Wave Gotik Treffen 2011 Review
Wave Gotik Treffen is the oldest yet biggest gothic festival in the world, where more than 20,000 people come every year to celebrate the dark scene. 2011 was a special year since WGT celebrated their 20th anniversary. Therefore, instead of the regular 4 day-festival we were used to, we enjoyed a bonus of a grand opening day, where most of the bands that played at the 1st WGT back in 1992, were invited to enchant the dark family, people coming from all over the world to assist to this annual reunion.
Although we arrived in Leipzig on Thursday, the 9th of June, late in the evening, we managed to be just in time for the Love Like Blood farewell show. Unfortunately we didn’t make it for the other acts we so much wanted to see: Sweet William and Das Ich. We were told later that evening that the legendary Das Ich frontman, Stefan Ackerman, was very ill and hospitalized for 2 weeks, therefore the show was supported by guests Vic Anselmo and Myk Jung (The Fair Sex). We just hope Stefan will get well soon and get back on the stage to perform his memorable shows we all know.
The veterans of Love Like Blood played their first and only live show since 1999 in a fully packed Agra Halle. This is probably Germany’s most influential gothic rock band of all times. Even though it was a rather static show, Yorck Eysel’s characteristic deep and gloomy, yet strong, voice was at its best. The huge crowd enjoyed the songs: “The Everlasting Dream”, “Walking in Demimondes”, “Out of Sight”, “Within the Realm of a dying Sun”, “Fallacious world”, “Night is young”, “Johannesburg”, “Doomsday”, “Ylene”, “Dear Catherine”, “Kiss & Tell” and “Heroes” (David Bowie cover).
Afterwards we went to Gothic Pogo Party (GPP) and danced until morning. I’d say it was rather unusual for GPP to sound so much like When We Were Young (WGT’s official afterparty). Normally you hear a lot of deathrock at GPP, but this time gothic rock and post-punk were predominant.
This was probably the most important day for me because I was going to see Diamanda Galas perform for the first time. She was supposed to play at WGT in 2010, but unfortunately she injured her hand shortly before and had to pull out (her show is piano-based).
We arrived at the Leipzig Opera at 20:00, when the show was supposed to start. After a delay of 1 hour, we took our seats in the Opera room and waited patiently. Due to the limited places (for which you were supposed to get tickets in advance on the same day), about only 400 people could enjoy this very special event. An old and imposing Bluetner piano on the vaguely lit stage was silently waiting to wrest the tears of its audience.
Diamanda’s concert started with the track “Anoixe Petra”, a new song, which was released on the 28th of May 2010. The first piano chords and her voice, which has almost 4 octaves range, were so touching that they gave me goose bumps (which lasted until the end of the show!). Galas is an avant-garde artist, described as “capable of the most unnerving vocal terror”, who manages to move you through her long tones and her forceful (almost sharp sometimes), deep and depressive voice, blended with tender passages. All of these, together with the vibrations of the piano sound, transmit more emotions than the words themselves, in case you don’t understand the lyrics (as she sings in several languages – Greek, English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, amongst others.)
I was lucky and pleasantly surprised to hear her cover version of Jacques Brel’s “Amsterdam”, sung as the original, in French. Unfortunately it can’t be found on any released material. The artist spoke to the public in German from time to time and also made jokes. Besides many new tracks, we also enjoyed songs such as “You Don't Know What Love Is”, “Die Stunde Kommt” (written by Ferdinand Freiligrath, an Austrian poet), “In Despair” (the poem of Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis, a Greek poet) or “Heaven Have Mercy ” (cover of Edith Piaf).
I must say that the Opera’s acoustics were impeccable – no other “stage” would have suited such an event any better! The artist was called back onto the stage several times by the audience’s thunderous applause. Every single person stood and applauded for several minutes. At this point Galas made a remark:” It’s the first time in years for a theater to host people dressed up appropriately for the event, special for me” and ended up with a diabolical laugh. Her performance concluded with her most famous track, “Gloomy Sunday”, known as the "Hungarian Suicide Song" [1933] because many people have been found dead by means of suicide after they heard this song. I must admit I wasn’t expecting her to play this particular song; at this point I started crying and so did others (who weren’t crying already). I looked around me and everybody was crying. This was the most emotional and touching show I’ve ever attended and would gladly repeat this experience.
Surprisingly, on our way out we saw the emblematic members of Lacrimosa, Tilo Wolff and Anne Nurmi, and Oswald Henke from Goethes Erben, who participated in this special evening as part of the public.
Due to the concert’s delay, we didn’t manage to see The March Violets; therefore we headed to Werk II for When We Were Young (WWWY). DJs Rickbats (Decayed Lace | Stitches, US), Thomas Thyssen (Pagan Love Songs | Gothic Magazine, DE) and Ian P. Christ (Death # Disco | Remembrance Daze, DE) simply killed us on the dance floor. It was the first time I saw so many people attending an old-school party (hundreds!!!) – there was even a queue – yes, you had to stand in line to get inside.
To us, this day was dedicated entirely to Werk II, a location where most of the artists we wanted to see were playing. Unlike the previous day, this time the concerts started according to the schedule.
It’s been a long time since I last saw The Last Days of Jesus (more precisely 3 years). The band gave up to some of their unusual make-up & clothes, but kept the dynamic stage presence and humor. Despite Mari0’s energy, transmitted both musically and visually, the public (around 250 people at the beginning – 500 at the end) remained quite static. Somehow, this motionless audience reminded me of Love Like Blood’s public.
