Midlands Goth Festival

Saturday was the first ever Midlands Goth festival, an event I had been eagerly awaiting since I first heard about it in January. Imagine how excited I was to find out that not only had the old academy (now Birmingham Ballroom) re-opened, a place in which I had spent half of my teenage years and attended many gigs, but that also they were holding a festival there which included Inkubus Sukkubus on the line-up!

Now the first problem I had was finding anyone to go with; I have many alternative friends but none of them are goth per-say and therefore were far less excited about it than me! In the end I went with my friend Olivia and her boyfriend, who are 'ex-goths', having done the whole spooky thing in high school before branching out into other alternative fields. They still have a soft spot for the music and found perfectly delightful gothy outfits from their wardrobes =]

Please excuse the sweaty hair- this was taken after I'd been dancing!

There was a market during the day, which unfortunately I did not attend because my friend didn't finish work until 7. I did however speak to Lisa, from Psiclone (who had a stall) later and she had said the market was quiet for most of the day (Personally I think opening at 10am was a bit over-ambitious) but then picked up , with a roaring trade in the last hour. The rain probably put people off for most of the day.

The evening was for the bands. I missed the beginning, arriving about halfway through Mechanical Cabaret's set. I wish I'd seen it all because they were really fantastic. They were followed by Salvation (who even had a 7 year old roadie!) and Inkubus Sukkubus who were both wonderful. A favourite moment of mine being when Inkubus Sukkubus covered 'paint it black' because it was always my favourite Rolling Stones song! The bands were followed by Vince Ripper and the Rodent Show; a delightfully spooky show with 3D visuals, dancing skeletons and rock and roll! Definately fun, especailly when I realised how ridiculous I must have looked with the 3D glasses and my top hat.

This was followed by a dark-hearts disco, with a range of dj's but by that point I had sloped off home exhausted. I really should have stayed home friday night so i could have stayed until 3am!

The crowd were mostly older, which made me happy because I love seeing eldergoths dressed up to the nines; having had years longer than me to perfect their style =] They were prefectly welcoming towards us 'young-uns' and even complimentary about our attire. In fact the lack of young blood was considered a shame by some and blamed on a lack of new goth bands coming up through the ranks because 'there are plenty of people out there who look like they shouls be here, god knows what they are listening to'. Maybe I should take up my trusty bass again...

I would like to thank the organisers for such a wonderful night and I hope it goes ahead again next year, bigger and better than before!