NME has announced a stage at The Great Escape 2026, featuring a line-up led by Mandy, Indiana and Girl Scout. Find all the details below.
The 20th anniversary edition of the annual UK festival for new and emerging music takes place across Brighton between May 13 and 16. Peaches, The Lottery Winners, Villanelle and BIG WETT are among those on the line-up. NME will also present a special spotlight show from The Kooks at this year’s event. Find any remaining tickets here.
Today (April 15), NME can share details of a dedicated NME Stage at The Great Escape 2026, as well as the NME 100 Gig Guide: The Great Escape Edition – the definitive guide to seeing artists from the NME 100, our annual list of essential emerging artists, live in Brighton next month.
The NME Stage will be located at The Old Market on Friday May 15, welcoming members of the current class of NME Cover artists, alongside talent that NME is tipping for the first time.
Australian indie five-piece Any Young Mechanic will open the night, followed by New York City alt-pop trio Chanpan. These will be followed by Swedish garage rockers Girl Scout and French/Mancunian noiseniks Mandy, Indiana. Both bands are recent stars of The Cover – NME’s flagship cover story franchise spotlighting the best and brightest in new music.
Acts from the NME 100 past and present are performing across the entire Great Escape programme, spread throughout venues all over Brighton. Coming at the end of April, The NME 100 Gig Guide: The Great Escape Edition will map out exactly where and when to catch every NME 100 artist at the event.
Explore the full NME 100 of 2026 list ahead of the festival here. Get your tickets to The Great Escape here.
“I’m so excited to announce the return of the NME Stage at the Great Escape with an
electrifying line-up, and can’t wait to see Any Young Mechanic, Chanpan, Girl Scout and Mandy, Indiana pack out the Old Market,” said NME Managing Editor (Music),
Karen Gwee.
“NME and The Great Escape have long shared a common goal of music discovery, exemplified in the overlap between NME 100 acts and TGE performers. The Great Escape edition of the NME 100 Gig Guide will be NME readers’ handy companion as they check out the best emerging artists in Brighton this year.”
Today, The Great Escape has also revealed its full festival schedule, including 43 new performing artists, including Nectar Woode and Working Men’s Club. The fest schedule, including details on the NME Stage, can be seen on the festival’s official app on the Play Store and App Store for iPhone.
At the accompanying conference programme, NME will moderate a special panel with War Child UK about the ‘Help (2)’ charity album, which featured contributions from the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, Damon Albarn, Fontaines D.C., Young Fathers, and a comeback single from Arctic Monkeys.
Mel C will also to appear at the festival as a keynote speaker. Other speakers will include Ian Murray MP – a minister at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport – who will address the UK’s creative industries, touring, broadcasting and the night-time economy.
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