GOTH CITY 3: SEASON OF THE WITCH

Skeletal Family: Mel Butler Photography

Leeds' very own goth cultural festival Goth City returns in October for 10 days of top quality music, theatre, writing and art.

Goth City Festival is a city-wide musical and cultural festival that celebrates the gothic and post-punk heritage of the city and of Yorkshire generally. Events include, gigs, clubs, discussions, spoken word, acoustic and social events at more than six venues and feature more than 20 different bands and performers. In keeping with the DIY and underground spirit of the event, the festival is held at the best alternative venues across the city, including the co-operatively owned Wharf Chambers and renowned underground Leeds' venues such as the Fenton, Bad Apples and Fox & Newt.

This year sees West Yorkshire goth legends Skeletal Family, pagan rock heroes Inkubus Sukkubus and recently reformed '90s goth favourites Rome Burns headline. Other notable acts include local rising starts FEHM, the Sisters of Murphy, and Saigon Blue Rain from Paris amongst over 20 acts over ten days.

All proceeds from Goth City Promotions events during the festival are donated to PAFRAS (Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers), a local charity for destitute refugees and asylum seekers. Their work providing financial and practical support to destitute refugees is vital in the current political and economic climate

Joel Heyes from Goth City Promotions said; “We are delighted to have so many fantastic acts from around the UK and Europe playing at Goth City Festival this year, as we continue to build a progressive and inclusive independent event that celebrates the past, present and future of Yorkshire gothic culture.

Goth City Festival is proud to have raised nearly £6,000 for PAFRAS doing our first two years. We support the charity not only for their invaluable work but also because we feel it is important to root the festival in grassroots community activism. Funds raised bat the event will fund a specific project providing therapeutic support to destitute women refugees. We have a set a fundraising target of £3,000 to ensure that this project is fully funded.”

Goth City Festival 2018 - Confirmed Schedule

Thursday 11th October - Launch Party featuring: Churchgate + Aether Skies + The Seventh Victim and the infamous Goth City Raffle!
Bad Apples Rock Bar, Call Lane, Leeds. Doors 8pm-11pm, Pay as you feel. Festival tickets £35.

Friday 12th October - Goth City Festival Opening Ceremony featuring:Inkubus Sukkubus + Dyonisis + Seventh Harmonic + DJs to be announced
Wharf Chambers, Wharf St, Leeds. Ticket £10. Festival tickets £35. Doors 8pm-late

Saturday 13th October - Occupy LS6!: The Goth City Otley Run Otley Road/Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 2pm start.

Saturday 13th October - The Sisters of Murphy
The Fenton, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 8pm-11pm. Ticket £5. Festival tickets £35.

Sunday 14th October - Black Gold!: dry social featuring food & stalls
Wharf Chambers, Wharf Street, Leeds. 3pm-6pm. Free admission.

Monday 15th October - Shadows of Goth - open mic ghost story night
Hyde Park Book Club, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 8pm-11pm, free admission

Tuesday 16th October - An Evening with Anne-Marie Hurst
Live interview by Tim Synyrstyr (The Blogging Goth) and Q&A
Wharf Chambers, Wharf Street, Leeds, 6pm-8pm. Tickets £5 . Festival tickets £35.

Wednesday 17th October - A Night of the Dark Arts III featuring: Alice Nicholls + Anna Smith Spark + The Two Buskateers. Compere: AMereKat
The Fox & Newt, Burley Street, Leeds. Doors 7.45pm, entry £5. Festival tickets £35.

Thursday 18th October - the Penny Magpie Theatre Company presents 'Edith in the Dark'
The Lending Room @ The Library, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. Door 7.30-10pm. Tickets £5. Festival tickets £35.

Friday 19th & Saturday 20th October - Goth City Festival: Season of the Witch featuring:Skeletal Family + Rome Burns + Saigon Blue Rain + FEHM + Last July + The Way of All Flesh + Isolation Division + The Golden Age of Nothing + Voi Vang + DJs to be announced
Wharf Chambers, Wharf St, Leeds. Weekend tickets £20, day tickets £10/£15. Festival tickets £35.

Sunday 21st October - Goth City FC vs Real Gothic FC
Middleton Leisure Centre, 1pm-4pm, 2pm kickoff. Pay as you feel. Festival tickets £35.

Sunday 21st October – Aftermath featuring DJs and surprises
Bar Santiago, Grand Arcade, Leeds, 8pm-11pm. Festival tickets £35.

www.gothcity.co.uk

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Leeds' Goth City Festival Returns For 2017

We are pleased to announce that Goth City Festival will return to Leeds, UK in October 2017.

