The Great Escape has announced the first 68 artists for its virtual edition – check out the line-up so far below.

The Brighton-based new music festival announced last month that it had cancelled its traditional in-person event for 2021, with a virtual festival taking its place.

The event was aiming to return this year after its 2020 edition was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but ongoing restrictions mean the 2021 festival will now be unable to take place in its usual guise. Dates of May 11-14 were also announced for the return of the full-scale festival in 2022.

This year, from May 13-14, a host of artists will perform virtually, and the first number of acts have been announced now.

Among the 68 acts announced today (March 24) are a host of NME 100 acts for 2021, including PVA, Yard Act and Chubby and The Gang.

See the full list of announced artists for The Great Escape’s virtual 2021 edition below.

The first wave of artists for TGE Online are here ?
@BillieMarten @YardActBand @pva_are_ok @onlypyra and many more will be joining us online this May. See all additions to the line up so far here > https://t.co/A9jICsotkH pic.twitter.com/5bFNtbv4ff

— The Great Escape (@thegreatescape) March 24, 2021

Detailing their plans for the virtual festival upon its announcement last month, The Great Escape wrote: “We can now confirm that The Great Escape 2021 will no longer be taking place in Brighton this year, however, we will be taking The Great Escape online for the first time.

“On 13th-14th May 2021 you can expect a huge snapshot of the best new artists showcasing their talents, plus The Great Escape Conference featuring the CMU conference strands, keynote speakers, panels, talks and debates as well as dedicated facilities for the industry to come together and network – just without the sea air and dashing between our beloved venues into the early hours…”

Since the UK government outlined plans for England to gradually exit lockdown by the end of June, a number of festivals including Reading & Leeds have all revealed that they now hope to go ahead as usual in 2021, with other festivals including Parklife and Wireless announcing 2021 dates this week.

Reading & Leeds sold out of tickets just two days after the announcement, and promoter Live Nation sold 170,000 festival tickets in just three days following the news.