Established in 1994, Whitby Goth Weekend was a spectacular success story of an event that drew goths from across the world to the UK’s premier subcultural music event, held in the isolated Northern town of Whitby, for going on two decades. It seemed like it would last forever.

It was so successful, it turned the biannual dates into a town-wide free-for-all of activity beyond the confines of the Pavilion. In doing so, Whitby the phenomena gained an intertia all of its own that outclassed the actual Goth Weekend event. How else could it survive the unseating of Whitby Goth Weekend, the promoter, from running events at the Pavilion?

It’s time, once again, to clarify the differences. Whitby Goth Festival refers to any and all activities taking place in the town, including the events at the Pavilion. Whitby Goth Weekend is a wholly owned trademark of Top Mum Promotions and refers specifically to the events organised just by that organisation.

Nonetheless, Whitby Goth Weekend has now become the de-facto term for the entire slew of events occurring that weekend. Certainly that’s how the media represents it in their dully familiar and repetitive reporting year on year.

Indeed, low-brow rag the Daily Mail must have blindly recycled a previous year’s entry. How else can we account for their utter lack of copyediting? Kudos instead to the Yorkshire Post who actually attended an event rather than stalking the fancy dress carnival in Old Town. Shame it was an Ozzy tribute act. Sure, we debate what is goth all the time, but can we agree Black Sabbath, influences notwithstanding, aren’t a goth band?

Speaking of bands, the nominal heart of a goth festival, what was on offer? Honourable mention must go to the Marquis Masquerade at the Metropole Hotel, who run a smashing little event of bands and DJs – standouts being local rapscallions Holy Braille, and energetic Newcastle DJ Visra of Nightbreed, my local goth night.

At the Pavilion, it was a slimmed down affair on Friday with just three bands on the bill. A welcome promotion for glamorous rockers Westenra, who have held court previously at Whitby Brewery as the town’s own goth music success story. Theatre of Hate then supported The Mission, rounding up their globe-spanning Deja Vu tour – just a shame they couldn’t bring The Chameleons! It was a reliably effective performance from the veteran headliners.

This contrasted somewhat with Finnish goth-metallers The 69 Eyes, who topped Saturday’s bill. They’d never stoked my attention before, and their performance was expertly coordinated if oddly lacking in soul or engagement. Perhaps because their predecessors, the March Violets, put on a spectacular show that was possibly one of the best I’ve seen in Whitby for a long time.

Both nights however were capped by stalwart goth DJ and promoter HGV of Leeds night Carpe Noctum. Whitby might top people’s calendars for that biannual weekend event of the year, but Carpe puts in the effort every month to give you a stack of bands and hours of quality new and classic tunes to dance to. Kudos!

Being lucky enough to enjoy such events probably means I view the rest of the Whitby festival with a certain reservation. Attempting to reach Whitby Brewery on Saturday afternoon I had to negotiate town, and the notorious bottleneck of the swing bridge, all completely swamped with people who I would likely never see at Carpe Noctum, Nightbreed, or even just at the Pavilion that night. I’ve discussed it in entries past, but the prevailing atmosphere is of carnival, or perhaps a modern comics convention with garish and pop-culture based ‘costumes’ outnumbering recognizable goth style.

I’ve observed above that Whitby Goth Weekend no longer operates any gigs or functions during the festival. Whilst the Marquis Masquerade is already advertising their plans, and other promoters will no doubt step in with activities, from next year, Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival will cease running the April event so there will be no music festival at the Spa – long believed to be the tentpole event.

I’ll not be attending Whitby events in April 2024; I’m bound for the first time to WGT Leipzig! Yet, I know people will still flock to Whitby for the weekend, still fill its streets with zany and wacky outfits, still draw attention during the festival. It’ll still be a commercial smash for the town, there will still be gothic shopping and goth music events. I can’t help but notice though that, bit by bit, the weekend I knew is fading away. Perhaps it’ll be replaced by something new and exciting – stagnate and die, right? Time will tell…