List of gothic festivals

General Information
Related genresGothic rock, gothic metal, dark wave, industrial music, cybergoth
LocationWorldwide
Related eventsConcert tour, music festival, rock festival, heavy metal festival, electronic dance music festival, technoparade, teknival
Related topicsGoth subculture, goth fashion

The following is an incomplete list of gothic festivals, which encapsulates music festivals focused on gothic music. Goth festivals may feature genres such as gothic rock and gothic metal, as well as industrial music. The festivals also tend to feature aspects of the Goth subculture, such as fans and bands in goth fashion. Goth is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late-1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes.[1] The genre itself was defined as a separate movement from post-punk due to its darker music accompanied by introspective and romantic lyrics. Gothic rock then gave rise to a broader subculture that included clubs, fashion and publications in the 1980s.

Festivals

Name Years active Location Notes Picture
Wave-Gotik-Treffen 1987–present Leipzig, Germany One of the largest Gothic festivals in the world. A four-day event covering most of the city of Leipzig, Germany.
Annual Gothic Cruise 1989–present Florida, with one offs This yearly weeklong event featuring bands across the many subcultures of the goth genre. Onboard dj parties & private events throughout the event. Must be 18 or over to attend private events. Food, drinks, and cabins included in base pricing.
Whitby Goth Weekend 1994– present Whitby, North Yorkshire, England Twice-yearly goth music festival.
Castle Party 1994–present Poland Above the town Bolków stand the ruins of Bolków Castle, built in the 13th century. Devastated in the Thirty Years' War it became a property of Grüssau Abbey in 1703, though restoration efforts did not begin until 1905. Since 1997 the ruin is the site of the annual "Castle Party" Gothic rock festival. First three editions were on Grodziec Castle.
Convergence 1995–present North America Annual net.goth party run by and for members of the alt.gothic and alt.gothic.fashion newsgroup, and other related Usenet newsgroups. Events at Convergence typically included live bands and club nights, bazaars, fashion, art shows, panels, and tours of goth-themed locales in the host city. In recent years, however, the festival aspects of this event have been stripped away leaving the event transformed into a meet-up for old friends from past Convergences to get-together.
Dark Storm Festival 1997–present Germany One day festival on Christmas Day, city hall of Chemnitz.[2]
Infest 1998–present Bradford, England An annual festival featuring a mixture of electronic, industrial and gothic music. The festival features club/DJ events, live concerts from established international artists & new bands to the scene, both clothes & music stalls.
Bats Day in the Fun Park 1999– present Anaheim, United States Started in August 1999 as a joint effort between the promoters of the goth/industrial and deathrock clubs Absynthe and Release the Bats. It has become an annual three-day event.
M'era Luna Festival 2000–present Germany A festival of goth, metal and industrial music. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, Germany.
Children of Night: Black Soviet 2000–present Ukraine A festival of goth, metal and industrial music. The largest on Ukraine and in the CIS festival of gothic/dark/electro music and art. Now a journey on a festival became annual tradition of admirers of gothic/dark/electro aesthetics from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and other former Soviet Union countries. Annually passes in September in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Lumous Gothic Festival 2001–2020 Finland Commonly known as Lumous, was the largest festival dedicated to the goth subculture in Finland and the northernmost Gothic festival in the world. covering musical genres such as gothic rock, deathrock, industrial, EBM and neofolk.
Reverence 2003–2009 Madison, United States An electronic music festival. Featuring primarily aggrotech, electro-industrial and synthpop bands, it has also included other electronic dance music genres as well.
Summer Darkness 2003–2013 Utrecht, Netherlands Acts perform in various clubs throughout the city of Utrecht. The festival was a joint venture by Cybercase, Tivoli (Utrecht), EKKO and Mojo until EKKO made the decision in 2009 to quit.
Soul Noir:Festival of the Dark Arts 2017 – present Dublin,Ireland A Dublin based festival founded to celebrate all things Gothic, underground and macabre.
Original Soul Noir poster by Shota Kotake
Eccentrik 2004–2009 Raleigh, United States A three-day industrial and goth music festival. Started in October 2004, Eccentrik features various musical styles including deathrock, gothabilly, industrial, gothic rock, psychobilly, post-punk, synthpop and other related genres.[3]
Lima Gothic Wave Festival 2004–present Lima, Peru An event that brings together the Peruvian and Latin American Gothic subculture.[4]
Amphi Festival 2005–present Germany A two-day festival of dark music. It is held annually on the third weekend of July, in Cologne, Germany.
Blacksun Festival 2005–2007 New Haven, United States Was created in 2005 is a three-day industrial and goth music international festival.
Prague Gothic Treffen 2006–present Prague, Czech Republic Two-day festival of goth rock, EBM, darkwave, coldwave, synth and postpunk, DJs and picnic based in Prague clubs. PGT is held by a local goth webzine.
Darkland Fire 2008–present Rakvere, Estonia The Neofolk/Dark folk /Industrial Music Festival DARKLAND FIRE.[5]
Sinner's Day festival 2009–present Belgium Sinner's Day festival is one of Europe's New Wave/EBM/Goth festivals and consists of both a Summer and a Winter edition. The Summer edition is held annually during the last weekend of June in Ostend, Belgium, the Winter edition is held annually during the last weekend of October, Belgium. https://sinnersday.com/
Dark Bombastic Evening 2009–present Romania Festival spanning several days in Ryma, Alba Iulia, Romania.[6]
ENTREMURALHAS 2010–present Portugal It's Portugal's biggest goth and industrial music festival. It is held annually on the last weekend of every August, in Leiria, Portugal.
Castrum Nigra 2011–present Brodenbach, Germany One day festival within the complete castle Ehrenburg (Brodenbach) featuring a mixture of electronic, industrial and gothic music. The festival features DJ and club events, artists and performances.[7]
Dark Munich Festival 2012–2015 Munich, Germany Insolvent.[8]
Runes & Men 2012–2016 Leipzig, Germany Two day neofolk festival.[9]
San La Muerte Festival 2012, 2015–present Austin, United States Texas-based music festival for goth, deathrock, and dark punk musicians from across the world.[10]
Alt-Fest 2014 England A crowd-sourced alternative music and lifestyle festival, intended to run from 2014 onwards at Boughton Estate, Kettering, England.[11] The inaugural festival promised six stages and 180 bands, but instead, the event was cancelled due to lack of funding, with the controlling company consequently going into liquidation.[12]
Autumn Moon Festival 2015–present Hamelin, Germany Two day Gothic festival in October.[13]
SPECIES 2015–present County Leitrim, Ireland Annual Gothic arts and culture gathering, a grass roots collaborative festival run by its creative contributors.[14] Music from a diverse array of Ireland's dark, Gothic and Industrial DJs with live bands and Performances, Gothic Décor, Art Installations, Live painting, Gothic market and camping over a span of two nights and three days.
Goth City 2016–2023 Leeds, England A Leeds-based Goth festival over two weeks from 11 – 26 November.
Subkultfestivalen 2016–present Trollhättan, Sweden Two-day culture festival with a focus on subcultures like goth, synth, postpunk, indie, metal, punk, emo, lolita, industrial & electronica.
Dark Side of the Con 2017 – present New York Metro, United States A Celebration of the Darker Side of Popular Culture: Villains, Goth, Horror, Halloween Parsippany, NJ.[15]
Gothic Dark Wave Festival 2017 Tilloloy Castle, France A two-day festival with 22 bands, at a castle in the north of France. It took place on 19 and 20 August 2017.[16] The festival is unlikely to have a second edition.[17]
Darkside of Belgrade 2017–present Belgrade, Serbia One day festival featuring a mixture of electronic, industrial and gothic music. The festival features club/DJ events,live bands and performances
Deepland Festival 2017–present São Paulo, Brazil Goth music event held by Brazilian alternative record label Deepland Records.[18]
Dark Malta Festival 2018–present Gianpula, Malta Two-day festival featuring a mixture of EBM, industrial, gothic & Metal music. The festival features live bands, dj- & club-events.
The Unconvention 2021–present New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia Area, United States The Unconvention is a 3-day festival. Iselin, NJ.[19]
The Menagerie Oddities Market World Goth Day Festival 2021–present San Francisco Bay Area, California California's first World Goth Day Festival. Held in different cities around the Bay Area, this annual event features a curated dark art & oddities market, international bands and DJ's, performers, exhibits, and fashion.
The Reptile House performing at the Menagerie's 2nd annual World Goth Festival
Michael Garcia of The Reptile House performing on stage at The Menagerie's 2nd Annual World Goth Festival on the USS Hornet in Alameda, CA 2022

