French bands at The Great Escape in Brighton

This weekend sees a whole host of French acts play at the The Great Escape festival in Brighton, an event that like the SXSW festival in Austin Texas showcases some of the best new acts.

The sold-out music business and convention and festival runs from May 16 to May 18, with 350 artisps playing at 30 venues around the town.

Thousands of delgates from the UK's music industry attend the events, with many coming from abroad as well. They include publishers, managers, broadcasters, promoters and journalists, in an environment where there is no shortage of excellent acts to catch the ear.

Meanwhile, the public get the chance to catch some wonderful acts playing in the town, a more pleasant and approachable way of seeing a huge number of acts without the downside of being at a festival.

As I mentioned, there are some great French acts playing, with the credit going to the good people at French Music UK for making this happen.

Rather than give a detailed rundown of every act that is on the bill, I thought a quick list with a video from each act would help introduce some of these bands.

I'll feature them in more depth in the next few weeks.

Archipel: Roving Jewel



Archipel play on Saturday May 18 at the Old Ship Paganini Ballroom at 1.30pm and on Sunday May 19 at the Green Door Store at 1am.

More details on the band's website

Aufgang: Kyrie



Aufgang play on Friday May 17 at St Bartholomew’s Church at 9.45pm More about the band on their Facebook page

Christine and the Queens: Nuit 17 à 52

Christine and the Queens play on Saturday May 18 on the Queens Hotel Stage at the French Music Office Party at 1.30pm, and at the Queens Hotel Stage at 8.30pm. More about the band on their website 

Concrete Knives: Greyhound Racing



Concrete knives play on Saturday May 18 on the Queens Hotel Stage French Music Office Party at 12.30pm, and on saturday May 18 at Audio at 8pm. Keep up with Concret Knives on their Facebook page  

Girls in Hawaii: Misses



Girls in Hawaii play on Saturday May 18 at the  Queens Hotel Stage for the French Music Office Party at 2.30pm and on Saturday May 18 at the Brighthelm Centre at 10.30pm

There's more on their website

J.C. Satàn: Taketori Monogatari (The Moon)



J.C. Satàn plays on Friday May 17 at The Hope at 8.30pm  More details on their website

Melody's Echo Chamber: Some Time Alone, Alone



Melody's Echo Chamber play on Thursday May 16 at the Corn Exchange at 11.15pm. The band are on Facebook here

Mutiny on the Bounty: Myanmar



Mutiny on the Bounty play on Friday May 17 at the Queens Hotel Stage at 2.35pm, and on Saturday May 18 at Concorde 2 at 7.45pm. More about the band on their website

Owlle: Ticky Ticky



Owlle plays on Thursday May 16 at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar at 11.45pm More on Owlle on their official website

The Penelopes: Summer Life



The Penelopes play on Saturday May 18 at the Queens Hotel Stage at 7.45pm and on Sunday May 19 at the Blind Tiger at 1.45am Want to know more about The Penelopes? Find it on their website 

Tomorrow's World: Drive



Tomorrow's World play at Digital on Thursday May 16 at 8pm.  More details about the band on their website 

Unno: Whatever Comes



Unno plays on Saturday May 18 at the Green Door Store at 12.30pm More about the band on their website 

We Were Evergreen: Leeway



We were Evergreen play on Thursday 16 at the Metro Hub at 4pm, and at the Dome Concert Hall at 8pm. More on the band's website