Festivals The Great Escape 2026: DIY’s best sets

Each year at The Great Escape, there seems to be one name on everyone’s lips; this time around, the whole of Brighton are putting on their best French accents to sing the praises of Angine de Poitrine - the madcap, so-called alien duo who crash-landed into public consciousness earlier this year when their KEXP live session went very, very viral. After a by-all-accounts triumphant turn opening the festival on Wednesday night, it’s their ‘secret’ Thursday performance at The Old Market that gives punters the chance to get up close and personal with the monochromatic Canadian pair. On paper, microtonal math-rock might sound a tad precocious, but live, they’re an irresistibly fun proposition - and not just because the drummer’s papier-mâché mask gives him an uncanny resemblance to The Muppets’ Beaker. Between psych-imbued basslines, looping guitar (played on the same double-necked instrument, no less), and Clangers-esque stage, er, chat, Angine offset their self-evident prowess with an endearing lack of ego to make for a humour-filled set that has the whole crowd forming Illuminati-style finger triangles in their honour. Don your polka dots; welcome to the cult. (Daisy Carter)

A large part of The Itch’s lore has been centred around the duo’s desire to shirk the standard industry path and play the buzz band game their way. At last year’s Great Escape they played one last-minute unofficial show in a bar basement; earlier this year, they chose a Swiss restaurant for their London headline. Yet on Thursday night at Concorde 2, we finally get to see what The Itch could be like if they let themselves venture out of the margins and into something a little bigger. It’s the best the band - bumped up to a five-piece live and armed with the hedonistic dance-punk of recent debut LP ‘It’s The Hope That Kills You’ - have ever sounded by a country mile. Frontman Simon Tyrie is in full shade-wearing James Murphy mode, while the ebullient earworms of ‘No More Sprechgesang’ and ‘Space In The Cab’ feel like they’ve ascended to their final form. (Lisa Wright) 

In some ways, comparing North Shields native Heidi Curtis to Stevie Nicks feels just that bit too obvious, but on stage, it’s hard not to be completely enamoured by Heidi’s larger-than-life vocals and excellently boho outfit, much like the Fleetwood Mac legend herself. Taking to the darkened confines of Komedia’s Basement, her set - backed by a full band for extra oomph - is an electrifying blitz through her forthcoming EP, ‘Hollow Heart’, that shows off both her prowess and intensity as a performer, and shares enough peeks of her witty personality for good measure. Across The Great Escape, you’ll find artists at many different junctures in their career, but watching Heidi today, you get the sense she’s already a fully formed star. (Sarah Jamieson)

Closing out proceedings for DIY at the end of the pier on Friday night, London-based quintet Mên An Tol prove well worth the wait, delivering their anthemic, folk-flecked offerings with the kind of unstudied ease that speaks of true headliner status. Part of the current crop of bands overlaying an indie-rock blueprint with elements of alt-country, their formula is a fine one: if Westside Cowboy are doing so with ‘90s slacker-rockers like Pavement as a touchstone, then Mên An Tol look to that decade’s Britpop heavyweights for inspo - ‘NW1’ and ‘Not Ideal’ have the same vocal grit and stirring chorus builds as any Oasis B-side, and tonight, the lads have even all brought their parkas (although, granted, that may be more down to this evening’s fickle weather than it is a sartorial affinity for ‘r kid). It’s rousing, emotionally raw, and ripe for right now; Steve Lamacq’s been hanging out at Horatios all evening to catch this set, and quite frankly, we don’t blame him. (Daisy Carter)

The weather this week may be typical British seaside fare (read: bright for all of 20 minutes before the clouds creep back), but one ray of sunshine the people of Brighton can count on is Nigerian-born, Ghana-based singer-songwriter Tommy WÁ, whose open-air beach-front appearance is surely the most wholesome half an hour of the whole festival. It’s a tall order to engage a crowd when stationed alongside bars, food trucks, and two bigger-hitting stages - much less sweet talk them into call-and-response choruses (‘Flowers’) and a gentle daytime boogie (‘God Loves When You’re Dancing’) - but Tommy’s gospel-flecked, finger-picked folk and winning smile prove a combination that’s impossible to resist. (Daisy Carter) 

When siblings sing together, it hits differently. Meanwhile, if Dolder - the sister duo of Dani and Zara Dolder - are anything to go by, when identical twins sing together, they can entirely break your heart. Theirs is a simple set up: Zara plays guitar, Dani piano, and both share lead vocals. But in the unassuming, modern church surrounds of Fabrica, the pair’s stories of youth and young womanhood are raw and transportative. Tracks like ‘Bone Structure’ and ‘The Motive’ will appeal to the Gracie Abrams crowd but really, they’re far more Phoebe Bridgers: lyrics that barely conceal the pain of growing up, sung with the sort of emotionally-gutting vocals that you know are telling the often awful truth. (Lisa Wright)

