Angine de Poitrine turn The Great Escape opener into a surreal, packed-out Brighton spectacle

Angine de Poitrine landed the first major moment of The Great Escape 2026 on Wednesday night, stepping in for The Kooks and taking over the TGE Beach site tent for the opening party presented by NME. What could have felt like a makeshift replacement instead became the kind of debut-night set that gives a festival its first real pulse.

The Canadian math-rock duo were drafted in after The Kooks pulled out because of injury, and by the time they arrived the room had already tipped into overcapacity. That started with Girl In The Year Above, whose opening set drew a sizeable crowd thanks, at least in part, to the attention around their Massive Attack cover on the soundtrack to Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. By the time Montreal’s Ribbon Skirt followed, the tent had already hit capacity.

Outside, the queue stretched on through Brighton weather that seemed determined to compete with the bill. Inside, Ribbon Skirt played to a packed room that matched their own uneasy contrast of atmospheric force and abrasion. The band moved through material from their 2025 debut album Bite Down and the EP PENSACOLA, nodding repeatedly to their fellow Canadians and to the night’s eventual headliners. Tashiina Buswa’s banshee-like howl gave the set its sharpest edge, while a voiceover on the PA offered that “we have so much to give and we have the responsibility to give.” In practice, Ribbon Skirt already seemed to be spending everything they had.

Then came Angine de Poitrine, a band already positioned as one of the week’s most closely watched acts after a sold-out UK and European run and a 2026 KEXP live session that went viral, gathering millions of views and the usual internet detritus that follows. The Dave Grohl-approved duo, guitarist Khn de Poitrine and drummer Klek de Poitrine, arrived in their now familiar alien alter-ego presentation: papier-mâché masks, giant floppy noses, black-and-white polka dots, flashing LEDs, and an audience making triangle shapes with their hands as if that was the only sensible way to participate.

It was a strange, loud, and oddly disciplined set. Working through tracks from their 2024 debut Vol. 1 and the newer, widely praised Vol II, they built something at once absurd and tightly controlled. Their microtonal structures are the sort of thing that should keep casual listeners at arm’s length, yet the tent answered back with sing-alongs, especially for “Fabienk,” “Sarniez,” “Sherpa” and “Mata Zyklek.” There was no real stage banter beyond robotic alien growls, which was probably for the best. The whole performance depended on the idea that the music itself was the joke, the discipline, and the payoff.

Somewhere between the menace of Primus and the intricacy of Battles, Angine de Poitrine gave The Great Escape its first big statement of intent. The sort of opening-night set people spend the rest of the week measuring against.

More from The Great Escape 2026

The festival runs until Saturday May 16, with performances from rising acts including Madra Salach, Villanelle, Westside Cowboy, The Itch and Blue Bendy, alongside appearances from The Lottery Winners, Peaches, Heartworms and Working Men’s Club.

Mandy, Indiana, Girl Scout, Chanpan and Any Young Mechanic are due on the NME stage at The Old Market on Friday May 15. The NME 100 gig guide: The Great Escape edition also gathers artists from the publication’s annual NME 100 list, past and present, who are playing Brighton this week.

Yesterday, The Great Escape also issued a statement of condolence following the deaths of three women in an incident off the coast of Brighton.

Angine De Poitrine at The Great Escape, presented by NME.

Girl in the Year Above being SUPERB as always. Spellbinding set. pic.twitter.com/iKExbR6CR2

— Milo (@Milo_AFC) May 13, 2026

Ribbon Skirt live at the NME Beach stage at The Great Escape 2026. Credit: Chloe Hashemi for NME

Ribbon Skirt live at the NME Beach stage at The Great Escape 2026. Credit: Chloe Hashemi for NME

Angine de Poitrine live at the NME Beach stage at The Great Escape 2026. Credit: Chloe Hashemi for NME

Angine de Poitrine live at the NME Beach stage at The Great Escape 2026. Credit: Chloe Hashemi for NME

Angine de Poitrine live at the NME Beach stage at The Great Escape 2026. Credit: Chloe Hashemi for NME

Angine de Poitrine live at the NME Beach stage at The Great Escape 2026. Credit: Chloe Hashemi for NME