Jun 01, 2022

Holding A Stage At The Great Escape

Known for putting upcoming artists in the spotlight, The Great Escape is an international music festival that gathers talents from all over the globe. After a pause during the lockdown, The Great Escape finally came back to Brighton, and gigmit had a pleasure to host a stage there to showcase 4 gigmit PRO acts.

Discovering new music at The Great Escape

Interview with Zimbru in the streets of Brighton
Interview with Zimbru in the streets of Brighton

This year, we collaborated with The Great Escape, the festival for new music. Four talents were booked through gigmit to perform on our stage at Latest Music Bar.

After receiving hundreds of applications, The Great Escape and gigmit invited  Toby Corton (UK), ZIMBRU (RO), Dutch Criminal Record (UK) and Mauvey (CA) to take part in the showcase, and we couldn’t have been happier! All the acts gave their best performances despite the stress of hopping on one of the biggest European showcase festivals stage.

Getting on stage at The Great Escape

How does it work? Artists have a 30-minute slot to impress the stage and show their best songs to the audience to eventually connect with new fans and music industry professionals.

Getting the opportunity to play at a festival like The Great Escape is an honour and a source of excitement and joy for all the acts who got booked. That is why some of them like Zimbru or Mauvey travelled a long way to play this gig.

Coming from Romania, it took 12 hours for Zimbru to reach Brighton. And it was well worth it! The band performed an amazing set in front of a crowded venue, sound check included! In fact, at showcase festivals artists have to get used to the idea of doing the sound check just before the show, and in front of the audience. This can be disturbing for many acts, however, this did not affect the performance of the acts who played at Latest Music Bar that day!

And the cherry on the cake: the sound engineer that day confessed that Zimbru, Mauvey, Toby Corton and Dutch Criminal Record were the best acts he had done soundchecks with during the festivals! Congrats!

 

Toby Corton and His Unique Sense of Music

I was super excited when I found out I would play at The Great Escape. I love playing live. That’s why I make music and that’s how I got into music. As a British artist, it is kinda a checkbox, that you are doing the right thing, you are going in the right direction.

Toby Corton has been making music since 2017 and his unique style and true love of music helped him to get into The Great Escape festival this year. He was the first act to hop on the gigmit stage that day and played songs from his last album “Some songs mixtape”, which warmed the audience and our hearts.

What can you expect from a Toby Corton live show? Not only a great voice, but also a great band! The soul / jazz ensemble have a unique way of playing together on stage, all connected through their passion for music. We’d like to thank them all for such a great moment spent together.

You can listen to Toby Corton’s music and find out about his next dates and availabilities on his gigmit artist profile.

Toby Corton on the gigmit stage at The Great Escape 2022
Toby Corton on the gigmit stage at The Great Escape 2022

Much love from ZIMBRU

The Great Escape is a great place to meet a lot of new people, and make meaningful friends.

ZIMBRU is a 4-piece band coming from Cluj Napoca, Romania. They describe their music as a “wild mix of raspy synthesizers, angular guitar riffs and lively percussion all topped off by stories of dancing, lost pets, queer love and nostalgia for never experienced past decades.”

We met them right after their arrival in Brighton, a day before their show for a little interview. Despite the fatigue from the trip, we really appreciated the professionalism and excitement of the band about the festival!

What to expect from a ZIMBRU show? Much love and connection between the band members and amazing music! Seeing the connection between the band hugging before the start of the show really set the tone of the performance. We could not recommend enough to go see ZIMBRU live!

Go check out ZIMBRU on gigmit and find out about their next dates and availabilities!

ZIMBRU live at The Great Escape 2022
ZIMBRU live at Latest Music Bar (TGE 2022)

Dutch Criminal Record: Indie Surf, Guitars And Crazy Tambourine!

The beauty of gigmit is in its simplicity. It is so accessible, anyone can do it.

Dutch Criminal Record is an already well established Indie Surf / Garage Rock band from Chichester, UK. They are also one of our proud gigmit PRO users! 

Dutch Criminal Record have been active for 10 years already, and as they say themselves: they paid their dues. From playing in awful venues or badly organised festivals to getting on stage at The Great Escape, the band developed a high professionalism and confidence in their music. Hard work pays off, and Dutch Criminal Record is the living proof of it!

After an interview with the band (coming soon on gigmit socials), we were so glad to hear that the platform helped them find great gigs such as Sharpe Festival in Slovakia, The Great Escape in the UK and more. How to get gigs according to Dutch Criminal Record? Put in a lot of effort, apply for the relevant opportunities, and reach out to promoters. 

What to expect from Dutch Criminal Record live? The main answer to that question would be the friendship between the band members. When attending a show by Dutch Criminal Record, you straight away feel their enthusiasm for music and how much e fun they have on stage. On top of that and if you are lucky, you might “tambourine like you’ve never seen it” from Chris who got a brand new one especially for The Great Escape!

Listen to Dutch Criminal Record and find out about their upcoming gigs and availabilities.

Dutch Criminal Record at The Great Escape 2022
Dutch Criminal Record on stage at The Great Escape 2022

 

Mauvey: Music and Love

My mission is to distribute love, and there’s no better way to do that than through music.

Mauvey is a singer-rapper based in Vancouver, Canada. At The Great Escape 2022, he presented his music to an audience in awe. Mauvey was meant to be on stage. Everything from the purple aesthetics to the passion of words and music are combined to create one of the most powerful shows we had the chance to attend.

What to expect from Mauvey on stage? Without hesitation: a lot of emotion. Mauvey feels each one of his songs with an incredible intensity and transmits it to the audience. The joy and anger of his lyrics translate into beautiful and raw dance moves. At the same time, Mauvey interacts with the crowd and makes the entire room a part of the show. Go see Mauvey on stage as soon as you can!

Learn more about Mauvey,  listen to his music here and book him for your next shows.

Mauvey on stage at TGE 2022
Mauvey on stage at TGE 2022

Wrapping up The Great Escape

Another highlight of our experience at The Great Escape 2022 was the welcoming team of Latest Music Bar in Brighton. On top of having a great venue, the team was very supportive, professional and built an amazing atmosphere. And that is where the magic occurs.

Shoutout to The Great Escape, Latest Music Bar and all the artists who played at the gigmit Matinée! We also want to mention the quality of all the acts we got to see and interview at the festival: Baily Tomkinson, CIEL, Alice Pisano, MEMES, [LEAK], SE SO NEON and more. We are looking forward to working with all of you very soon and maximise the success of live music!

 


Find more gigs and calls here.
Create a gig or call now here.