The worthy companion piece to Manchester Psych Fest returns with Rabbitfoot, Mandrake Handshake, Gruff Rhys and more.

An unrepentant smorgasbord of cross-genre acts enraptured the south coast last Friday for Brighton Psych Fest. The Brighton edition of JOY’s series, which has branched out from its original Manchester incarnation, takes a worthy place alongside it.

Down the Thameslink I went for an inflation-busting £23 and before I knew it, I was handed a press pass. We kicked off in the bowels of the Patterns basement for hometown quintet SLAG. I was buckled to a banana boat. One end was frenetic, playful and fearless in its Scissor Sisters musical cosplay, but then my organs were hurled back the other end for some mean heavy rock sounds you could have attributed to Queens of the Stone Age.

Rabbitfoot were up next over at Volks, the notorious 5am rave-cave that has its daytime moments. I can see why this special Manchester group have earned, alongside a number of accolades, a Lou Smith video at Windmill. They deliver an unapologetically fun set. Twisty melodies are delivered by a happily dancing town-cryer of a vocalist who unleashes poetry with impressive, kinetic delivery. The shoegaze swirls of Brightonians goodbye followed. I happened to catch these guys right at the start of their journey at Alphabet last year. Their sound has come on leaps and bounds, a catchy, affable, emotive brand of guitar pop which befits the super-cool cassettes they always seem to have in their Bandcamp arsenal.

Hill climbing to reach venues in Brighton is tough, but it justifies all the beer (I was particularly keen on Bertie Beer this weekend). The green beret led his fellow indie militia – aka Flip Top Head – to the Hope, Ruin and indie glory in the venue’s upstairs chamber as they exported their elixir of old English folk interwoven with art-rock immediacy. The dungeon of Komedia beckoned next. It is a vast space with incredible acoustics (their staff are very proud of its cup deposit scheme) well suited to the emphatic balladry that opened Honeyglaze’s set before they rolled through the big ones to the crowd’s delight, including a strong rendition of their very first single ‘Burglar’.

It is difficult to pen clear thoughts on Glasshouse Red Spider Mite. They arguably stole the festival with their Prince Albert set. Many will point to BCNR post-rock elements and they’re not wrong, but I think the quartet oozes more of a stripped-back yet meaningful analogue indie charm that reminds me of those downtempo US bands. Think Acetone and Smog, plus ‘Bends’era Radiohead.

Another sprint up Queens Road to Hope & Ruin as night falls. First Deary for some inquisitive dream-pop. They announced on stage that their debut record was imminent, most of which had been recorded in Brighton. Quick intermission. Enter Mandrake Handshake for a performance masterclass, which undesrcored the psychedelic identity of JOY’s festival showcase. With heady guitars, spacey keyboard button bashes, overpowering vocals and a groover-shaker on the maracas (who will rename nameless..), even JOY staffers were spotted having a boogie after a job well done.

Train trouble rendered said writer unable to get to the end of Gruff Rhys’s set. That said, what we saw of the restless psych-pop, piano harmonies from the Welsh legend resonated with an overall success story of new band discoveries and grassroots venue championing throughout the day. Brighton Psych Fest is an affordable, end-of-summer must for the calendar., and 2026 early bird tickets are on sale already…