INFORMATION

General Information

During the year 2000 D J Clark built a visual record of the Lancaster & Morecambe district using photographs and information submitted by those that feature in the pictures. The project was conducted in association with Lancaster Museum and has been archived for future generations to look back at the district at the turn of the new Millennium. For more information on the project visit the information page. If you find a caption is wrong or there is a fault with the page please e-mail D J Clark.

Date: July 22nd 2000
Location: Morecambe Dome

Photographer's Diary

Holidays in the Sun - Punk Festival at the Dome Morecambe

I was tired from my early start but this festival had much promise. Arriving about 8 PM I went to the ticket office and persuaded them to let me in and take pictures. They gave me a wrist band, which proved useful as I wanted to stroll around Morecambe first. The band not only let me come and go as I please but was also my sign to the punks that gathered outside that I was OK.

It was a stunning night with skies that it up the bay. A stark contrast to the aggressive look to the people that gathered for the festival. I was a little nervous at first to approach them, but after a warm greeting from my first attempt I managed to get most of the pictures I wanted. Just one woman with orange hair standing in warm evening light refused me - it would have made a strong image.

Inside the dome it was hot and dark. I moved around getting a few pictures but found it hard to work. Many of those I wished to photograph needed to save face in front of friends and made an insulting gesture or shouted at me when I pointed the camera. I found a safe area, between the crowd and the stage. The music was so loud there was no option to communicate. On stage the performers screamed and spat, and behind the barrier the crowd reciprocated by throwing plastic cups of beer and spitting back. Anything short of the target, got me.

After a few hours I had all I wanted. Other photographers had turned up in anticipation of bigger bands who played the early hours but I had what I wanted. Many of the bands were the same I had followed as a teenager - What becomes of us in adolescence is beyond me and this experience made it all the stranger.

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