Gallery

See also

Related lists

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References

  1. ^ Abebe, Nitsuh (24 January 2007). "Various Artists: A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box | Album Reviews | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 19 October 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  2. ^ "The Dark Storm Festival". Archived from the original on 2015-03-07. Retrieved 2015-02-05. | →de:Dark Storm Festival
  3. ^ Eccentrik Festival Archived 18 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-07-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "facebook Darkland Fire". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  6. ^ "Dark Bombastic Evening". Archived from the original on 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2018-07-12. | →ro:Dark Bombastic Evening
  7. ^ "Castrum Nigra". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  8. ^ "DMF | Dark Munich Festival". d-m-f.me. Archived from the original on 2016-09-24. Retrieved 2015-02-05.
  9. ^ "facebook Runes & Men". Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  10. ^ "San La Muerte Fest Imports Acts". austinchronicle.com. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
  11. ^ "Alt-Fest 2014 Site/location announced!". Facebook. 2013-02-22. Archived from the original on 2016-02-04. Retrieved 2014-09-05.
  12. ^ "Facebook cancellation statement". Facebook. 2014-08-01. Archived from the original on 2015-11-22. Retrieved 2014-08-31.
  13. ^ "Autumn Moon Festival". Archived from the original on 2020-01-25. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  14. ^ "SPECIES Gothic arts and culture gathering Ireland". Archived from the original on 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  15. ^ "Dark Side of the Con: Un-convention for Freaks, Geeks, Goths and the Dark Aesthetic | Dark Side of the Con". darksideofthecon.com. Archived from the original on 2017-05-16. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  16. ^ "The festival's web page". Archived from the original on 2017-06-05. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  17. ^ "Le festival Gothic Dark Wave : les dessous d'un échec". france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr. France 3 Picardie. 27 August 2017. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  18. ^ "Archived copy". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2021-10-28. Retrieved 2019-07-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^ "The Unconvention: A 3-day festival bringing creatures of the dark together for a 3-day festival. | The Unconvention". theunconventionnj.com.

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