FESTIVAL: STEWART LEE to curate a stage at BRIGHTON PSYCH FEST featuring five of his favourite acts

June 7, 2024 Steve Muscutt

Brighton Psych Fest takes place on Friday 30th August featuring performances from The Horrors / Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs / NewDad / Juniore / bdrmm / La Luz / The Bug Club / SCALER (FKA SCALPING) / Divorce and more

From the minds behind Brighton's leading independent promoter JOY. Concerts as well as the formidable team behind hugely popular music and arts festivals Manchester Psych Fest and Edinburgh Psych Fest comes an exciting, brand new venture further south: Brighton Psych Fest.

Taking place on Friday 30th August, this one day metropolitan festival spanning across some of Brighton's most iconic venues promises to be a celebration of all things psychedelic. Two waves of acts have been announced already with the Brighton Psych Fest boasting an impressive line-up including: The Horrors, Holly Macve, NewDad, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, SCALER, bdrmm, Divorce, Molly Payton and many more.

Brighton Psych Fest are thrilled to also announce a stage entirely curated by comedian and celebrated music fanatic Stewart Lee. The hand selected five artists Stewart Lee has appearing at Komedia are truly putting the 'Psych' in Brighton Psych Fest, featuring an eclectic mixture of genre bending, innovative musicians with an emphasis on talent in and around Sussex.

On being asked to curate the stage Stewart had this to say, "Brighton Psych Fest asked me to host and program a stage, which is reckless of them as the last thing I curated, the 2016 Prestatyn All Tomorrow’s Parties, went bust. And no, I didn’t get paid either. Nonetheless, here’s a mind-melting day out of acid-hued action from five of my favourite acts, with minimal onstage interruptions from me." He continues "I’ve tried to skew the selection towards Brighton and Hastings talent because sometimes we don’t always acknowledge the geniuses on our own doorsteps."

Tickets are on sale now at brightonpsychfest.com

Stewart Lee photo credit: Jody Hartley

Joining what is already set to be an impressive day of music, comes Stewart Lee's carefully considered selection of five avant-garde artists as described below in his own words:

The Bevis Frond
"Nick Saloman’s enduring underground legends enter their thirty-eighth year utterly undimmed, surging inland from the seafronts of the South Coast with paisley power-pop anthems Teenage Fanclub would’ve clobbered them for, short sharp shocks of Wipers-influenced melodic hardcore, and vast electrical storms of duelling guitars that sound like the ‘70s Miles Davis band battling The Quicksilver Messenger Service. The Bevis Frond are a silver thread running through my life."

The Physics House Band
"Like punk never happened, the Brighton trio offers ugly-beautiful instrumental progressive rock that aging King Crimson fans think no-one can play anymore, leavened with a pastoral psychedelic seasoning, a Mondrian mathematical complexity, and a sly sense of its own audacious absurdity."

Alison Cotton
"Formerly a folk rocker with The Left Outsides, the Sunderland multi-instrumentalist currently essays vast John Cale-coloured string-drones with incantatory overtones, wrenching ritual music for our ruined land from the overbowed strings of her viola and the breathy bellows of the harmonium. A Nico for now."

Eliza Skelton
"Like a cross between Steve Nicks and a Stygian witch that can see into your soul, this long-term low-key local legend finally goes solo, and delivers an immersive and smoothly cinematic epic acid-folk music of widescreen grandeur, wyrd enough to thrill weirdoes, yet classy enough to subversively snaffle the casual consumer."

Secluded Bronte
"People who hate my stand-up often deny it even constitutes ‘comedy’. Doubtless many would wonder if the work of the veteran improvisatory trio Secluded Bronte should be considered ‘music’. Instruments may be involved, perhaps furniture, maybe even words, or all three in a chance collision of calculated heterogenity. All that is certain – time will pass, and something will happen. Start your day in a right state."

General admission tickets to Brighton Psych Fest are available to buy now from the following link: brightonpsychfest.com

In addition to Stewart Lee's curated stage, the Brighton Psych Fest boasts some of the most compelling acts on the live circuit right now and takes place across several of Brighton's most iconic and beloved venues including Concorde 2, The Hope & Ruin, The Green Door Store and The Prince Albert.

FULL FESTIVAL LINEUP

THE HORRORS / PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS / NEWDAD / JUNIORE / BDRMM / LA LUZ / THE BUG CLUB / SCALER (FKA SCALPING) / DIVORCE / THUS LOVE / DAS KOOLIE / KLAUS JOHANN GROBE / HOLLY MACVE / MOLLY PAYTON / GIRL AND GIRL / PASTEL / EBBB / GENN / TTSSFU / LUTALO / LADYLIKE / THE ORCHESTRA (FOR NOW) / PORCHLIGHT / KARMA SHEEN / HUTCH / PLANTOID

KOMEDIA CURATED AND COMPERED BY STEWART LEE - THE BEVIS FROND / THE PHYSICS HOUSE BAND / ELIZA SKELTON / ALISON COTTON / SECLUDED BRONTE

About JOY.

JOY. are an independent concert promoter & event organiser based in Brighton. They have been organising events in the UK for over 15 years with some of the best artists in the world, proudly having played host to Twenty One Pilots, The Kooks, Dua Lipa, Bastille, Jarvis Cocker, Pendulum, and Interpol to name a small few.

About Manchester Psych Fest

Manchester Psych Fest is the UK’s leading psychedelic music and arts festival, taking place annually in the heart of Manchester across the city's best venues. Now in its eleventh year, the festival has built a reputation for showcasing the best in psychedelic music and art from around the world and has been widely praised for its immersive programming and unforgettable atmosphere.