Any event with a dress-code of “you or a Zombie celebrity that has been sent straight to the gates of HELL!” has my attention, and when there’s also a killer line-up like Saturday’s – Woodstock Mafia, Genitalia, The Bone Collectors, Ann Jangle – you can count me and my zombie garb in.

It always bugs me that the majority of people at dress-up parties don’t bother dressing up (where as I’ll jump at any excuse to wear a stupid outfit) so I was glad to see that a significant amount had gone to an effort on Saturday.

The girl doing admissions was pretty wasted when I arrived (at like 9:30, it was clearly going to be a heavy night…) and the party had been going for quite a while as Ann Jangle were halfway through their set.

It was the first time I’d seen them and, as I’m not a huge blues fan, I confess I zoned out after a while, they did however, boast one of the most impressive lead guitarists I’ve seen in a while. So as much as I found myself drifting away from the music as a whole, I became more and more focused on the guitar, it was a real show-stealer.

After them, a guy I thought was a pirate (and turned out to be Napoleon, I think…) took to the stage to hand out some sailor Jerry in a raffle. He explained that we all should’ve gotten a number when we came in…I blamed the wasted door lady for my lack of one but it seemed I wasn’t alone in being confused and ticketless…it took 4 or 5 redraws to find someone with a winning number, but the whole procedure was pretty hilarious…

It started becoming ridiculously hot as the venue filled up and The Bone Collectors got people dancing.  I really enjoyed watching them before so was looking forward to seeing them again.

Halfway through, Napoleon was back with another giveaway, this time it was a ‘sexy dance-ff’ to win some lingerie. Surprisingly there weren’t too many takers, but 2 contenders were eventually coaxed onto the stage where they danced for a bit before both being awarded the prize (and dividing it up between them).

After the brief interlude, The Bone Collectors continued, with only a broken guitar string preventing an encore. Once again, I thought they were great (and really liked their make up).

Napoleon returned for another Sailor Jerry raffle and was (unsuccessfully) bribed by Toby2shoes several times before finding a legit winner. Once the raffle was over, he introduced a song called Everybody’s got long hair and then started to sing with the band that had been setting up behind him…it all fell into place then and I realised he was in fact the singer for Genitalia.

I remember hearing the name from a friend some years ago (as well as how said name made it pretty much impossible to research the band online…), but I’d never seen or heard them before. Thrashing away and having the time of his life in the front row was Papa Smurf; he has some pretty rocking taste and his presence turned out to be a good omen – I really enjoyed the band and thought they were loads of fun.

Halfway through they held another competition: this time, the aim was to dance like you were possessed, so I gave it a go, glad to finally have a platform to showcase my unique dancing style, and amazingly, both the chick next to me (who was so keen she was doing the dead dance before the competition even began) and I won! So I now have a Wildfire tattoo voucher (and 6 months to convince my parents not to disown me when I use it) – awesome!

Woodstock Mafia also had great costumes and make-up, and put on another killer show – cool music, loads of energy and a lot of fun. Highly enjoyable and highly recommended.

Best night I’ve had in a long time; special thanks to the girl who was judging the dance-offs  and who told me afterwards ‘I said to the others that chick, she looks fucking posessed!’ Your photos are over here…

– – –

Find them on Facebook:

Woodstock Mafia   |   Genitalia   |  The Bone Collectors   |   Ann Jangle

Photos on Facebook on my new page over here