Voodoo Ball, Wake The Dead Parade: Invisible Wind Factory

Wake The Dead Parade

The Voodoo ball celebrated Hallowe’en at the Invisible Wind Factory and Getintothis’ Peter Goodbody was there to take in all the sights and sounds of the festivities.

Being treated as a de facto Hallowe’en Saturday saw the Voodoo Ball take over the IWF.

A space that now seems properly to have made its mark on the Liverpool gig and club scene. The sub-plot was given the moniker “Acts of Vengeance“, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

First off we had the the Wake the Dead Parade to negotiate in town. As the assortment of goths, ghouls and steampunks made their way down Bold Street towards their end point in Mathew Street they drew ever more followers like some freakish Pied Piper of Hamlyn.

Drums beat a pulsating rhythm while the crazies danced and posed for the cameras, pulling faces and trying to look fierce. It wasn’t really working, though, as everyone involved was having too much of a good time.

With the dead now fully awake after a rousing drum finale in front of what must have been a couple of hundred on lookers outside Flanagan’s it was time to head off to the Wind Factory for part 2 of the evening’s entertainment.

As it happened we were a bit too keen to get to the docks and as we walked into the huge space of the IWF there weren’t many there. But it was clear the fancy dress force was strong among our fellow early attendees.

Blood stained surgeons were mixing with priests and nuns and dominatrices as though this was a Smiffys convention. Time, then for a beer and welcome sit down for a while before the first band hit the stage.

In the event our respite was a bit longer than we had been led to believe it would be. But it meant when Glasgow’s Samson Sounds took to the stage at 10:15 there was a decent sized crowd.

Their brassy funk / reggae fusion proving a popular opener. The throng was dancing from the off. The band had come dressed for the occasion too, with day of the dead make up being worn by most of them. Finishing off their set with a couple of frenetic cola-dance style numbers to a busy but not packed IWF this was promising to be a good night.

Liverpool Music Week teams up with Getintothis for Invisible Wind Factory Closing Party spectacular

This was the Voodoo Ball – Acts of Vengeance. Said to be the follow on from “last years epic battle in which the Lords were heroically defeated and overthrown by the Punks – banished, never to be seen again”.

We’re not quite sure what that means, if anything. But it seemed intriguing.

“Hello Liverpool, you sexy bitch” said Nubiya Brandon after the first number from her band Nubiyan Twist. This was kind of R&B but heavier and jazzier and sassier. If we were curating the bill for a Hallowe’en party then we’re not sure we’d be immediately thinking of looking down the kind of jazz / funk route that’s tonight’s theme.

But it seems to work perfectly and by midnight the IWF is pretty packed. Maybe not a sell out. But this is a proper party now and Nubiyan Twist are calling the shots with their wicked horns and quite frankly gut pummelling bass lines.

They leave the stage and we’re promised something special to follow. Maybe these will be the acts of vengeance. But it was taking time for the wrath of whoever was angry and seeking revenge to get sufficiently worked up.

A troupe of dancers took to the small stage at the back with admirable enthusiasm. But something doesn’t feel quite right and the hiatus is getting a bit wearing.

Rebel Soul DJs keep the atmosphere on a high and most people aren’t bothered by the lack of action. But eventually the drums start on the main stage.

The Punks are back in the form of Katumba to celebrate their victory last year over the Lords. And they do it with style. Beating out wicked rhythms on the main stage.

These of course are the same crew that serenaded us down Bold Street earlier and their no compromise performance on the main stage takes no prisoners. It kind of squared the circle to an enjoyable night. One which we had very little clue as to how it would pan out when got the bus into town. Sometimes that’s the best fun.

Images by Getintothis’ Peter Goodbody