FOREVER YOUNG...

I'D NOT been to Milton Keynes before last weekend when I ventured to the 60,000-capacity National Bowl for a celebration of all things post-punk, alternative rock and goth. Along with Kraftwerk. And Berlin.

- By Mark Kavanagh

The occasion was the first Forever Now festival, a one-day event targeting a niche musical audience with figureheads from a scene that was largely born and bred in the UK.

But this is actually a sister festival to Golden-voice's celebrated Cruel World in California.

You would have expected the crowd to be, like me, enthusiastic revellers of a certain age, and while that was predominantly the case, there were plenty of dazzling young goths encountered throughout the nine-hour music marathon spread across two stages.

Our lively day of entertainment began with a superb funky punky set from Kirk Brandon and Theatre of Hate on The Other Stage, which was located in front of a dusty area that was far too small and narrow for the large numbers it attracted throughout the proceedings.

We then embarked on a tour of the festival site, a natural amphitheatre surrounded by a sheltered walkway housing a decent mix of food and drink stalls. However, it would transpire that there were not enough vendors, as the food ran out shortly after 8pm.