The Great Escape festival in Brighton, UK is one of the best showcase festivals around Europe and them featuring some Japanese acts is nothing new… however this year their straight-from-Japan lineup is just incredible: ten bands and singers including some quite popular names and some of the country’s best indie acts.

The festival will be held between the 14th and 17th of May with most of the shows listed below happening on the 15th and 16th. Several acts will play two shows at different days and venues and some of them will do a couple of additional gigs around the UK as well. So, let’s see who is performing:

The fin. – An excellent, dreamy chillwave / dream pop group that is going for new, more diverse directions on their most recent releases. Their 2021 album was reviewed here.
She Her Her Hers – The band’s early releases had a more straightforward indie-rock / shoegaze sound, but in recent years they turned their attention towards ’80s influenced chillwave and synth-pop… and did a damn great job with the new sound.
Ålborg – One of the best new bands to emerge in recent years, the Yokohama based group’s ethereal debut album from last year was reviewed here.
go!go!vanillas – A rather popular band mixing pop sensibilities with rock elements.
VivaOla – Solo singer doing smooth, modern R&B.
Bialystocks – Piano / vocal duo, playing mellow, laid-back jazzy pop music.
Ako – A female J-Pop singer with upbeat, mellow music, that kind of recalls the sound of Chara, UA and other popular solo acts from the ’90s.
Kroi – A quintet playing the funk, soul, hip-hop and R&B influenced pop that’s been insanely popular in Japan the last couple of years.
Rikuto Fujimoto – Piano ballads with smooth vocals.
Chameleon Lime Whoopiepie – Quirky, funk-infused pop with a touch of overall weirdness.

Performance dates and venue are listed on the festival’s site (here, filtered to the Japanese performers only), but probably the best way to catch most of the above acts is during these two special showcases:

2025.05.15, Thu – Pony Canyon showcase  @ Queens Hotel (this is a showcase for acts signed to the major Japanese label Pony Canyon)
12:15 – Bialystocks
13:15 – Ako
14:15 – go!go!vanillas
15:15 – Kroi

2025.05.16, Sat – SSR From Tokyo: Curated by Friendship @ One Church
12:30 – She Her Her Hers
13:30 – VivaOla
14:30 – Alborg
15:30 – The Fin.

Also, The fin. and She Her Her Hers will be playing a few shows around UK after the festival gigs:

2025.05.17 – UK, Manchester: Soup Manchester (She Her Her Hers only)
2025.05.18 – UK, London Show: Oslo Hackney (The fin.  + She Her Her Hers – sold out)
2025.05.19 – UK, London Show: Oslo Hackney (The fin.  + She Her Her Hers – almost sold out)