Goth City Festival is a city-wide musical and cultural festival that celebrates the gothic and post-punk heritage of the city and of Yorkshire generally. Events include, gigs, clubs, discussions, spoken word, acoustic and social events at more than six venues and features more than 20 different bands and performers.

In keeping with the D.I.Y and underground spirit of the event, the festival will be held at the best alternative venues across the city, including the co-cooperatively owned Wharf Chambers and renowned underground Leeds' venues such as the Fenton, Packhorse, Fox & Newt, Cafe LS6 and The Hyde Park Book Club. It also feature other events during the fortnight such as Carpe Noctum, West Yorkshire's longest running goth club night and the largest event of it's kind in the north, which celebrates it's 18th anniversary on 7th October.

All proceeds from Goth City Promotions events during the festival are donated to PAFRAS (Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers), a local charity for destitute refugees and asylum seekers. The inaugural Goth City Festival took place between Friday 11th and Saturday 26th November 2016, and raised £3,500 for the charity.

This year's festival takes place between 5th and 22nd October. Headliners include legendary Bradford post-punks 1919 who continue to celebrate their musical legacy following the tragic death of founder member Mark Tighe this year, as well as legendary '90s goth survivors Manuskript and world-reknowned dark industrial pioneers Attrition. Also appearing will be David Wolfenden (former Mission, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Expelaires guitarist), recently reformed Sheffield darkwave greats Libitina and some of the very best acts in the UK goth scene today such as Terminal Gods, Luxury Stranger and In Isolation.

For more information contact:

Joel @ Goth City Promotions

www.gothcity.co.uk

Full Schedule:

Thursday 5th October - launch Party:

The Webb + Anxiety + the infamous Goth City raffle

The Packhorse, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. Doors 8pm, entry £5.

Friday 6th October - Goth City Festival: Opening Ceremony

Attrition + Alice Moving Under Skies + Death Party (UK) + DJs

Wharf Chambers, Wharf St, Leeds. Tickets £10. Doors 8pm-late

Saturday 7th October - Goth City Festival community outreach of action

Monday 9th October:

Shadows of Goth – open mic ghost story night

Hyde Park Book Club, Headingley, Leeds. 8pm, free admission

Friday 13th October - Hot Goth Injection!: New band showcase

They Called Him Zone + Every Black Day + Byronic Sex & Exile + more TBA
Bad Apples Rock Bar, Call Lane, Leeds. Doors 8pm, free admission

Saturday 14th October:

Occupy LS6! - The Goth City Otley Run.

Social event. Various venues, Otley Road/Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 2pm-8pm.

Saturday 14th October:

Gothzilla + Juratory + Circle of the Absurd

The Fenton, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 8pm-11pm. £5 entry.

Sunday 15th October:

Black Gold! - an alcohol-free social event featuring food & stalls.

Wharf Chambers, Wharf Street, Leeds. 3pm-7pm. Free admission.

Monday 16th October:

A night with David Wolfenden

Live interview by Tim Synyrstr (The Blogging Goth) and Q&A.

LS6 Cafe, Woodhouse Lane, 8pm-10pm. £5 entry.

Wednesday 18th October - Goth City Festival: A Night of the Dark Arts 2

Grassby & Walker, Ian FTG, A Short Dark Stranger, LMA Bauman-Milner.

Compere: AMereKat

The Fox & Newt, Burley Street, Leeds. Doors 7.45pm, entry £5.

Friday 20th & Saturday 21st October - Goth City Festival: Total Gothic K,O! Featuring 1919, Manuskript, Terminal Gods, Libitina, Luxury Stranger, In Isolation, The Creeping Terrors, The Glass House Museum, John Merrick's Remains + DJs to be announced

Wharf Chambers, Wharf St, Leeds. Weekend tickets £20, day tickets £10/£15.

Sunday 22nd October

Goth City FC vs Opponents TBA

1pm-4pm, 2pm kick-off, venue and other details TBA

Sunday 22nd October - Goth City Festival: Aftermath. Featuring DJs and surprises.

LS6 Cafe, Woodhouse Lane, 8pm-11pm, pay as you feel.

Full festival tickets: £35

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Preview: Goth City Festival, 2016

11th - 26th November 2016
Leeds, UK

Taking place between Friday 11th and Saturday 26th November, Goth City Festival is a city-wide musical and cultural festival that celebrates the gothic and post-punk heritage of the city and of Yorkshire generally. Events will include, gigs, clubs, discussions, spoken word, acoustic and social events at more than six venues and feature more than 20 different bands and performers. 

