Pitchfork

It's not just gonna be just some passable journey, a solid holiday, or a merely adequate jaunt. No, if the lineup has any say in the matter, the Great Escape Festival really oughta live up to its name. Cramming a couple hundred bands into 25 venues around Brighton, England May 15-17, the music festival and industry convention gathers artists, industry types, and lucky bystanders for three days of shop-talk, gin-and-tonics, and tinnitus. (Hey, sounds familiar!)

Among those who have reserved a spot at the Great Escape are the Hold Steady, Vampire Weekend, Black Lips, No Age, Okkervil River, Iron & Wine, Black Mountain, Sunset Rubdown, Yeasayer, the Twilight Sad, Bon Iver, Times New Viking, Fujiya & Miyagi, Crystal Castles, Saul Williams, the Futureheads, Born Ruffians, the Black Angels, Frightened Rabbit, Vashti Bunyan, These New Puritans, Lightspeed Champion, the Teenagers, Future of the Left, the Mae Shi, Envelopes, We Are Wolves, the Ting Tings, Glasvegas, Tunng, School of Language, Cut Off Your Hands, Jennifer Gentle, the Wombats, Hot Club de Paris, Matt & Kim, Kelly Stoltz, Cadence Weapon, Pete and the Pirates, Silje Nes, the Subways, Ida Maria, Nina Nastasia, Samamidon, Late of the Pier, the Fratellis, Laura Marling, Vetiver, AIDS Wolf, the Rascals, Plants and Animals, Telepathe and Johnny Foreigner.

There will also be panels and lectures about various music business topics. Escape greatly, folks; just don't forget those business cards!