Whitby Goth Weekend

Whitby Goth Weekend
Whitby Goth Weekend logo and iconic image of Whitby Abbey
Genre	Gothic rock, Industrial music, Electronic body music, Gothic metal, Synthpop etc
Dates	Twice Yearly (April and October/November)
Location(s)	Whitby, North Yorkshire, England
Years active	1994 – present
Founded by	Jo Hampshire
Website
http://www.whitbygothweekend.co.uk/

Whitby Goth Weekend abbreviated to WGW or referred to by attendees as Whitby, is a twice-yearly music festival for goths, in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, organised by Jo Hampshire.

Summary

Whitby Goth Weekend is an alternative music festival held in Whitby. The event consists of two nights of live bands (Friday and Saturday) at the town's largest venue, The Spa Pavilion, and three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) of alternative trade stalls at the Spa Pavilion, Whitby Leisure Centre, and Whitby Brunswick Centre.

The term "Whitby Goth Weekend" is sometimes used as a generic term to describe events during the week in Whitby as a whole, although the name of the event and its associated logo are registered trademarks of Jo Hampshire of Top Mum Promotions and refer only to the official event.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

History

Screaming Banshee Aircrew on stage at Whitby Goth Weekend, April 2005

Uninvited Guest on stage at Whitby Goth Weekend, October 2006

The origins of WGW are in a meeting of around forty of Hampshire's pen-pals in 1994. The first meeting was held in the Elsinore, public house in Whitby which with the Little Angel continues to be a meeting point during the weekend.^[5] Hampshire said Whitby was chosen for its Dracula connections, although probably more so because the connection had already fostered a sense of acceptance on the part of locals and businesses rather than any inherent romanticism regarding the location.^[5]

The festival was held yearly until 1997, when it became twice-yearly in April and October. It has grown into one of the world's most popular goth music events attracting around 1,500+ attendees from across the UK and beyond. The main event is held in the town's largest venue Whitby Spa Pavilion (known as the Spa) and the Bizarre Bazaar 'Goth Market' is also held there and at Whitby Leisure Centre and the Brunswick Centre. Access to the Spa in the evening requires a ticket and live bands play on both Friday and Saturday from 08:00 until about midnight.

The Metropole was often used as an overspill venue for the Spa, with bands due to play the next evening/or playing from the previous evening. In recent years it has been used as a venue for the markets as well as the clubs, Manic Monday and Sexy Sunday. RAW Nightclub and The Shambles are used for official fringe events, and other venues including The Resolution, The Rifle Club and The Metropole are used for unofficial events.

For many years there was an 80's night held at Laughtons, a genuine venue from the 1980s. The night would traditionally end with the song "Nellie the Elephant". In 2010 this venue became a Weatherspoons Hotel.

The "weekend" starts during the day on Friday and fringe events are held on Thursday, Sunday and Monday including club nights, markets, and a charity football match between visiting goth team Real Gothic, and local team Stokoemotiv Whitby. During the October/November event there is an independent custom car show, 'Whitby Kustom' in the grounds of West Cliff School. There are also several "meet ups" aimed at goths with a particular interest, e.g. Lolita Goth.

Newbies who have not attended the event before, are referred to as "Whitby Virgins". To help introduce them to the event, there is a WGW Virgins Meet Up on the Friday morning at the Spa.

Over the years there have been several "traditions" that have come and gone. Some of these include the Net.goth meal, as well as the traditional Monday evening beach party, which included a bonfire and occasional fireworks.

Economy

The event results in booming business for the town in general, with the weekend contributing £1.1 million per annum to the local economy.^[6]

Sophie Lancaster

The October 2007 festival was dedicated to the memory of the murdered Goth Sophie Lancaster (who had attended three Whitby Goth Weekends) and a collection of more than £3,000 was raised from various events to fund a memorial bench to her in the town.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Recent Times

Since 2013 it is now possible to buy either a weekend ticket, or a single Friday/Saturday only ticket.

In the mid-2000s the October weekend on or near Halloween began to attract large numbers of non-goths in Halloween, horror, historical, fantasy and Sci-Fi costume. Including Buskers and street entertainers, which has led to an increase in photographers and large crowds. Members of the Goth subculture have disassociated themselves from what is seen as a "non-goth fancy dress and photo parade".

In recent years, the weekend has attracted other alternative subcultures, including Victorian vampires, rockers, punks and members of the steampunk subgenre. Some regulars consider it is no longer a purely "Goth" weekend. It was acknowledged by Jo Hampshire in the 2014 Whitby Goth Weekend Guide, that in order to survive the event would have to diversify into other areas that have influenced Goth.

