And so to day three of The Great Escape. It’s a late start to the day, and Uncut is awoken to a message to get down to the Theatre Royal, where The Noisettes are playing a secret show ahead of their gig tonight at the Beach Club. There is dancing on the Theatre’s balcony. Unfortunately, the Cup Final has just started, and it’ll be over before I can get there. Apparently they were brilliant fun. The surprise shows that have been springing up all over Brighton have been a treat, and make it feel more like a proper festival, just in a concrete town-shaped field. Though it’s annoying when you miss something cool! Trying to cover the whole festival, and getting a taste of as many bands as possible has not been the easiest of tasks. It would be possible to come down and just see bands, actually stay for entire sets and just relax and enjoy it. But where’s the fun in that? These are short showcases (bands play for a maximum of 30 minutes). The festival is an opportunity for new bands to get exposure, and for old bands with new material to test. Dipping in and out of venues is kinda how it’s meant to be. I think. Tonight there are a couple of fairly established bands playing amongst the 100 new acts, like The Magic Numbers and British Sea Power, but I have an inkling I’ll be spending quite a bit of time at the Uncut café tonight. The haunting Alberta Cross and country maverick Micah P Hinson are both appearing. And I’m definitely intending to make time to take a pew to see all what they have to offer. But as they are not on till a bit later, I go out of my way to immerse myself in a random selection of genres. First up, I see an electro outfit called Neoon Plastix, a bunch of kids from Doncaster. The singer with his shouty vocals and random rave noise-making machine definitely looks and sounds the epitomy of hi-NRG nu-rave by numbers. The guitarist wears polka dots and the drummer a t-shirt with a big neon ‘OK!’ written on it. When they stop to talk between songs, they sound ignorant, shattering the illusion of the great mouthy arrogance of the songs. They’re OK, but enough of that. I head up to the Red Roaster, which I keep mistakenly calling the Red Rooster. Opening act for the final night is singer Dan Mangan and he has just finished. Trio Alberta Cross are setting up their equipment at the front of the room, and the place is full to capacity yet again. People are coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why they should be let in ahead of the queue, and the ones inside are all scrambling to get copies of the band's album autographed. They play an acoustic set, moving unannounced from their quiet jamming soundcheck straight into the start of the set with ease. The bareness of the instruments makes their songs seem even more startling and starkly brilliant. The floppy-haired, hat-wearing singer stops between songs to gulp down red wine which is located beneath the Viscount keyboard/organ. By the end of the second track, the room feels like a church, with us all sitting on the floor or at tables, listening to the country gospel hymns that Petter and Terry sing. He’s often compared to a younger Neil Young, and the similarities in voice are definitely present. They play shortened, stripped-down versions of “Lucy Rider” and “Hard Breaks” because they don’t have a lot of time left to play. Both songs are absolutely heartbreakingly good. They finish with “Old Man Chicago” with a plug for their debut album “The Thief & The Heartbreaker” and leave the whole room foot tapping with delight. It’s 9.15pm now, and I have a difficult decision to make, I want to see the electronic indie of Maps at the Udderbelly, yesterday's Uncut headliner Jack Penate is playing a second show at the Beach Club, and tipped band Mumm-ra are on at 9.30 down by the sea. Practically, I head for Maps as it’s just across the road from the Red Roaster. I’ve wanted to come to the Udderbelly since Thursday, assuming it’s an outdoor stage because it’s a giant inflatable purple cow. Alas, no. Once through the Moo Garden with its Moo Bar and Moo Loos, I’m lead up a ramp and into the BELLY of the cow. It’s brilliant inside, and a bit disconcerting. It’s dark, apart from the purple and pink lights in the pseudo-smoke, and it turns out the venue is running behind schedule. New EMI signings Tiny Dancers are still performing, and the singer’s peroxide blonde hair is the giveaway. They play a track called “Ashes And Diamonds” which is a bog standard indie track dressed up with a twang of country. It starts off nice enough, but doesn’t seem to go anywhere. They finish and dismantling their equipment seems to take a very long time. As well as the usual instruments, too many cuddly animal toys and balloons seem to have been used as props. Nottingham music man Maps I really want to see, but now I’m completely off schedule if I want to see other bands. There’s a lot of keyboards and pedals etc that the band need and I’m getting restless watching everything get plugged in, I’ll just have to skip it and hope that Mumm-ra are running late