Girls Night Out Fest ****

A celebration of women and non‑binary musicians.

Brighton, Saturday 6 June 2026

Across Brighton’s Girls Night Out Fest emerging women and non-binary artists turned a grassroots fundraiser into a statement of identity and intent. What unfolded was a celebration of the city’s women and non‑binary musicians shaped by the communities it championed. Led by independent women‑run promoters, Sidequest Records, Agenda Collective, Buzz Present, Moonrock MGMT and Whattawally, the festival also raised funds for the vital work of Brighton Women’s Centre. Girls Night Out Fest felt both like a showcase and a collective act of care rooted in the city’s DIY ethos.

Contrast and Dynamics

Across its three venues, the festival revealed itself as an event defined by contrast and emotional range. At Pink Moon the day opened with the gentle calm of Eva Nagy’s acoustic set and the luminous textures of harpist Sekinue. Over at Green Door Store, tension became a creative engine: Medium Sized Dog’s quiet protest‑song intensity cracked into flashes of anger, while SNM fused post‑punk tautness with industrial atmosphere. Batmilk leaned into shoegaze haze, and Miler’s folk‑tinged indie shone with new clarity.

At The Folklore Rooms, Watching Alice delivered crisp alt‑rock precision, their tight rhythms and standout saxophone cutting cleanly through the room. Pleasance shifted from soft openings to eruptions of noise that felt both liberating and unsettling.

Two sets stood out most clearly for me. Girl Apocrypha delivered one of the festival’s most arresting performances, moving between dark alt‑rock intensity, avant‑pop shimmer and moments of pure theatrics. Emia Demir’s cool, magnetic presence anchored the set perfectly, as a spoken‑word poem snapped brilliantly into a heavy rock riff.

Hitman Sheela’s set unfolded wonderfully with deliberate contrast, Katie Prescott guiding her project through shoegaze‑tinged drift, alt‑rock bite and left‑field pop eccentricity. Her accordion added an unexpected twist before a switch to guitar sharpened the sound into something starker. Something intriguing, entertaining and very unique.

My night closed with Veronica, whose dark‑pop theatricality felt both operatic and intimate.

Here, contrast wasn’t just a stylistic choice, it became the festival’s shared emotional vocabulary.

Distinctive Voices

Running through the day was a celebration of different vocal identities. Medium Sized Dog’s Lily Day carried the restless edge of a protest singer; Mimi’s delivery cut through SNM’s metallic textures with clean, controlled force; Calista Morgan held the room with understated command across Miler’s set; Soph from Pleasance moved between whisper and rupture. Emia’s vocal range shaped Girl Apocrypha’s dynamic shifts, Katie Prescott flickered between softness and sharpness as Hitman Sheela’s set built, and Veronica’s sparkling, near‑operatic tone rose from brooding synths like a siren call. The festival became a study in how female and non-binary voices define artistic identity.

Genre Fluidity and Mood

This individuality was amplified by the genre fluidity that has become a Brighton signature. Alt‑rock blurred into folk and dream‑pop; shoegaze dissolved into post‑rock; spoken word poem collided with rock riffs; left‑field pop found unexpected companionship with accordion atmospherics. Rather than diluting identity, this hybridity sharpened it. Atmosphere, too, became a creative tool with ghost‑lit guitars, shoegaze haze, drifting instrumentals, Veronica’s cinematic aura, and even Batmilk’s natural‑history samples between songs. Artists weren’t just performing songs, they were building moods

Purpose 

Threaded through the day was a sense of political and personal expression, most notably Medium Sized Dog’s dedication to transwomen’s rights. These weren’t statements added to sets but woven into them. Underpinning everything was community, care and collaboration, a mirror of the festival’s purpose.

Peter Greenfield, June 2026