Whitby Goth Weekend acts by year

(*) indicates headline act for each night/event

Event #	Title	Date	Bands (split into nights where applicable)
1	Whitby 1	2–4 September 1994	Friday: Manuskript*	Saturday: Inkubus Sukkubus*, 13 Candles, Nightmoves, All Living Fear ^[10] ^[11]
2	Whitby 2	1–3 September 1995		Saturday: Children On Stun*, Shadowmaker, Suspiria, The Horatii, Manuskript
3	Whitby 3	27-29 September 1996	London After Midnight, The Marionettes, Corpus Delicti, Die Laughing, Midnight Configuration
4	Whitby 4	25–26 April 1997	Friday: James Ray's Gangwar*, Dream Disciples, Libitina	Saturday: Stun*, The Merry Thoughts, Judith	Sunday: Emma Conquest, Robed In Desire, The Tortured, Violet Times
5	Whitby 4.5	31 October – 1 November 1997	Inkubus Sukkubus*, Manuskript, Psycho TV	Rosetta Stone*, The Horatii, Sunshine Blind
6	Whitby 5	24–25 April 1998	Faith and the Muse*, Die Laughing, Nekromantik	All Living Fear*, These Crimson Dreams, Isobels Shrine
7	Whitby 5.5	30–31 October 1998	Sunshine Blind*, Funhouse, Nervosa, Dream Disciples (at overspill venue), Passion Play (at overspill venue)	Rosetta Stone*, Emma Conquest, Faithful Dawn, Sunshine Blind (at overspill venue), The Sisters Of Murphy (tribute act at overspill venue)
8	Whitby 6	23–24 April 1999	Switchblade Symphony*, The Last Dance, Denyze & Ed Alleyne-Johnson	Manuskript*, This Burning Effigy, Star 80
9	Whitby 6.5	5–6 November 1999	Dream Disciples*, Manuskript, Passion Play, The Breath Of Life (band) (at overspill venue), Sneaky Bat Machine (at overspill venue)	The Breath Of Life*, The Narcissus Pool, The Chaos Engine, Sneaky Bat Machine, Manuskript (at overspill venue), Dream Disciples (at overspill venue), The Chaos Engine (at overspill venue)
10	Whitby 7	28–29 April 2000	Mesh*, Saints of Eden, The Chaos Engine	Sigue Sigue Sputnik*, VNV Nation, Putra-Chic
11	Whitby 7.5	3–4 November 2000	Clan of Xymox*, Screaming Dead, Mist Of Avalon	Inkubus Sukkubus*, Emma Conquest
12	Whitby 8	27–28 April 2001	Dream Disciples*, Attrition, Adfinem	Je$us Loves Amerika, The Last Days, Seize, The Faces Of Sarah
13	Whitby 8.5	2–3 November 2001	Andi Sexgang*, Sorrow	D.U.S.T., Finger Puppets, Swarf, Rome Burns, Cauda Pavonis
14	WGW 9	26–27 April 2002	Paradise Lost*, Manuskript, Passion Play, Je$us Loves Amerika	Action Directe, Arkam Asylum, Little Match Girl, Synthetic
15	WGW 9.5	1–2 November 2002	Last Rites*, The Narcissus Pool, Swarf	Beautiful Deadly Children, Ordinary Psycho, Season's End, Spermwhale
16	WGW 10	11–12 April 2003	Belisha, deadfilmstar, Scary Bitches, The Ghost Of Lemora, Torsohorse	Red Lorry Yellow Lorry*, Spares, Synthetic, Psychophile
17	WGW X	30 October – 1 November 2003	Thursday: Inkubus Sukkubus*, Faith and the Muse, DeathBoy	Friday: Wayne Hussey*, The Chaos Engine, All Living Fear	Saturday: Icon of Coil*, Sheep on Drugs, Goteki	Sunday: All About Eve*, Manuskript, Rose McDowall
18	WGW 11	23–24 April 2004	The Damned*, Earth Loop Recall, Zombina and The Skeletones	The Mission*, Dream Disciples, Libitina
19	WGW 11.5	29–31 October 2004	Manuskript*, The Last Dance, Corrosion, Faetal	Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction*, Claytown Troupe, Beautiful Deadly Children, Torsohorse	Alien Sex Fiend*, Glass, Ovni^[12]
20	WGW 12	22–23 April 2005	Gene Loves Jezebel*, Voltaire, Psychophile, Screaming Banshee Aircrew	In the Nursery*, QueenAdreena, Devilish Presley, Greenhaus^[13]
21	WGW 12.5	28–29 October 2005	Doctor and the Medics*, NFD, DeathBoy, Katscan	Rico*, Mechanical Cabaret, The Modern, Neon Zoo^[14]
