The Dance of the Vampires (March 2001) By : Michelle Bullock

Naughty of me I know, but in order for me to go to this event, I had to pull a fast one at work, but I eventually got the time off and, it did give the whole event a certain frisson of excitement, like skipping certain classes at school used to do. Anyway, we set off from Nottingham in full kit, the long drive ahead of us. We arrived in Lancaster earlier than we'd thought we would, around 5.30pm. When we had parked up we set off to find the venue, which was the "Royal Kings Arms" Hotel. Being as we were already dressed for the ball, we decided it would be best to head straight there, I didn't like the idea of wandering around dressed as we were in a strange town centre looking for a watering hole. We soon found the place.

My first impression of the hotel as we entered, was that it was quite smart, and the staff seemed quite at ease with the strange people asking directions to the bar. We were soon sitting in the comfortable surroundings of said bar, sipping Pernod and Black. Because we had arrived ahead of schedule, we were able to watch as the event took shape. Best of all we had the chance to hear snatches of the bands warming up.

The first band on, Adfinem, were sat chilling in the bar, and being an avid people watcher I found this interesting. I even overheard the lead singer reading out a review of his bands last gig. He and the other members of the band found this very amusing. He was not at all sure why the article claimed that they had a large gothic following, as he put it "we are not a gothic band.” I could (had I been brave enough) have cleared this matter up for him.. Maybe lads, it's because you sound a lot like Depeche Mode, because you dress in black, and your lead singer looks a little like "Angel.” Or it could be that you are playing gothic events like this and Whitby.? Having said this they did sound excellent....

As the bar filled up with mask-wearing party people, it became clear that "Angel" was not the only look-alike I would spot that evening, intentional or not.... I'm not sure, but, here for the record are a few of the "Stars" I recognised. Martin Shaw in his Scarlet Pimpernel role.... Marge Simpson (minus the blue rinse) in fetish gear, and a really good Frank Langella. I was also told that there was a ‘Marilyn Manson’ in a wedding dress...! Star spotting aside, the rooms (all three) were busy. The bar was inundated, but the staff were cheerful and friendly, and they moved themselves at an impressive speed to keep up with our usual thirsts. We went into the main room to watch the bands, eventually bagging seats towards the back, which surprisingly gave us a good view. Adfinem came on, and before long had the crowd with them. I can see them doing very well at Whitby. I just wish they'd leave the "Trance" stuff to bands that do it better.

The intervening disco was ok, some good tracks were played, and most people got up at some point to move to the music. Angela and I made several sorties to the bar and loo, leaving Kev guarding bags, fans and seats. The Last Days came on and after a few minutes I had decided they were not my kind of thing, but, to be fair they did have technical difficulties, and Angela and I wandered away to try and find David Close. We had not met him before, and it was a question of spotting someone we only knew had a goatee beard (needle in haystack time). We gave up and wandered back into the main room to rescue Kev and the drinks. Funnily enough, David had just come hunting us, with Martin (oops, sorry, Mick Smith) leading him to us. We had a right old natter, and he turned out to be a real sweetie, putting up with Angela and me being our usual naughty selves. We eventually tore ourselves away to go see Kev and Squid, passing some nice blonde totty en-route. Squid (who we've seen a few times at Rock City) were on form and played a good set. Kev was dispatched to get band photos as Angela and I sat gassing and sipping our drinkies. Once the disco was back on we both had a bit of a dance, and Gavin Dring (who organised the event ) came over for a chat, introducing us to people that might be moving to our neck of the woods. All of a sudden, or so it seemed, the night started to wind down, and as we had not booked into the hotel we had a long drive back, so it was time to call it a night. This is when the adventure turned a bit sour. Earlier in the day while looking for some parking, Kev was told to park in the Rail Station car park. When, after a brief walk to the station from the hotel, we got to the car park and found the gates locked...!