Levi’s Ones To Watch Stage @ The Great Escape, Brighton

With more than 300 acts playing over three days, the only way you could possibly avoid hearing some new music at The Great Escape would be if someone stapled you to Brighton Pier and filled your ears with seaweed.

Thankfully, no such misfortune befell Artrocker. Eager to sniff out new bands, we parked our skinny 501s at Audio where Levi’s Ones To Watch had managed to assemble a stellar line-up of music’s rising stars.

The bands on show ran across the musical spectrum - from the stripped down rock n’ roll of Kid Bombardos and Young Rivals, to Artrocker favourites Japandroids, who caused the first and only bout of crowdsurfing seen in Audio for quite some time.

And then came the party starters: Fenech-Soler donned their sequins, turned up the bass and got everyone dancing during what was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the weekend; and Kitsuné favourite, The Good Natured, gave a tremendous account of themselves whilst performing what transpired to be a last minute stand-in set.

Established acts, These New Puritans and The Futureheads, also stopped by the Levi’s Ones To Watch stage – the former continuing on their mission to find new patches of darkness in the universe, whilst the latter chipped in with an outdoor secret show that was worth the admission price alone.

With all this new talent on display it’d be easy to forget some of the other bands performing at the festival. In addition to the elite batch of bands listed above, we feel honourable Great Escape mentions should also go to The Sunshine Underground for their outstanding show and terrifyingly devout, ready-to-travel Leeds fanbase; Darwin Deez for his endless dance routines; and Art vs Science for refusing to be upstaged or overawed by Groove Armada.

Visit www.facebook.com/LevisUK to see more photos and watch some exclusive videos from the stars of Levis Ones To Watch.

Photo credit: Nic Serpell-Rand and Tom Bunning