22	WGW 13	21–22 April 2006	Manuskript*, Swarf, Misty Woods & GDM, History Of Guns	The Breath Of Life*, Frankenstein, Zombina and The Skeletones, Spares^[15]
23	WGW 13.5	27–28 October 2006	The Damned*, Vampire Beach Babes, Trauma Pet, Xykogen	XPQ-21*, Katzenjammer Kabarett, Inertia, Uninvited Guest^[16]
24	WGW 14	27–28 April 2007	The Last Dance*, Sohodolls, D.U.S.T., RazorBladeKisses	The Crüxshadows*, Bella Morte, Machine Gun Symphony, Rome Burns^[17]
25	WGW 14.5	26–27 October 2007	The Cassandra Complex*, Crud, Ghost of Lemora, Voices of Masada	The Birthday Massacre*, Sins of the Flesh,^[18] All Living Fear, Pro-jekt^[19]
26	WGW 15	26–27 April 2008	Star Industry*, Skeletal Family, Cauda Pavonis, Dyonisis	Clan of Xymox*, Mercurine, Screaming Banshee Aircrew, Snuff Radio^[20]
27	WGW 15.5	31 October – 1 November 2008	Specimen*, Christian Death, Rezurex	Wayne Hussey*, Voltaire, The Beauty of Gemina^[21]
28	WGW 16	24–26 April 2009	Abney Park*, The Last Dance, Zeitgeist Zero^[22]	Diary of Dreams*, The House of Usher, RazorBladeKisses^[23]
29	WGW 16.5	30 October – 1 November 2009	The Eden House*, Zombina and the Skeletones, Grooving In Green	Faith and The Muse*, Adoration, Rhombus^[24]
30	WGW 17	22–25 April 2010	Justin Sullivan*, Deviant UK, In Isolation	Anne-Marie Hurst*, Pretentious Moi?, Vendemmian^[25]^[26]
31	WGW 17.5	29–31 October 2010	Wayne Hussey (with special guests Simon Hinkler, Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls)*, Autumn Cannibals, The Last Cry^[27]	Manuskript*, The Stripper Project, Pro-jekt^[28]
32	WGW 18	25–27 March 2011^[29]	Red Lorry Yellow Lorry*, Fuzzbox, Dr Arthur Krause, Black Moth, Dutch Order	The Damned*, Frankenstein, The Beauty Of Gemina, Luxury Stranger, Pink Hearse
33	WGW 18.5	4–6 November 2011^[30]	Abney Park*, The Mist of Avalon, Devilish Presley, Cryogenica, Berlin Black	Chameleons vox*, Voltaire, Rhombus, The Dark Shadows, The Death Notes
34	WGW 19	27–29 April 2012^[31]	In The Nursery*, Ugly Buggs, The Spiritual Bat, Last July	Gene Loves Jezebel*, Die Laughing, The Bellwether Syndicate, Red Sun Revival, Dead Eyes Opened
35	WGW 19.5	2–4 November 2012^[32]	Mesh*, Fangs On Fur, Inertia, Dutch Order, Last July	Alien Sex Fiend*, Blitzkid, All Living Fear, The Last Cry, Bad Pollyanna
36	WGW 20	26–28 April 2013	Voltaire*, Doctor and the Medics, Zombina and the Skeletones, Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons	Clan Of Xymox*, Skeletal Family, The Danse Society, Deviant UK, William Control
37	WGW 20.5	1–3 November 2013	William Control*, Fearless Vampire Killers, Ashestoangels, Bad Pollyanna	Diary Of Dreams*, Bella Morte, Rabia Sorda, Method Cell
38	WGW 21	25–27 April 2014	Toyah*, Vince Ray & The Boneshakers, Cold In Berlin, Alexa De Strange	New Model Army*, The Last Cry, UK Decay, Jordan Reyne^[33]
39	WGW 21.5	31 October – 2 November 2014	Heaven 17*, Visage, Deviant UK, Black Volition	Voltaire*, Hugh Cornwell, Rhombus, Bad Pollyanna, Lesbian Bed Death^[34]
40	WGW 22	23–26 April 2015	Thursday: The Birthday Massacre, Abney Park, The Red Paintings, Ashestoangels	Friday: The Crüxshadows, Bella Morte, Sigue Sigue Sputnik Electronic, The Last Dance	Saturday: Andi Sex Gang, The Chameleons Vox, Manuskript, Jordan Reyne	Sunday: The Damned, William Control, Doctor And The Medics, Pussycat And The Dirty Johnsons^[35]
41	WGW 22.5	30 October – 1 November 2015^[36]	Altered Images*, Fearless Vampire Killers, Bad Pollyanna, Chasing Dragons	Spear of Destiny*, The Last Cry, Vince Ripper and the Rodent Show, In Isolation^[37]
42	WGW 23	22–24 April 2016	Therapy?*, The Red Paintings, Lene Lovich, Hands Off Gretel	Wayne Hussey*, Fuzzbox, Rhombus, She Made Me Do It^[38]