So, I appear to have made it to the end of another Great Escape. It's been a great year - I tried to tweet at least once per band I saw, although I know we saw at least three more bands after Fever Fever on Thursday night. I also lost two tweets about Niztam and then made up for it by getting their name wrong the next morning (that was the pre-festival gig at the Prince Albert on Wednesday evening), which will teach them to have such a memorable name: it appeared at one point that their own singer didn't know how to pronounce it, so what chance do the rest of us stand?

Particular highlights for me were (in no particular order):

• Fever Fever, who blew the whole of Thursday out of the water. It's about the fourth or fifth time I've seen them, and they always deliver, making me wander off with a grin on my face. Like a rolling chaos engine, they overcame technical difficulties by the application of extreme swearing, and had the best banter of any band this year.
• Rolo Tomassi - only caught the second half of their set, having hung around too long at another band, but I wished I'd seen them before. Way better in the flesh than on record.
• We Cut Corners, who I suggested should be revered as gods in another lost tweet. Two-piece from Ireland with fantastic vocals and great songs.

I managed to miss Slow Club twice, the first time because I hated the venue and the second because Coalition were running an hour behind (they seemed to spend a vast amount of it setting up for Jinja Safari, although the sound was much, much better than for Odonis Odonis the night before) and both of us needed a seat (yes, we're old - bite me). Also missed EMA, who were the one act I really wanted to see, but the queue was too long and not moving, and there were other places we could go instead (to not see Slow Club, for example).

(Frankly, I'm baffled by anyone who comes to the Great Escape to spend hours queuing to see bands, when there is always something else just around the corner, probably newer if not always more interesting - it's those unknown unknowns that make the festival so much fun.)

We finished the evening at Fortune Of War, somewhat traditionally, sat at the far end while at least one dingbat suggested we were a gay couple, rather than just making the most of not being on our feet for the first time in what felt like days. The hyper-enthusiastic Australian women at the next table, two of whom appeared to be fitness instructors (or at least danced like they were) did make for a pleasing view as well.

Thankfully, there are no replacement bus services on the train home, so I won't find myself having to drag my case onto a coach in some godless hellhole like Stevenage to sit in traffic for forty-five minutes, and can get back and catch up on some TV as quickly as possible. Tomorrow is "pick up the cat" day, then on Tuesday I start my new job. Kind of terrified about that...