Resistanz Festival

We came back today from a festival.

It was a two day festival held at Corporation club, Sheffield and included amongst others, the following acts:

• Grendel
• Nachtmahr
• Soman
• Memmaker
• Straftanz
• Ultraviolence

These all roughly fit into the Industrial / EBM / Hard dance kind of genre which is good as I really like this kind of music. 

So the hotel was fine, the travel was fine, the bands were fine but the only things I had any concern about were my outfits and possibly being seen to 'not fit in'. I didn't care about being shitfaced or dancing like an idiot, I actually did both of those two things purposefully on the last night and had a whale of a time. I think  because some of the outfits were so considered and extreme, I felt like I ought to be keeping up with the others in order to fit in.

There were a lot of wild and crazy outfits. There was more than one very tall, very thin man dressed in whale net nights and a tiny skirt with much eyeliner on and those cute little backpacks. There was more than one woman in a low cut latex top. There was more than one man in a kilt bounding about the place to the tunes the DJ was playing nearly taking out people and their drinks but nobody minding as he was having such a good time. There was more than one person dressed in the military uniform of Nachtmahr There was more than 1 pair of New Rock boots. In fact, I'd bet money on there being more than 200 pairs of New Rock boots at that festival, actually.

I decided to go with the Nachtmahr uniform which I suppose is making a bit of a statement as it ascribes itself to something very specific. Not just Goth or Cybergoth but one band in particular. But I really loved the outfit so thought 'fuck it', why not. I enjoyed it so much on the first night that I sacked off my second night's outfit and just wore the top half of the first night with some jeans.

We met so many cool people and had a really great time dancing and drinking. After a couple of drinks, I didn't care about fitting in or if my hat was straight  so I can't imagine anyone else giving a shit at all. 

I think the festival really made me think about my perceptions of myself and how others actually view me. To be honest, If I wore what I wore there to work then people would stare at me but that is to be expected. That's what happens when there is something different in a crowd of similarity. But it was quite refreshing to be just part of the crowd and nobody give you a second glance. I'm not saying I am the centre of attention all the time or that I ever want to be but I do seem to get a lot of looks in the street. It's not that I think I'm stunning and men fall at my feet, that's not what I mean. It's not that I get admiring looks, it's just looks. Perhaps because I'm brown but a bit 'alternative' so don't fit into some category or perhaps because I have a thin white boyfriend. Maybe it's cos I dress a bit differently but it's always been the same. So I guess it means I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about it.

I loved Resistanz because nobody cared that I was there.