Well, for starters, it takes place on one what could be the sunniest weekend of a very temperamental month and who wouldn’t want to be by the sea on a lovely late Spring day, or three? Then there’s the line-up; with the likes of The Temper Trap, Django Django (who everyone was trying to see, resulting in queues full of disappointed punters) and Maximo Park on the epic bill and the sheer amount of venues involved – meaning Brighton’s abuzz with excitement all weekend.

Starting on the Thursday day (when most ticketholders are probably still at work), makes for a slow start but by the time Cloud Nothings take to the stage of Above Audio at 10ish, the place is rammed. And it’s not difficult to see why. Their at times introspective, Death Cab For Cutie-esque brand of rock makes for compelling watching. With tiny sniffs of Weezer and The Hold Steady, they play a fan-winning set. Noteworthy acts from earlier on in the day include the adorable Francois and the Atlas Mountains, whose hilariously choreographed dance moves somehow compliment the dreamscapey half English/half French, slightly twee (but in a good way) indie numbers. And Gemma Hayes, America’s answer to Laura Marling – a girl with a guitar, a voice to die for and a cache of country-tinged ballads.

For some though, the main festival events in the Dome, Corn Exchange and Komedia, weren’t the main draw – with hundreds of people heading to the Pav Tav for the Alternative Great Escape. With a stage run, on the Friday, by the indie label – Alcopop! it’s talent heavy with the likes of Katie Malco, Stagecoach and My First Tooth. But the piece de resistance was Tall Ships, whose storming late night set, punched you in the guts with the raw energy of ‘Sappy’ style Nirvana and the soaring, singalong style of Dry The River, who are there to witness their recent tourmates’ performance. Which brings us onto another top performance from the awesome Dry The River.

Bizarrely, despite their massive sound, Dry The River, at times, seems dwarfed by the venue (Corn Exchange). It’s a late slot and while they pull in a good-sized crowd, it shoulda been rammed. I mean these guys are good, really fuckin good. Their surprisingly unique brand of anthemic folk-tinged indie balladry, layer on layer the songs build into a massive crescendo of epic proportions – like ‘Yes’ by McAlmont and Butler or much of Arcade Fire’s back catalogue. A definite highlight of the festival.

Throw into the mix a bunch of industry stuff and second to none networking ops and The Great Escape might just win out over all the city festivals.

Words: Laura Williams

The Vacancy
We are looking for a positive person to provide excellent customer service for our clients whilst taking responsibility for the company’s reception duties, including answering incoming calls (non switchboard based) and greeting visitors upon arrival. Duties would consist of processing sales orders using our ‘Exchequer’ MIS system, gathering pro forma payments, outbound calls, presenting quotes and general admin to help the sales department, always ensuring our customers receive a first class ordering experience.

Requirements
Applicants must have a confident and friendly telephone manner, and a gift for dealing with people. The ideal candidate will have at least a year of previous customer service / admin or reception experience, a good level of computer literacy and the ability to prioritise their workload and manage time effectively as we work in an environment with a high level of transactions and daily deadlines. Any print / design or publishing knowledge would be an advantage although not essential, a desire and capacity to learn and grow with our business needs is far more important.

Remuneration
£14,000 – £16,500 per annum (plus company bonuses) subject to experience. This is a full time position based at our Head Office in Bristol, working 9.30am-6pm Monday to Friday.

Immediate start available
Interviews scheduled to take place week commencing 28th May, however this date may be pulled forward if application levels are high.

How to Apply
Please email your current CV and covering letter explaining why you should be invited to an interview to
jobs @ outofhand.co.uk
Title the email CS Executive.

Strictly no agencies please.

WOWfest has been dubbed the brightest and biggest new festival for 2012 with a spectacular line up of massive names across 5 stages and an African Village featuring an eclectic mix of House, Reggae, Ska, Jazz, World, Disco, Dance, Dubstepas well as workshops, cabaret, theatre and circus performances, afterhours swirling burlesque and comedy clubs.

UB40 will be joined on the bill by one of the world’s best DJs, Paul Oakenfold. There’s also a UK exclusive with Madeleine Peyroux on tour, 70s & 80s originals such as The Selecter, The Beat, Maxi Priest, Aswad, Rose Royce, Imagination and greats like the Wailers, Finley Quaye, Jesus Jones, Misty in Roots, Alabama 3, Neville Staple, plus a whole host of other names.

Tickets only £99adv from www.wowfest.co.uk Or to be in with a chance of winning a pair, simply fill your details on the form below, with your answer to the following question:

What is the title of WOWfest headliner Paul Oakenfold’s unreleased Album for 2012?
1. Pop Killer
2. Killing Pop
3. Pop Death

Please remember to include your address and WOWFEST in the subject line. Deadline June 30. Winner to be informed by email. [contact-form-7]

It seems like only yesterday we were young & carefree, with our Union Jack T’s, alco-pop fuelled Camden nights and that TV show Top of the Pops was crammed with power-chord loaded indie-pop heroes…

Tuning in once more, in these grim recessionary times, it all sounds like rather a lot of fun. With the 2012 charts roadblocked by flappy corporate pap and well-schooled posh pop, there’s something very refreshing about these geezers, scallies, art-school types & ravers uniting in a very disparate-but-it-worked way to create what became Britpop.

