Tomorrow I shall be heading down to Brighton for the UK’s answer to SXSW, The Great Escape. It’s a wonderful weekend packed with some of the most exciting new bands in the world. Unfortunately  it’s not looking like we’re gonna have the weather of SXSW, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be great.

If you missed by day by day line-up recommendations, check out Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And below is a collective playlist of all 29 bands I think are must-sees! I’ve also listed some tips for first-timers.

Top Tips:

- Make sure you check out how far venues are from each other. You can do this using the handy map that is already online, click here. Some venues take 15 minutes to walk between so make sure you’re prepared.

- If you really, really, really want to see a band, make sure you get there early. I’d particularly say this is true of shows from CHVRCHES, Tom Odell and London Grammar. The evening corn exchange shows also usually fill up.

- Check out the city of Brighton during the day, the North Laine area (pictured at top) is particularly great, lined with wonderful little cafes and record shops.

- While your there, make sure you go to Resident Music Brighton’s finest record. Last year I managed to pick up a Girls vinyl which had sold out everywhere else.

- Bombay Aloo, a Vegetarian Indian take-away restaurant I become slightly obsessed with for my three days in Brighton each year. £1.99 for a takeaway box of all you can eat curry. And it’s amazing. Thank me later. Located on St. Ship street, just off Kings Road.

- Beyond Days at Beyond Retro- the last few years they’ve had an array of great bands play in the vintage shop. Sometimes they publish the line-up online, but that’s not happened this year yet, so pop into the shop and pick up a leaflet. Beyond Retro is located on Vine Street, near the North Laine area.

- Sign up to the exclusive Great Escape text alerts. They send you info about secret gigs taking place around the city. Over the last few years I’ve seen the Smoke Fairies on a balcony, and James Vincent McMorrow play at the end of a pier. They also usually let you know when venues are full. Details are in the festival guide.

- Don’t forget about the Alternative Escape! Check out the line-up before you go, as it’s not usually fully listed in the guide.

- Relax, the best shows happen when you least expect. Go and see a band you’ve never heard of before, they might be your new favourite. Great Escape can be one of the best weekends of the summer, it can also be one of the most stressful!

See the full line-up here and schedule here.

The Great Escape Festival takes place this weekend from the 16th-18th May. Tickets have sold out. See you on the beach!

New track from Waxahatchee, taken from Cerulean Salt which will be released 1st July via Wichita Records. This is my favourite track from her yet.

New Desert Blues have been on my radar for quite some time now. They first released a demo called ‘Thom’ around 10 months ago. The track caught some attention and rightfully so. The Americana blues sound teamed with the nostalgically romantic melody line is quite something, and lyrically it made them one of the most interesting new bands for a while. Next came ‘Daniel’, equally as beautiful, slightly more epic, slightly more pop.

Their third track offering entered the internet sphere yesterday. ‘Adam’ is their finest song yet, remaining true to that dark Americana sound which has already defined them but also nodding to the expansive sounds of Arcade Fire.

The band play The Great Escape next Friday at 12:30pm at the very intimate Fishbowl venue. I’ll be there and I hope they don’t disappoint.

TONSTARTSSBANDHT (no, I have no idea how you pronounce that), are a brother-brother duo originally from Florida but now splitting their time between Montreal and Brooklyn. They’ve been releasing stuff since 2008 but most of it is too experimental for me until recently where they have injected some melodies into the music. Their last 4-track EP simply titled ‘Russian Tour Tape 2013′ was released for their tour around Russia and the Ukraine with Dirty Beaches. It’s this EP which is where I am grabbed, the blues guitar parts with the psychedelic vocal lines create a sound somewhere between the sounds of the American deep south and that of 1960′s Woodstock jams.

They are currently on tour in Europe and will be heading to the UK on Sunday 19th May playing Manchester, London, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle. Check out the dates here.

Speedy Ortiz are from Massachusetts. This song is really good.

12:30 Sisters

14:30 Blue Hawaii

15:15 Highasakite

Komedia Studio Bar

18:00 Farao

18:30 Parlour

Audio

19:15 DIANA

20:45 MO

21:45 CHVRCHES

22:15 Big Deal

22:30 White Fence

00:30 MOKO

More gorgeousness from Brooklyn based singer Wilsen, this time in the form of ‘Dusk’. The track will be released as a single on June 10th, based with a cover of Grimes’ ‘Oblivion’ (cannot wait to hear that).

13:40 On and On

15:30 Empress of

Fitzherberts

16:00 Susanne Sundfor

19:30 Marika Hackman

20:45 WALL

21: 15 MO

22:05 Tourist

22:15 Unknown Mortal Orchestra

23:30 Misty Miller

1:00 Merchandise

Parlour is the project of Angela Won-Yin who used to play guitar in Carousels. This is the only track we have so far, but in all it’s gorgeousness, it shows some great potential for the future. Parlour also plays the Great Escape next weekend (watch out for the Saturday guide coming soon for when and where).