Thursday night's gigs [The Great Escape Uncut]

Thursday night's gigs

Posted on May 19, 2007 10:13 AM
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There are drinks going on somewhere... free ones. First I need food - and to work out the best way to get back to the hotel from the town centre. I've read Jason Bick's Festival spiel and apparently the last Great Escape involved lots of drinking, pier fair rides and ringing ears. I don't want to add 'nights spent on the pebbled beach' to that list.

While a lot of the delegates seem to know each other, I'm fresh on this English music scene and haven't networked these waters much before. It's for this reason I end up in a small tapas place alone. It may sound strange but I've never dined in a restaurant alone before. It's great... the wine goes down as fast as I want it to and Thursdays gig planner lies on the tablecloth like the invite to the year's best party... a party with far too many secret entries and hidden grottos to count.

Ten minutes in to my veggo paella, the timetable is covered in circles, crosses, exclamation marks and scribbles. I want to see Oh No Ono, Dance With Voices, Sohodolls, Angus and Julia Stone, Indigo Moss, Damn Arms and Gallows. If you detect an Aussie bias it’s because… well, I am. The more bios I read, the more bands I want to see and the more engrossed I get, the faster I want to finish dinner and hit the venues. Through my second glass of red I spot another lonely soul... pouring over a festival guide. I ask what he's decided on, he joins me at my table and hey, presto... meet Henry, tonight's gig-going buddy.

An early start turns into a long night... we head to the Concorde 2 where Brazilian babes CSS do what they do best - whip up a crowd into a frenzy. We were booed as we walked straight into the Concorde 2... These delegate passes may ensure fast entry but they don't evoke much love from the fans waiting outside. I guess I'd moan too if I'd been waiting for the good part of an hour or two. The crowd inside are in good spirits... the bar has run out of vodka so I guess that explains why. I manage to locate Zarina Raja - the bubbly, sassy reviewer for Seatwave. She has a soft spot for bands with feisty females taking the lead and Lovefoxxx is no exception. We wiggle our way to the front of the throng... sweat drips off the steaming bodies as they jump up and down to the art-pop beats and guitar wielding stunners. You can read Zarina's CSS review here. Her memory, it seems fared better than mine... on Thursday anyway. Friday it seems, was a different story.

Concorde 2 finished for the night after CSS but the T Mobile street team kept informed us of continuing entertainment elsewhere. Little do I know it, but these mobile updates will become my best friend during the festival. The gig line-ups changed frequently and high winds (gotta love Brighton) stopped a few daytime gigs in their tracks. They saved time, effort and many-a-waiting game. They also made loners look popular.

Later, after a pit stop at the King & Queen, I stumbled upon a couple of band members and somehow made my way to the Queens Hotel where I gas bagged my way through the evening. Pint-sized and full of pints. A bad combination... poor ol' Jason Bick, Dan O'Neill and co probably didn't know what hit them. A call back home to the boyfriend revealed that I'd made it back to the hotel by about 3.00am. Not bad for night one - meanwhile, the music lovers rocked on.