FIRST FIFTY: THE LIVE SHOWCASE To Launch The Great Escape 2018

Festival season 2018 starts here: The Great Escape, the festival for new music internationally renowned for breaking the best and brightest new talent, now in its 13th year, is here to provide the soundtrack to your future with the second installment of the FIRST FIFTY - the biggest festival launch in the world; a series of exclusive gigs, across 5 venues over 3 days in East London from the very hottest new artists around. The artists announced today give a first glimpse of the talent lined up to play TGE 2018 and take next year's festival season by storm.

Once again we continue to work with some of the biggest music tastemakers and best new music media supporters including; Amazing, BBC Music, CLASH, DIY, The Line of Best Fit, London In Stereo and So Young

This November 21st - 23rd, the FIRST FIFTY line-up will include Copenhagen- based pop rhythm wizard KOPS, whose crackling voices and intelligent productions move effortlessly between playfulness and intensity. Australian Stella Donnelly's honest song writing, raw emotion and minimalism will leave audiences sincerely touched whilst George Ezra's brother Ten Tonnes will have everyone singing along with his Indie guitar wheedling songs. She's already trended on twitter and Ireland's Aine Cahill will be at the FIRST FIFTY to delight audiences with her pop music.

Ever since her cover of Rihanna's 'Work' became a viral phenomenon, Spanish rapper and 'Dancehall Queen' Bad Gyal's career has skyrocketed. She's responsible for some of the biggest Hispanic urban releases this year, has collaborated with artist Dubbel Dutch, and been supported by the likes of Murlo, Dinamarca, Soulection and the Mad Decent Crew. Ready to make 2018 her year, this will be Bad Gyal's first live festival performance in the UK. Carving a path through the rugged hip-hop landscape is Denzel Himself, a 22-year-old artist and producer, whose debut EP 'Pleasure' offers a unique, unusually thoughtful interpretation of the genre, through classic RnB to more resonant, aggressive punk.

Eighteen-year-old singer/songwriter Joy Crookes from South London is already grabbing industry attention with her pop/RnB-soaked sounds, unique lyrics and haunting voice. Kojey Radical even makes a special appearance alongside her in her video for 'Bad Feeling'. Sam Fender, can often be found working, and playing in, a 400 year old Tyneside fishing pub, or on tour supporting the likes of Catfish and The Bottlemen and Ben Howard, now he will be taking festival go-ers through a range of emotions with his euphoric and heart-wrenching songs as supported by BBC Introducing. With sounds deriving from the early noughties, Coventry indie-rockers FEET, will bring fresh mayhem to their set.

Eighteen-year-old Dutch/Kurdish singer/songwriter Naaz will capture ausdience with her distinctive, haunting voice, in which she relays tales of personal struggle, a common theme among many musicians of a migrant background. Amsterdammer Pitou, meanwhile, is renowned for her dazzling array of influences, ranging from Bulgarian choir music to Sparklehorse and Joni Mitchell. Her highly anticipated self-titled debut EP was released last year on Scottish/Dutch label Mink Records and was greeted with national and international critical acclaim.

Mama Festivals CEO, Rory Bett says: "It feels great to be announcing fifty amazing artists to playTGE18 and to launch the show with its very own festival FIRST FIFTY yet again. This is a really exciting time for new music and we're fortunate to be able to showcase some of the greatest new talent from around the world. Since TGE started 13 years ago, we have always maintained that the foremost objective of the festival is to produce an internationally-reaching programme that is genuinely representative of the full range of emerging talent in music. This is such a really good start and look out for lots more to come from across all music genres."

For tickets to all FIRST FIFTY shows go to http://greatescapefestival.com/first-fifty.

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