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diffrentcolours) wrote2025-07-17 11:02 pm
Goths on a Field 2025
This weekend, me and cosmolinguist went to Goths on a Field 2025. Long-time readers will remember last year, my first GOAF, where I drank too much and spoiled the weekend for myself. This time I had an emotional support boyfriend with me, and it was in the middle of a heatwave so the prospect of drinking lots didn't appeal anyway.
This year I was a bit more prepared than last, or so I thought... we arrived at the Flat Field at 5pm (a couple of hours later than planned but not a problem) and took my giant tent out of the car, only to find that the poles weren't in the tent bag and were, in fact, back in Manchester. I managed to not freak out about this and we were soon on our way to Shrewsbury where there was a Go Outdoors open until 8pm. We picked up a fairly decent 3-person tent, got back to the campsite, pitched it and were in time to see the evening bands. The other strategic problem was that both our air mattresses were leaky - the big posh one with the built-in mains pump, and the cheap one we'd bought as back-up. Between the heat, the lack of ventilation in the smaller tent and the constant sinking feeling, we didn't get a lot of sleep over the weekend.
The other bit of infrastructure news this year is that there was a catering van on site. Two people worked long, sweltering days (apparently the kitchen area hit 50C when busy, which I can well believe) to provide the goths with food and drink. There was a small but decent range of food, including veggie and vegan options, and everything made to order so it was easy to accommodate different preferences. We ate most of our meals from there, and the people running it were absolute heroes. It was conveniently opposite the outdoor DJ booth - during the day, when bands weren't on, there were some great tunes being played out across the campsite.
I definitely improved on last year in that I actually saw 8 of the 9 bands. Amerekat (pronounced "a meerkat" rather than "ameri cat") did some great filk-type songs, including "In the Graveyard" (to the tune of "In the Navy"). Sister Chain and Brother John provided some wonderfully over the top vaudeville style antics. But the definite highlight of the Friday evening was The Midsommars. Performing a capella, these nine women and nonbinary performers sang songs from a variety of folk traditions, with an emphasis on "the depressing ones" because they were at a goth festival. They performed in a circle in front of the stage, and it was a magical experience. They performed some songs that E knew the words or tune to, and I was pleasantly surprised to see him getting so into a band at a goth festival.
After a couple of encores from the Midsommars, we sat around in a friend's gazebo, drinking more beer and talking nonsense. There was a gorgeous full moon, and even E could see some of the stars. We went to bed not long after midnight. We woke up dripping sweat at around 6am and cleaned ourselves up as best we could. After tea and breakfast barms from the food van, we hung out and socialised a little more.
On the way over to the barn for the afternoon session, I engaged in a brief water pistol fight with a roaming small child, which cooled me off nicely. At some point some of the organisers were handing out free ice lollies to keep the crowd cool, along with free bottled water in the barn, which was a nice bit of care. Doberwoman did some good feminist shouting, a bit unpolished but any artist that ends their set by telling JK Rowling and the Supreme Court to fuck off is fine by me. Next up were Manchester's own blackmetalgaydisco outfit St Lucifer who put on a storming set including making puns of their own song titles and substituting backing vocals with kazoos at times, clearly getting into the spirit of things. The early start caught up with me and I had an accidental nap in the car during Last July, all the doors open to get some breeze through.
In the evening, we started off with the doom metal of Mortalitas. Apparently the band were suffering from heatstroke, and I do think it impeded their performance slightly, but the solid chugging riffs were pretty tasty. They were followed by Hurtsfall, who did some solidly retro 80s pop (including a cover of "Enola Gay"). They were a lot of peoples' favourites but didn't really do anything for me. Perhaps I was just impatient for the mighty Attrition, the Darkwave pioneers who've been a favourite of mine for a long time. The PA system in the small barn didn't help their complex soundscapes, but I was still transfixed. Martin's voice sounds not only like he's smoked 40 cigarettes a day for ages, but each one of those cigarettes has also smoked 40 cigarettes a day for ages. I sat near the front of the barn, utterly hooked. One of the good things about GOAF is that there's no "backstage"; the artists leave through the side door of the barn which is the route the audience takes to get back to the campsite, so I got to thank them for the performance.
And then it was back to the gazebo for more talking shit, finishing off the last of the booze we brought with us, and a slightly earlier night on the other air mattress which still went squishy by morning. Again, we woke up around 5:30am; we ate the instant porridge we'd brought with us for breakfast, and even with some leisurely packing we were ready to go by about 9am. We thought it'd be funny to head home before mother_bones was up, so we said goodbye to the few friends who'd actually emerged from tents, and hit the road back for showers and Sunday afternoon naps.
It's a weird little event but it's great fun. It was good to see people, and to banish some of the ghosts of the year before.
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Yep. This year was slightly bigger than last - 75 people rather than 50 - but it's still very much a social weekend with bands rather than a music event. The organiser says that the farm could fit 150 people, but he wouldn't be happy with more than 100.
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Hooray for that child and their waterpistol, frankly.
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Yay it's so nice to get to listen to the Unthanks again, thanks for adding them to your festival collection of purchases. :)