It certainly wasn't what I'd expected. There I was all decked out in satin corsetry and black lace, expecting to fit right in with a bunch of morbid, languid frill seekers, but no! Maybe times had changed, I don't know, and I was never much of a goth anyway, but they seemed to me more like a collection of post-modern punks and bondage fans than anything else.

There's a lot of PVC in Slimelight, a lot of facial piercing and insane, glo-coloured hair (mostly weaves). Some of the girls have flourescent pink and green hairdos big enough to clear a 3 foot radius around them, with pigtails going down to their waists. Many people wear bondage gear - dog collars, leashes, chains, a couple of face masks.

There are also some more traditional, long-gowned goths with lanky black hair, but the whole look seems strange when it's a white PVC ballgown on a tiny lip-pierced girl or a flowing velvet skirt on a 6 foot bloke.

Most sacreligeously of all, of course, some people are flying high on E's, and happy goths are not what the manual said.

It's great fun, is Slimelight don't get me wrong. But if you're expecting a student-like collection of torn fishnets and suicidal diatribes, you're in the wrong place.