If there’s one thing South London noiseniks Y know how to do, it’s energy. Over the past year or so, the five-piece have become notorious for their riotous live shows (unsurprising, given they’re a branch on the extended Fat White Family tree), but whipping up a frenzy at Brixton’s Windmill is an entirely different ballgame to doing so at The Great Escape. This lot, however, can clearly do both with their eyes closed. Where industry-heavy festivals can sometimes be more than a little straight-laced, here at DIY’s stage Y simply refuse to be stonewalled, coaxing movement out of even the most stoic of crowd members with a run of sax-soaked dance-punk ragers. People are pinballing around from the off, but it’s with the band’s pseudo-eponymous debut single ‘Why’ that things reach fever pitch, its frenetic drum’n’bass pace and fervent chorus shouts granting permission for it all to get truly feral. (Daisy Carter) 

It might be barely even lunchtime in Brighton, but already the queue for central spot Komedia is snaking around the block, with punters and delegates alike scrambling to get a glimpse of Leeds’ sextet Adult DVD’s first set of the day, many to no avail. Downstairs, though, the band waste little time in transforming the basement digs into a full-on lunchtime rave, with their electronic-fused wares whipping up the kind of sonic storm that’s probably much more suited to a late night clientele. (Sarah Jamieson)

Widely recognised as the UK’s premier new music festival, The Great Escape is known for playing host to artists who are often still at the earliest stages of their career. Even so, the fact that Aifric’s Friday night turn at Horatios’ for the DIY showcase is her fifth ever gig is nigh-on remarkable, such is her unstudied confidence and immediately arresting stage presence. Given her bleached pixie crop, comparisons to Blondie are perhaps evidence of our suggestive subconscious, but there’s nevertheless more than a hint of similar such gutsiness to the Irish singer’s propulsive set, which speaks to alternative ‘80s sensibilities in both sound (‘Yesterdayi’’s hypnotic synth line; ‘Telephone’’s haunting, Siouxie Sioux-like vocal timbre) and spirit (see the Sinéad O’Connor-recalling show-stopper ‘The Deep’). (Daisy Carter)

Towards the end of last year, there were whispers; around their Spring UK and Ireland tour, the whispers became rumbles; now, after this mighty TGE turn, the rumbles are full-blown shouts: Madra Salach are the most evocative, impressive live band going. Chalk’s spacious cavern is full to bursting as they step up to the plate on Thursday night (armed with, among other things, a mandolin, a tin whistle, and a harmonium), but any idle chatter is soon silenced: the six-piece’s modern take on Irish folk demands attention, be it via the thrilling canter of ‘The Ribbon Factory’, the heartwrenching swan song of ‘The Man Who Seeks Pleasure’, or the band’s biting cover of Ewan MacColl’s trad standard ‘The Tunnel Tigers’, which frontman Paul Banks dedicates to “all the Irish men who died building London city’. Bridging the gap between timeless tradition and contemporary interpretation, they’re a band who feel to be not just of a moment, but of a movement. (Daisy Carter) 

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, we’d venture, if you opt to call yourself SLAG. Every bit as visually audacious and dispositionally devil-may-care as the moniker might suggest, the local outfit - who have three shows booked in across two days at this year’s fest - are a breath of fresh air in every sense, bringing youthful energy (orchestrating an endearing “we love you” crowd message for their absent bassist) and playful self-presentation (zebra print, wraparound sunnies, sequins galore) to their wholly intriguing brand of off-kilter rock. In parts leaning into proggy territory with unpredictable time signatures and structural sidesteps, in others displaying a ‘90s indie swagger, and still others stripping things back to allow frontwoman Amelie Gibson’s distinctive vocals to shine, SLAG are a band who, already, refuse to be pinned down. (Daisy Carter) 

“It’s an industry event,” growls Bleech 9:3’s Baz Quinlan, surveying the packed-out beachside tent before him and bemoaning the apparent lack of a mosh pit: “there’s no fun allowed.” Clearly paying no heed to his own self-professed rules, the frontman - backed by guitarist and co-bandleader Sam Duffy - proceed to demonstrate in no uncertain terms that if there’s fun to be had, it’s here. Given their Irish pedigree, comparisons to Fontaines feel lazy, but you can’t argue that the quartet’s bleached spikes and shell suit jackets recall the nu-metal revamp of Grian and co.’s latest chapter. Really, though, they’re most akin to Wunderhorse’s grittiest moments; squalling guitars rub salt in an open wound, but it’s Quinlan’s raw vocal (and disarming occasional falsetto) which really makes it sting. (Daisy Carter)

While Brighton’s weather might be rather unpredictable today (swinging between black clouds, blue skies and downpour all in the space of minutes), inside the confines of Fabrica’s grand church, things are about to get a lot more sun-drenched. Taking to the stage with a live drummer and backing vocalists, the funky dance wares of duo KuleeAngee are dialled up to 11 for today’s afternoon spot. Landing somewhere in the addictively satisfying middle of LCD Soundsystem and Jungle, the likes of ‘Pretty Love’ and ‘You’re Fine, You’re High’ sparkle in a new way today; it’s enough to make you feel a whole lot more spiritual. (Sarah Jamieson)

Tags: Features, Neu, Adult DVD, Aifric, Angine de Poitrine, Bleech 9:3, Dolder, Festivals, Heidi Curtis, KuleeAngee, Madra Salach, Mên An Tol, Slag, The Great Escape, The Itch, Tommy WÁ, Y