Download, play loud and sing along and be pleasantly suprised as you realise you know pretty much every song. Anthems indeed – Brit Pop will make you smile. So before the Queen’s Crew pull rank with her Tea Party, the Euro’s kick off or the Olympic Posse get shouting, wave the Union Flag and salute the real good times.

Featuring the likes of Blur, Pulp, The Verve, Suede, Elastica, Embrace, Cast, Shed Seven, Catatonia, Paul Weller, Space, Supergrass, Radiohead, The Supernaturals, Ash, Terrorvision, James, Garbage and more – this is a must have for Britpop fans!

The mix CD is out on May 28, or to be in with a chance of winning a copy on CD, simply fill in your details on the form below (making sure you include your address so we can post your prize to you!) and tell us who your favourite Britpop act was and why. Please put ‘Britpop’ in the subject line. Deadline June 30.[contact-form-7]

Way Out West takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden’s hub for music and creativity. Having been nicknamed “Little London”, Gothenburg is Europe’s most hidden secret with some of the best venues and festivals stretched across the intimate city location.

Bands already confirmed for this year’s festival include Blur, The Black Keys, Refused, Feist, Florence + the Machine and Bon Iver as well as Wilco, First Aid Kit, Mazzy Star, Bobby Womack, Thurston Moore, Hot Chip, Factory Floor and more.

Way Out West’s unique city based format taps into Gothenburg’s thriving music scene, with performances at some of the best venues the city has to offer. From Thursday evening to Saturday night (or Sunday morning if you can last that long) the city’s rock clubs, nightclubs, churches, theaters and cultural centers will showcase both breaking and more established acts as part of the festival’s club concept Stay Out West. Bands playing the club nights will not be appearing on the stages at the festival site. A 3-day festival pass is valid for admittance for all Stay Out West shows, Thursday through Saturday, but does not guarantee entrance.

Tickets work out at about £165 for the weekend and are available now, from www.wayoutwest.se/en – where you will also find more info on the line-up.

A spokesman for the app said: “The only app you’ll need this summer”. Our new social app showcases beaches in Devon, beaches in Cornwall and much, much more. It integrates with your existing Facebook, Twitter and Flickr account allowing you to share the fun with friends, family and work colleagues!”

Choose from over 190 featured beaches located throughout Devon and Cornwall. Find out more about each beach and the facilities available including: car parking, access to the beach, toilets, restaurant / cafe, whether dogs are allowed, if lifeguards are present, whether its a blue flag beach, is it good for surfing and most importantly, how to get there!

If you fancy learning to surf, want to go shopping or need a meal during or after your day at the beach then search the app for nearby surf schools, surf shops, fast food outlets, restaurants and pubs. Featuring the Jamie Oliver inspired Fifteen Cornwall, Rick Stein’s Seafood Restaurants and Bar, McDonalds, Burger King, Subway and hundreds more our beach app caters for every taste and budget.

The tour sees Craig perform across the country from the far-flung Orkney Islands to the south of Cornwall, as well as taking in London’s Bloomsbury Theatre for the first time. This second extension is hot-on-the-heels of Craig’s return from the New Zealand International Comedy Festival and kicks off from 24th May.
Craig supported Frankie Boyle on his 120 date nationwide tour, performed on Dave’s One Night Stand (DAVE), Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC Three), and Michael McIntyre’sComedy Roadshow (BBC One).

As a natural raconteur, Craig is able to find humour in the mundane, instinctively able to
entertain and amuse. Typically dressed in his beloved ‘I love cheese’ t-shirt (synthetic and a bit wiffy) and a khaki (undercover police concealment) shorts number, sometimes substituted for leather trousers, the strapping ex-athlete commands his stages with vigour, befriending the audience with boisterous re-enactments from his travels.

Craig was the notorious host of Canada’s legendary Ed’s Night Party, and headline guest on numerous Canadian TV shows such as Jim Carrey Live, The Dennis Miller Show and Just for Laughs. He is a firm fringe favourite having made his Edinburgh debut alongside Tony Law and Dan Antopolski as part of comedy trio The Dinks which won great critical and box office success, leading to an invitation to perform in the Best of Edinburgh programme in New York. He has since supported Rich Hall on his international tour and had two further successful solo shows in Edinburgh.

Craig Campbell plays the Plough Arts Centre in Torrington, Devon, on Friday 1 June. Tickets £13adv from 01805 624624. He also plays Bristol Hen and Chicken on June 6 and The B-Bar, Plymouth, on June 22.

Cloud Nothings, The Internet, A Plastic Rose, All The Young, Doldrums, Two Wounded Birds, Here We Go Magic, Hyde & Beast, The Dunwells, Eugene Francis Jr, Last DinosaurS, O Children, Josh Kumra, Kwes, Mary Epworth, The Other Tribe, Seasfire and more added to the bill.

