Glasto chief plans Great Escape

Known as The Great Escape, the three day festival will be designed for UK and international bands aiming to break from their domestic markets onto the world stage.

Between 18-20 May next year, more than 100 gigs will take place in ten venues across Brighton, where it is believed the festival will become an annual fixture.

Organisers hope to emulate the success of the American festival SXSW and The Netherlands' EuroSonic, which both act as live platforms for breaking artists as well as networking weekends for people in the music business.

However, despite its industry nature, all gigs will be open to the public with around 3,000 festival tickets released.

Around 50 per cent of the artists will come from outside Britain to provide alternative acts for UK festival bosses to book. There is already strong interest from Finland, Sweden, USA, Canada and Australia.

UK bands will in turn be exposed to festival bookers from Europe and further afield, giving them further opportunities to play live to new audiences. 

Martin Elbourne, who will personally vet the bands, told MusicWeek: "It will be well organised and well programmed with export ready bands, which all have domestic deals in place and management. It is for bands which have not already broken out of their domestic countries."

Elbourne, who has worked with Glastonbury Festival for more than 20 years, has already persuaded Michael Eavis, Franz Ferdinand, and Radio 1's Edith Bowman to be part of The Great Escape as part of its non-musical programme.

A number of 'Parkinson-style' discussions are being planned, although Elbourne is adamant it will not feature "panels of middle-aged blokes talking about what they did 15 years ago - that can happen in the bar afterwards."

Stay posted to Virtual Festivals for more on The Great Escape as information is released.

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