A brief update this time just to note I’m headed back to Whitby for the first time since 2022! Do ensure you’re following my socials as I pinball around the venerable home of UK Goth. I also feel obliged to highlight again the distinction between what is held this weekend and what is taking place over the May bank holiday weekend, a week later.

Yes, once again the splitters have struck and there are two separate goth events taking place in Whitby this spring. The Gothic Gathering is bringing together various events around the Pavilion Spa from tomorrow, whilst the original Whitby Goth Weekend is launching its new Revenant three-night show at the Royal Hotel over May 1st to 3rd. I summarised the internecine Whitby struggles back in my events overview in February, so you can read more into it there.

I’m still deliberating what I’ll be doing though! Friday I’ll be arriving, and checking in on the hardest working goth in the UK, Joel of Byronic Sex and Exile. Then, over to the Pavilion to check out Luxury Stranger, a band I’ve enjoyed since they first came onto the scene in 2006 – I even hosted them at the goth night I ran in 2018!

Saturday is always to be spent attending Goth at the Brewery, the free event featuring bands in the shadow of the iconic Abbey. You can make any number of gags about goths organising piss-ups in Breweries in the comments, but it’s always hideously over-subscribed. Get their early to have a hope of squeezing in!

From then I’m unsure what I’ll be doing next. Perhaps to the Pavilion for the Vampire’s Masquerade? Dark Souls at the Rowing Club? Entertain friends at the rental, or just roam the drinking halls of Whitby?

The secret to a good Whitby is finding the sweet spot between schedule and ramble, planned event and random encounter. Factoring in just enough buffer time to get tipsy and chatting with friends old and new. I’m excited to be back there, and the embittered old journalist in me will be musing on if Whitby is experiencing something of a resurgence – or if the division of promoters across calendar dates will fatally divide attendees. Personally, I think the two separate weekends might actually alleviate the crushing crowds as punters vote with their feet for the weekend they want. But will confusion aid to a packload of problems including logistics and expense, for the otherwise dedicated Whitbygoer?

It can seem like a tenuous black thread of events, and yet it’s endured multiple challenges – it’s possible Whitby goth events have a momentum all of their own that simply cannot be stopped, a giant tumbling obsidian boulder forever gobbling up impressionable young goths!

Will you be going to Gothic Gathering, WGW, or festivals further afield? Let me know in the comments, and if you see me in Whitby don’t hesitate to say hello!

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