too. So I dash to Audio, back on Marine Parade. As expected, it’s a ‘one in one out’ gig, and the bouncers say no, so now I’m off to Kabuki at the farthest end of the seafront. Neil’s Children are on at the venue hosted by Artrocker magazine. The band who don’t consist of anyone called Neil, are playing in the corner of the downstairs of the bar. The bar is packed. And none of us can see anything. Every now and then I glimpse a fringe or their drummer’s fantastically huge black hair style. Good job their music is loud and full of strong guitar riffs. “Another Day” is very thrashy Clash-y and “Window Shopping” is pretty good too. They also play upcoming single “You Didn’t Care”, which apparently former Creation Records owner Alan McGee has described as “the Cure for the now generation.” Not quite sure they sound like the Cure, though. Neil’s Children stickers are stuck to everyone in the room by the time I leave the sweatpit. I have to dash back to the Red Roaster, ‘cos Texan guitarist Micah P Hinson is due on shortly and I’ve been warned it’s going to be busy. I see some strange road signs on the way; I chuckle at indie band Good Shoes' “Morden Life Is Rubbish” the first time I see it. The indie band are playing tonight at the Pavilion Theatre, I might have time to get there after Micah. The other is “This way to Cirque Surreal” – turns out to be the Bangkok Lady Boys show in a circus tent that’s been sold out every night this week. 10.26pm. Café is crammed again, right down to the front, the anticipation-charged hush is a strange feeling after just rocking at Kabuki. Micah P Hinson, with his name embroidered on a leather guitar strap, and navy trucker's cap is joined by musicians Nick Phelps on banjo and Jason Nevilles on drums. The laidback atmosphere is brilliant. Micah plays acoustic tales of abstract woe, and transports the people in the room to somewhere in the desert wastelands in the old days. He plays a song, “Beneath The Road”, which he says when he first recorded it, came out sounding like a hip-hop record. This gets a massive laugh, and is the beginning of a constant interaction with his audience. He sings a short, almost ode-like song about having ‘no worries now’ before warming up to playing real twangy country notes on his guitar, with a song inspired by the Carter Family. Micah starts mumbling to the crowd that “the Carter Family practically invented Country & Western music. If you’ve never heard of them, you really should check them out.” His Southern drawl whilst he’s tuning his guitar is amusing as he says, “Oh am I rambling. I do apologise.” The enthralled fans giggle. He plays an old track, “Digging The Grave”, before he stops to light a cigarette. He smokes using a small black holder and he places it in the side of his mouth. And then he carries on singing the next track. Whilst still puffing smoke. A very bizarre but clever sight. He sounds grittier and more bluesy now. Alas, the show is about to end, and Micah claims he only has three minutes left to play. ‘Oh No’ shout back the crowd. Bartering goes on between the crowd, Micah and the sound engineer, and eventually it’s agreed that two more songs can be had. Great! He sings “Leaning Guides” then treats us to a brand new track, that they’ve practised live only once before. “There’s Only One Name” is a really countrified song, with great lyrics, and for the last track of the night – is nicely upbeat. But yes! They’re squeezing in another song for us! More precious time is being lost with Micah lighting a cigarette for Nevilles and himself and still bantering about feeling like ‘the three Stooges’ up there. They then play the brilliantly named song “The Day Texas Sank To The Bottom Of The Sea.” And that’s it, no more singers or bands on my agenda tonight. It's 11.20 and there are some Great Escape gigs still not finished and plenty of parties erupting all across Saturday night Brighton. However, I feel far too chilled out from the brilliant musical treats of the Uncut café tonight. I think going to a party at the Ocean Rooms where I hear Razorlight are DJing would just spoil it a little. Brighton, it’s been a blast. FARAH ISHAQ

Hello from an incredibly windswept Brighton. Uncut is back for more musical action on the seafront. Feeling rather frazzled from the late night yesterday, I think I have pulled myself together enough to pound the streets for one more night. Tonight I desperately want to see Gallows after missing the dangerous scrum that ensued last night - guitarist Steph Carter had "his head sliced open from his own guitar" after opening track "In The Belly Of A Shark", as his brother and band vocalist Frank so aptly put it. We hear that Steph has been carted (boom tish) off to hospital, and has had five stitches. I want to see him play with what I can only imagine is a very sore head, but alas no, tight timings again mean that there's no way I'll be able to get down to the Zap club in time for kick off at 9 o'clock. The Uncut stage at the Red Roaster is bustling with anticipation tonight, queues are forming