The countdown to this year’s Dot To Dot is hotting up with just a month to go until a litany of the globe’s biggest buzz bands hits Bristol, Nottingham and Manchester over this coming Jubilee bank holiday weekend. Headlined by The Drums and Pulled Apart By Horses, and with appearances from Wavves, Willis Earl Beal, Dog Is Dead, Summer Camp, Lucy Rose, Pond and more, the tri-city event is set to reveal even more must-see acts for 2012, and you can catch them all for the mind-blowing ticket price of just £20!

Dot To Dot Organiser Anton Lockwood said: “There’s under a month to go until Dot To Dot 2012 and the latest acts joining us showcase what a fantastically exciting line-up of new music we have on offer. From high octane rock to soulful singer songwriters these are the acts that people will be talking about all summer long and with tickets currently £20 it’s great value for money’.”

Tickets, priced just £20, available from www.dottodotfestival.co.uk

The event in association with CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) will feature over 165 real ales, 60 ciders & 10 perries. Boasting the largest selection of Cider and Perry in the South West, this years event will also feature a foreign bar stocked with some of the best beers around.

Live music on the Friday evening will come from local musician, Luke Scott Dumper. 25 year old Luke, was born in Plymouth but lived in Scotland through childhood which gave his vocals a Scottish twang, before moving back to Plymouth in 2000. Performing in local venues including Fortesque, Junction, Voodoo Lounge and Jack Chams, Luke has been performing his Folk music across the South West and the UK. Luke is currently writing his debut album ‘Learning Life the Hard Way’ and in June 2012 he heads out on tour in the UK and Belgium with American singer songwriter Malcolm Tent. Luke can also be seen performing with Folk band ‘Guy Folk’ and local Punkhardcore band ‘F.T.O’ (friendly terrorist orchestra).

Onto the Saturday evening and the Plymouth Beer Festival boasts its biggest headliner in the history of the festival, Sir Bob Geldof. An Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist, Bob Geldof rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980. The band had hits with his compositions ‘Rat Trap’ and ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’. He co-wrote ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’, one of the best-selling singles of all time. He starred as Pink in Pink Floyd’s 1982 film Pink Floyd the Wall. Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984, he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year and the Live 8 concerts in 2005.

Booking advised. Strictly no under 18’s. Open 12noon to 11pm, Friday & Saturday (live music from 9pm). Tickets cost: £5 except £10 for entry on Saturday after 6.10pm in advance or £12 on the door / £3 admission for CAMRA members (except Saturday evening) To book tickets contact the Box Office on 0845 146 1460

The dispersion of the Cornish people following the closure of the mines shaped cultures all over the world. As the Olympic torch arrives in Cornwall, Heartlands will brings these cultures and customs back home to the Duchy with a twelve hour multicultural extravaganza in association with Swamp Circus.

On Saturday 19 May from 10am – 10pm and completely free to the public, Heartlands will come alive with an exciting and vibrant mix of music, dance, theatre, acrobatics, workshops and more. The finale of the evening will involve an awe-inspiring fire and aerial show which will end with fireworks and the lighting of a 30ft high flame sculpture, shaped like a miner.

Workshops will include aboriginal dot painting in the Australia Garden, Poi in the New Zealand Garden, Boum Boum drumming in the South African Garden, Carnival Headdress, Samba and Capoeira in the South America Garden and hula-hoop and hip-hop dancing in the North America Garden. Circus workshops will also be happening throughout the day in the special Big Top within Robinson’s courtyard.

Circus theatre will include a swinging trapeze act, flamenco dancers, clowns and stilt kangaroos as well as the Flame Finale including fire jugglers, tight wire walk, abseiling off the mining headgear, large flaming sculptures and fireworks. There will also be a beer tent, BBQ and big screen for those wanting to watch the Olympic Torch Relay as it travels through Cornwall.

For this one event only car parking will be free at Heartlands and overflow parking will be available at Cornwall College and the Carn Brea Leisure Centre. The Flame Festival has been generously funded and supported by the Big Lottery Fund through Awards for All, World Heritage Site office, Cornwall Council, Visit Cornwall and local councillors.

Vicky Martin, Chief Executive of Heartlands said: “As the Olympic Relay wasn’t coming to the Camborne, Pool and Redruth area, we all put our heads together to think of a way we could bring the excitement and buzz of the Olympic Torch to Heartlands and the Flame Festival was born. Cornish culture has shaped many parts of the world and this event celebrates these countries, bringing them alive through dance, theatre, music and acrobatics. It’s going to be a breath-taking event!”

The Olympic Flame arrives at RNAS Culdrose from Athens on board British Airways flight ‘BA2012’. After spending the night at Culdrose the Flame will be flown by naval helicopter to Land’s End ready for the official start of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, presented by Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung. For more info on the Torch Relay through Cornwall, visit:

More information at www.visitcornwall.com/whats-on/olympic-torch-relay