"Leeds hasn't had a goth festival for several years, and with the scene in West Yorkshire undergoing such a renaissance with new acts and club nights springing up we thought the time was right that Leeds had it's own festival once again. The city and West Yorkshire generally are closing associated with the development of the scene and even today is a major site for goth culture, with the leading club night Carpe Noctum being the biggest goth night in the north. 

"However, we didn't want to copy the format of or compete with the UKs other goth festivals, so we have built a cooperative, community-minded cultural festival comprising a good balance of established and new acts as well as spoken word, acoustic, club, discussion and social events too. We feel this gives the festival a whole new dimension and gives Leeds the opportunity to be a platform for dark alternative culture once again.

"Also, and more vitally, we have prioritised key small venues and community sites for our events, eschewing corporate sponsorship and donating all proceeds to a local refugee charity. This is because we want to help rebuild the counter-cultural underground in Leeds and keep the festival true to the DIY/punk origins of the scene." 

Rather than being a sprawling, high-cost event crammed with the usual big names from the gothic rock scene and propped up with vast amounts of corporate sponsorship, Goth City Festival seeks to highlight and promote the new generation of goth and dark alternative artists in the region and to tap into the counter-cultural spirit of the scene and of the Leeds underground.

Headliners include legendary Leeds goth rock legends Salvation, who recently celebrated their 30^th anniversary, as well as the two bands that symbolise the next generation of Yorkshire gothic – Leeds' Zeitgeist Zero and Rhombus. Also appearing will be Rosie Garland (singer of seminal Leeds act The March Violets), Leeds' post-punk pioneers Expelaires, the Sisters of Murphy (the premier tribute to Eldritch & Co.), Leeds' rising stars of 'sister doom' Chambers, and many more. 

In keeping with the DIY and underground spirit of the event, the festival will be held at the best alternative venues across the city, including the co-operatively owned Wharf Chambers and renowned underground Leeds' venues such as the Fenton, Packhorse and Fox & Newt. It also feature Carpe Noctum, West Yorkshire's longest running goth clubnight and the largest event of it's kind in the north. 

All proceeds from Goth City Promotions events during this period will be donated to PAFRAS (Positive Action For Refugees and Asylum Seekers), a local charity for destitute refugees and asylum seekers.

For more information contact:

Joel @ Goth City Promotions

www.gothcity.co.uk

Full Schedule:

Friday 11th November - Goth City Festival: Launch Party

featuring Expelaires + Isolation Division

The Packhorse, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. Doors 8pm, entry £4. 

Saturday 12th November: It’s Goth Up North presents Carpe Noctum featuring Rhombus + Lesbian Bed Death + Caffeine Kill

The Lending Room, The Library Pub, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 7pm-late. 

Wednesday 16th November - Goth City Festival: Black Planet - Leeds Goth in Perspective. On the discussion panel will be: Rosie Garland (writer, performer and March Violets singer), John Keenan (Leeds alternative music promoter), Karl Spracklen (Professor of Leisure Studies, Leeds Beckett University) and Tim Synystyr (journalist and A Blogging Goth), chair: Joel Heyes (Goth City Promotions)

HEART Centre, Bennett Road, Headingley, Leeds. 7.30-9.3pm, tickets £4

Friday 18th November - Goth City Festival: Hot Goth Injection!

featuring Chambers, Deathtrippers, Kittinger Freefall

Bad Apples Rock Bar, Call Lane, Leeds. Doors 8pm. Free entry, collection for artists’ expenses.

Saturday 19th November - Goth City Festival: Occupy LS6! - The Goth City Otley Run. Social event. Various venues, Otley Road/Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 2pm start. Full details and schedule t.b.c. 

Saturday 19th November -The Sisters of Murphy

The Fenton, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 8pm-11pm. £4 entry. 

Sunday 20th November - Goth City Festival: Black Gold! - an alcohol-free social event. Wharf Chambers, Wharf Street, Leeds. 3pm-7pm. Further details t.b.c

Wednesday 23rd November - Goth City Festival: A Night of the Dark Arts featuring Rosie Garland, AMereKat, Alice Nicholls, Undead Poets Society and Nathan Ramsden

The Fox & Newt, Burley Street, Leeds. Doors 7.45pm, entry £4. 

Friday 25th & Saturday 26th November - Goth City Festival: The Main Event featuring Salvation, Zeitgeist Zero, Last July, Quasimodo, Berlyn Trilogy, Dawn of Elysium, The Hearse, The Lost Souls, The Black Riders Cult + DJs to be announced

Wharf Chambers, Wharf St, Leeds. Weekend tickets £20. 

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