well before doors open at 8pm, and for good reason. We are hosting an XL Recordings night - label home to the White Stripes amongst others, and tonight will see the buzz boy of the night Jack Penate headline. Simply everyone in Brighton wants to see him play. We can't wait. The Red Roaster will also see singers Elvis Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins, and Kid Harpoon play. But before they do, I have just enough time, according to the festival timetable, to catch some bands down on the beach. The Beach Club is a wicked venue, and obviously usually more akin to hosting raves. And so first things first; the piles of glo-sticks that line the column edges swiftly line the inside of my handbag. The neon multicoloured glow that now emanates means I'll be able to find my pen quickly in any dark venue tonight. A girl's gotta be prepared! And so, attention is diverted slightly by The Midway State, an emotive, piano-led, softly softly rock group hailing from Toronto, Canada. The four-piece have hugely soulful vocals, but the two songs I hear seem lacking in something. The single "Unaware", as heard on US teen soap The O.C., is good but bland. Their set closer "What You Need Is Love" is an '80s style power-ballad with high pitched vocals. But the midtempo-ness of it all is not what we need to kick off the night. We decline the offer of drinks with the band - we are here to see bands, afterall! Next up is Oh No Ono - I know I saw them yesterday. But as they are due on next, I want to hang around, to see if what I witnessed yesterday was actually what they are like! And hang around I do, the longest set-up and testing of mics I have had to endure in quite some time. The bassist is wearing a clown style jester's jacket, and their hair is still big, and they are still very handsome Danish boys, so I wait... The missing lead on the mixing desk is found by glo-stick torchlight and the show is on - the first song is like some kind of futuristic but retro synth pop with Japanese-style wailing vocals. Very bizarre. They then do The Beatles cover again - and in this venue it simply doesn't convey the same. And so to next door, Arc, where Help She Can't Swim are on. The performance area is up a steep flight of stairs and in what can only be described as a tunnel. A long strip of space in a arch, with the band at one end and a rectangular mass of bodies that stretches back into darkness. We squeeze into the back, and can only see the tips of their heads, singer Tom Denney has his dark hair flopped over one eye in traditional punk-style school way. They are halfway through the brilliantly poppy punk track "Ferme La Bouche" and I like it. The energy is radiant and I feel like pogoing, but it's still early. The Brighton band finish on a high with new single "Hospital Drama", and I'm now ready to go see if I can catch a bit of Elvis Perkins. Crossing over the roundabout opposite the Pier, I overhear a festival-goer exclaiming down her mobile that there's no way in to the Red Roaster. Uh oh, better hurry up and go see what the fuss is about. The queue is staggered all the way up the street with people literally attempting to claw their way in. I panic, then realise I have a magic pass that I can wave to get in. The boos are incredible, the girls at the front of the queue hiss 'it's one in one out.' But still I'm in, Kid Harpoon is whipping up the crowd into a well-behaved frenzy. Compared to the hush and quiet of the artists yesterday, today is positively noisy. There are whoops and clapping, in time with a piano romp through real uptempo, saloon style bar tunes. Before sitting down at the "cool as fuck" piano, the from-Medway kid declared that he was once told "people don't want to be annoyed with guitars any more, so I thought fuck it I'll learn to play the piano then". The room erupted with laughter - he's a confident sassy performer and put on a great show. Whilst enjoying the feeling of sitting cross-legged at the front of the room, I'm thinking about the next couple of bands and how to plot my route around with the most efficiency. I work out that I can get up to the Corn Exchange and catch buzz band The Heights, maybe a bit of Art Brut, before going to see hyped rockers Electric City over at Hector's House, possibly swinging by The Ocean Rooms to see Johnny Panic. Walking past the Pavillion, the queue is immense, Willy Mason is playing there in an hour's time, wow that's a long wait for those fans if they get into the venue! I make it to the Corn Exchange, but the band onstage in the cavernously huge place don't resemble the rock outfit I've been led to believe. Not least the fact that they are from Wales, and not Canada, I don't know how I confused that one! I thought they would be a bit rocker than they are, the guitars and music is good, but the songs just don't fill me up. Perhaps it was the venue that was just too big. I'll try and see them another time, they have potential, I think. Pop fact; The Heights have played more Barfly shows around the country than any other band. The