Idlewild left me bewildered. They were going down a storm with the audience. Some of whom had only come to the festival to see the band. I have to admit, I must have been missing something. They were tight. But they left me feeling disengaged.

Headlining the big stage were Soft Play, previously the Slaves. I have seen them numerous times, right from their very earliest days, when they played to an empty room at the Horn in St Albans. I love the energy these guys put into every performance. By the time I had left the pit, Laurence had split kicked several times and had already gone into the audience. I have seen them headline stages at other festivals. So this wasn’t anything new for them. However, they were playing to an audience who in the main didn’t know who they were, and they had the Rockaway crowd in the palm of their hands.

Unfortunately, I didn’t see much of their set, I headed back to Centre Stage to catch Mandrake Handshake with the intention of shooting a few songs and then returning. However, the pit closed as I got there, and heading back to Studio 36, I got waylaid by friends. But this is what is great about Rockaway. Rockaway has become the winter meeting point of so many summer festival goers. I think one year they need to play a festival version of the ‘Kevin Bacon separation game’. I’m pretty sure everyone at the festival can relate themselves to another person within two or three degrees of festival or local gig scene separation.

Closing the evening on Centre Stage, Antony Szmierek was in full ‘red coat’ mood. Fully embracing his end of evening slot, to bring some fun before we headed to bed. I think somebody should have given him a red coat. He was clearly enjoying the experience.

Opening up Saturday’s activities, Bruise Control took no prisoners. Everyone was shuck awake by their powerful performance of direct punk songs.

The next two bands gave people turning up with a hangover, more of a chance of easing themselves into Saturday. Returning to Rockaway Beach, Winter Gardens sound had grown more expansive. Atmospheric, gothic, with a moments of intense wailing guitars. It was a perfect palate cleanser after the directness of Bruise Control. Whitelands, who followed, continued with an excellent set of Shoegaze.

A new discovery for me, French band, We Hate You Please Die, at times reminded me of Sonic Youth, with a touch of the angular guitars Gilla Band used so well. If I didn’t know they were French, I would have sworn they were another Irish band produced by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox.

I have seen Gans several times. Always on a small stage. They effortlessly shifted up a gear to make their set work on a big stage. I can see them having a very strong 2026 and I expect them to be playing venues like the Kentish Town Forum by the end of the year.

Over at Studio 36, a band I have had the pleasure to see develop from their Shacklewell days. Dry Cleaning brought their weird presence to the vast warehouse space. Their big draw is Florence’s spoken word stories. While the guitars swirl in the background, Florence performs her musings with minimum movement, but maximum expression. I never expect this to transfer to big stages. Through the camera lens, her performance is engaging and fascinating, but you need to be close to appreciate her acting. How does this transfer to a big audience? I honestly don’t know. But it does. While I briefly dipped out to see TV Smith on the second stage, I headed back to catch the end of their set. One of my highlights of the weekend.

Saturday headliner, PiL, played their usual game of requiring photographers to sign away copyright. I have done this in the past and if this was their gig, fine. But it’s a festival. Given I make every photo free under a Creative Commons license. It shouldn’t really make any difference to me. However, I don’t like the person John Lydon has turned into, so out of spite, I left and headed back to the Centre Stage which gave me a chance to finally catch Walt Disco, who played an excellent set of new music. This was my first opportunity to catch them and they seem to have toned down their glam flamboyance. But it was still a fine set.

Closing the evening where two Fat White family related bands. The first, Insecure Men seemed an odd late evening booking. Arriving on the stage smoking, pissing off the Bultins team. They proceeded to play a rather bland set. Thankfully, the excellent Moonlandingz got the party going, to close the evening.

Sunday had a more laidback feeling. Baggio, who seemed to have dragged half of south London’s musicians with them, played laid back ‘clever’ musician music. You know that noodly stuff that has been leaking out of London’s music schools for the last few years. It’s not my thing. But they sounded pleasantly clever and were suitable for those nursing heavy heads from Saturday night.

Shadowtail impressed me before Christmas. Ethereal vocals over textured layers of shoegaze isn’t usually my thing. However, I’m a sucker for bands who play guitars with a violin bow. Apparently, last year they changed their lineup. This new lineup has a lot of potential and I will catch them again.

Closing Centre Stage for another year, Inspiral Carpets, did little to inspire me. I found them bland in the 90s. They were just as bland here. Thankfully, over on Studio 36, Coach Party really stepped up to the big stage. I have only ever seen them play small shows and small festival stages. They have great energy, but I honestly never expected them to be this good on a big stage. Their set was probably a bit long and maybe they need to tweak the running order. However, they had their air of a band ready for the challenge to become an arena band. It impressive to see how much they’ve developed.

Closing the festival were English Teacher. I am going to be honest, I think English Teacher are overrated. However, I was so pleased to see Rockaway give them a chance to headline. They did a great job of expanding their sound to the larger stage. Lily’s vocals were immaculate and at times stunning. While they didn’t change my opinion of them, I prefer more energy from my headliners, they are clearly ready to play the biggest stages. Maybe they need a touch more stage craft so that there is a performance to be seen at the back of a big crowd. But they appeared to be ready to step up. Rockaway is the perfect festival to offer new bands the opportunity to headline a big stage. They had sold 50% of their ticket for 2027 before the end of the weekend. Many of us return for the experience. The music is a bonus.

Another successful year and Rockaway has revitalised me after Christmas and wetted my appetite for what the 2026 music scene will deliver. There still remains issues with accessibility in Studio 36 that needs to be sorted out. But Butlins staff continue to be brilliant, in pretty much every other way. The festival has now pretty much nailed the January format and this has become the perfect post-Christmas break. I will be back next year.

So are their queues? Well I didn’t experience any.  Although I did hear there were occasional queues at the Prince Albert and Hope and Ruin. But that’s pretty good going. This is nowhere near The Great Escape levels of queuing. All good? Well kind of. So let’s get the negatives out of the way before I talk about the positives. 

When you look at the lineup poster, the bands at the top that have been highlighted in bold, basically play at the same time. You have to choose who you want to see. That’s how they achieve the queuing sleight of hand. If you are choosing this festival over all the other options around, be aware of this. This may seriously change how interesting you might perceive the festival. What made me attend was that lots of my favourite bands were listed – but they all played at the same time. On Friday, DITZ up against Dry Cleaning, IST IST and University. Saturday, Lambrini Girls, Big Special, Benefits and Courting up against each other. It meant some difficult decisions.

Despite these difficult choices, I managed to finally catch IST IST, who were everything I hoped they would be. Benefits and Lambrini Girls brought their own takes on the state of society. I discovered a few excellent bands. For some reason, I had never seen Aint. Their set was enough to convince me that they are to be added to my must see list. Sadly, the other band who stood out, Golomb are from Ohio, so it might be difficult to catch them again.

Overall, it was an enjoyable festival. With a late afternoon start on the Friday and with most venues finishing relatively early on Saturday, it felt short compared to the Great Escape. TGE is much better value for money. However, it was nice to not have to queue. And with the festival taking place in November, hotel prices were much cheaper. Approaching the weekend, as a short weekend break in Brighton with some music, it worked. I suspect I will be back. However, I will wait until the lineup is announced.