Corn Exchange is filling up with Art Brut fans, girls outnumber boys about six to one, bizarre. I go and see what's happening down at the Red Roaster - I have already heard that it's going mental, and that the desire to see Jack Penate is causing fights outside the venue! Not even my magic pass is going to get me into this one. I give it up for a lost cause, safe in the knowledge that Jack's just announced a full UK tour starting next month. I'll catch up with him then. So I trundle off over to Hector's House to see Electric City. The bluesy bar is a brilliant place-warp, I'm suddenly transported to a bar somewhere at South By Southwest, the Texan equivalent of The Great Escape. Pool tables are slung at the back of the dark wooded bar, and the jukebox is pumping out great tracks like "Tutti Frutti." The London four-piece are headlining the Topman New Talent Stage, and the good-looking skinny-jeaned boys take to stage, plug in and just play proper rock riffs with brilliant rock vocals. Think Sabbath meets Kings Of Leon meets Duran Duran meets Muse. And with simultaneous tuning between songs that would make Quo's Rick Parfitt look on proudly. Singer Andy has a voice that crosses eras, it's hard to fathom quite how he does it, he sounds far older than his tender age of 21. They play a short set of six songs to a room filled with music industry types, and even they can feel the rifftastic vibe. Third track "Dark Skies" is pretty proggy but dressed up with pop, like speeded-up Cream. "Devil In My Head," "Siren" and new single "Sleeping With The Enemy" prove that this band are definitely ones to watch. They sound slick, like they've been playing huge concerts and not bars. Did I mention they're incredibly good looking (said in mock Zoolander accent)? They're being hounded by fashion labels, and last night they went to a launch for Armani, hence the beautiful black and white top that bassist Jon is wearing, but apparently when they played at the party, they were told off for being too loud! Really! Fashionistas eh? I attempt to down tools at this point - the night has been long, and I am very tired, and the jukebox is playing some kind of compilation of reggae and soul tunes, feeling relaxed now, and a bottle of beer is thrust in my direction. However just as I'm about to head back down to the media hub bar back at the hotel, I'm convinced that The Airborne Toxic Event are more than worth watching over at Club NME's Komedia home. Touted as a cross between Arcade Fire and Franz Ferdinand, the LA based five piece include violins and tambourines amongst their multi-tasking instrumentation. Airborne Toxic whatnot are good staple fare, and are indeed very much like Arcade Fire, and some of the tracks are pretty good. The twiddly musical bits are great, the Pixies-style backing vocals nicely eerie, and there are nice stomping pianos in tracks like "Wishing Well" and "Papillon." They even come back on for an encore. The audience is huge, but I think largely because there are very few gigs on this late into the night, a lot of the kids are down at Beach front raves in Brightons neon clubs. I slip away into the fresh air, the night is much cooler than last, and there's a threat of wetness in the air, but luckily the rain has held off - it's meant to be sunny tomorrow - woo hoo! Heard earlier that Yoko Ono is in town? The local paper the Argus said she's down here checking out bands! See what great company we keep. Also heard that despite what I thought was Happy Mondays on particular;y weirdly normal form yesterday, news reaches me that Bez apparently punched a Channel 4 cameraman before the pier party yesterday. He thought Shaun Ryder was setting him up to be late for the gig, and ended with fisticuffs- apparently Bez was frosty with Ryder at the start of the show - I can't say I noticed anything amiss though. Tomorrow seems to be getting closer by the minute - i hope tiredness doesn't kick in too badly - I gotta be up in time for the Cup Final! More bands ahoy tomorrow night. Much looking forward to the Neil Young sounding half-Scandinavians Alberta Cross on at 8.45 at the Uncut cafe. And Palladium and Mumm-Ra are the hot-tips too. If you're in Brighton, come on down. FARAH ISHAQ

Leaving a wet and dreary London, Uncut sets off to Brighton to find an incredibly surprisingly sunny seaside town, calmly awaiting the incoming music storm that is 2007's Great Escape Festival. The south coast town's attempt at staging a 'music export' convention - showcasing the best new music around - will see 150 bands playing across 20 venues, plus impromptu acoustic sessions sprouting up all over the place by new artists and special guests. All we need is an all-inclusive neon pink wristband and we're in. The opening night's buzz is that the Happy Mondays will be playing a party at the end of the pier, showcasing new material and hopefully dancing through the hits. The other big buzz is a Club NME show by The Gallows, the most controversial new rock band straight out of Watford. The only problem is they're not on 'till 1am and we've been advised to get there by 11 if we want to get into the venue - better get a move on - there's a lot of ground to cover before we can get there. First up, we check out the Uncut venue - Uncut is hosting three nights at the Red Roaster Cafe, marking our debut year with a presence at the festival. Tonight will see singer-songwriters Kate Walsh, Jersey Budd, Findlay Brown and Aussie brother and sister duo Angus & Julia Stone perform in the laid-back coffee shop surroundings. We leave the venue as the queue builds for opener Jersey Budd, to check out the early bands down at Audio, where the Barfly promoters have got The 1990s playing. However the queue is already a 'one in one out' system and we haven't got time to hang about. Head to the Ocean Rooms, a fantastically confusing venue with a massive Blondie pop art painting above the front door with the slogan "Get Up" - we catch Hertfordshire band Look See Proof play jangly plain indie - their closing song and single "Start Again" is OK if only just that. Upstairs is far better, where Danish five-piece Oh No Ono are concocting a funky psychedelic storm. They have huge hair and huger grins, and track "Practical Money Skills" causes much whirling funky dancing from the incredibly sweaty room that have gathered. They end on a brave but perfectly executed version of "a song from Great Britain" - a pitch-perfect cover of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." A great set closer, but now desperate to get some fresh air, and maybe a beer. This running up and down the streets of Brighton is thirsty work. Its still daylight, amazing. Walking back down past the big giant upside down purple cow stage, aptly named the Udderbelly stage, we kick ourselves - we've just missed a T-Mobile surprise 'street gig'. The Gossip have just ended a set and hordes of grinning sweaty indie guys and gals are spilling out into the streets clutching goodie bags and looking at their Great Escape maps looking for the next music fix. We hear a rumour that the Scissor Sisters will be the next surprise band on - hoping that's true - they'd be perfect on a balmy evening like this. Pop back to the Red Roaster, and catch the opening songs by Angus & Julia Stone. Compared to the madness outside, the hush and quiet of the cafe is startling. Fragile, beautiful songs with the bare minimum of strings and drum beats. Heartbreaking songs, but my heart is still racing so need to get out and attempt to break in to the Happy Mondays showcase on the pier. 9.57pm and the Mondays are due on in three minutes - Uncut is hoping that Shaun Ryder doesn't break the habit of a lifetime and is a few minutes late - but no joy! The Mondays appear to have been cloned and replaced by a band that are definitely not a shambles at all! We make it in time for the opening sirens - they are here to showcase material from their new album "Uncle Dysfunktional" - their first in 14 years. And the songs are amazing - tuneful, dancey, silly lyrics but you don't care. "Jelly Bean" is especially brilliant - with the crowd singing along, waving their baggy-era hats in the hair. Ryder and co also don't dare disappoint the 200-capacity Horatio's Bar by playing brilliant versions of hits "Loose Fit", "Kinky Afro" and "Rev Black Grape" too. Ryder proclaimed before the show that if "anyone didn't like the new stuff, he'd chuck them in the sea". I can't see that being a problem tonight; swimming seems a good idea, considering how hot it is in the tiny disco-ball dressed bar on the pier. I leave the Baggy boys to it before the end to make a mad dash back to the Red Roaster - Uncut hears that the diminutive singer Kate Walsh is going down a storm as the night's closing performer. We squeeze into the cafe to find the crowd sitting crosslegged on the floor right up to the performance space at the front. Everyone looks completely mesmerised, floating on Kate's pure and stunning vocals. Set closer "Your Song" is simply brilliant. Apparently Kate has a very sore throat, she had to cancel a gig earlier in the evening due to illness - but if what Uncut witnesses is the sound of illness, we can only imagine what she sounds like when she's healthy. Uncut is knackered now, and we hear that Gallows over at the Komedia is already oversubscribed, so we take our leave to sit on the beach eating proper seaside chips, watching festival-goers who've had a long evening out attempt to go skinny-dipping in the icy waters. We'll be back tomorrow for what will be another top night of musical adventure on the streets of Brigho - as the locals might call it. Uncut is hosting an XL Recordings night with Elvis Perkins, Kid Harpoon and Jamie T-esque Jack Penate all doing their thing in the Red Roaster. Elsewhere we'll try and catch up with Canadian's The Heights, who are meant to be fantastic, and Air Traffic. The Gallows are also playing again, at the more Uncut-friendly time of 9.30, so hopefully we'll catch them this time, and Friendly Fires might be worth a shot too - we have a craving for some glo-stick fun. FARAH ISHAQ