The situation changed with their song entitled “Positive”: more people came in and started to move their bodies. It wasn’t that “pogo atmosphere” you’d expect from a deathrock show, though. “Any Changes My Friend?” followed, while “Connected or Infected” must have been the culminant point of the show. The people finally started dancing and applauding – probably because it’s one of TLDOJ’ biggest hits. I suppose everybody was tired after last night’s parties. “Kino”, their last song, brought an unexpected enthusiasm from the crowd’s side. The audience, which was predominantly a deathrock crowd to begin with, kept growing as the Slovaks’ time on stage was draining.
Cinema Strange was my biggest disappointment of this year’s WGT because of the new electro elements integrated into their sound, as seen here:
“Greensward Grey”, “En Hiver”, “Tomb Lilies”, “Lindsay's Trachea” or “Catacomb Kittens” are just few of the songs that met our auditory senses.
The 3 Americans from Cinema Strange are known to dress completely differently and change their make-up from one show to another one. This was probably the most interesting thing about their performance: a cocktail of different clothing items and colors - from high heels to sports shorts, from feathers to ripped stockings, from military pattern to gipsy hairstyles etc. Lucas Lanthier also performed his famous dance with the microphone in a perfect fusion with the lights and the smoke. The guys were indeed extremely artistic, with a dramatic stage presence, which was rewarded with tumultuous applause at the end of each song, but I have to admit I was left wondering why they'd chosen this musical direction…not my cup of tea but the audience around me were lapping it up...Werk II was almost packed. It was clear that the band was very welcomed by their fans due to the fact they rarely play in Europe + there were rumors that this might be one of the band’s last shows. Hopefully not!
Elegance was added with the presence of Frank Vollman (Frank the Baptist, Telegram Frank) – now this was a very nice surprise! All in all it was an interesting collaboration.
After a short break, the fabulous veteran punks The Damned went on stage. It was clear that they were THE act of the evening. I understood the room was so packed that lots of people simply couldn’t make their way in to the show. I also spotted other artists among the audience: Barry Galvin from Mephisto Walz, Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo from Christian Death/ Shadow Project or William Faith from Faith & The Muse, to name a few.
The band started with “Street of Dreams” and continued with “Just can’t be happy”, when the crowd simply went mad. Although the average age of the audience was around 28-30, we all fell like teenagers again. The impeccable sound and the demented guitar sound took us back in time to the 70s when the punk movement just started to take shape. We also enjoyed tracks like “Blackout”, “Plan9”, “13th floor”, “History”, “Dr. Jeckyl”, “Under the Floor” and “Limit Club”. Dave Vanian was extremely funny and interacted with the public all the time. “Eloise” was the point when the people went into delirium, singing along with the charismatic frontman who continued to tease us with songs such as “Neat Neat Neat”, their biggest hit -“New Rose”, “Anti Pope” and “Curtain Call”.
The Damned gave an amazing live performance, all sprinkled with a beautiful lightshow, costumes and smoke!
The night couldn’t have ended better other than a serious dance session with the tunes played by the DJs Martin Oldgoth (Nostalgia | Whitby, UK), Yggdrasil (Graveyard Sessions, PT) and Bigo (Deaf Blind Dumb | Rip It Up, DE) at WWWY!
Due to some personal issues, our photographer had to leave urgently to go back to Romania early in the morning, therefore I went to sleep quite late. This is also one of the reasons I couldn’t make it to the beginning of Ulterior’s show. This is a new British band, formed in 2006 that is often associated with artists like The Sisters of Mercy, The Jesus and Mary Chain or the Cult. Despite this resembling they have a unique style that could be described as “electronic rock’n’roll”.
However I arrived right on time to hear my favorite song – “Big City Black Rain”. “Sister Speed” or their most famous track “Sex War Sex Cars Sex” followed, amongst others. Their performance finished with “Wild in Wildlife”, the title track of their album.
The bad sound was unexpected, especially if you consider the fact that they played on the festival’s biggest stage at Agra Halle, but they managed to compensate for it with an electric stage presence. The audience was rather numerous and mostly consisted of fans and curious onlookers. What struck me the most were the people who had their leather jackets painted with “Ulterior” on the back (you would normally see/read only “The Sisters of Mercy”, “Bauhaus”, “Siouxsie and the Banshees” or “Alien Sex Fiend”). I have the feeling they’ll be a future cult band. I should also add that they sold their merchandise extremely quickly; good thing I got to buy the last CD there.
Nosferatu were next on stage. This 90s English gothic rock band needs no further introduction. Because of the numerous member changes, Nosferatu wasn’t what it used to be, at least not for me. Damien DeVille is the only member to be in the band all through its almost 20 year history. This might also explain why they had the same crowd as their previous stage colleagues, who are not as popular yet. :) The technical sound problems didn’t help much either which is why they also had to leave the stage earlier; it looked like that was a cursed day for Agra Halle. Fans enjoyed their well-known hits in the underground scene: “Vampires Cry” and “Lucifer Rising”. To me it was a rather monotone and at some points boring performance. [Call me superficial, but nowadays people attend concerts to see and hear something different from the album, and hopefully not fall asleep during the show.] It would have been beyond me to resist the entire show, or else I would have fallen asleep; so I chose to go out to refresh myself with some drinks. I did the same for the next band, Megaherz, which is just not my cup of tea.
Killing Joke is one of those bands that always put on a brilliant show that includes professionalism, dynamic stage presence, attitude and message, not to mention that it sounds better live than on the album. Despite the band’s more than 30 year history, Jaz Coleman was extremely energetic and continuously interacted with the public. Geordie Walker played guitar in his extremely calm characteristic style we know. There was also an amusing issue regarding their “Intro”: bassist Martin Glover was a bit "lost", so the band performed this sequence twice. Killing Joke started about 20 minutes late after someone from the stage staff called for Mr. Glove, also known as Youth, to get on the stage immediately, because “his parents are waiting there for him”.
From their forceful start with “Requiem” to their second and most known masterpiece, “Love Like Blood”, the amount of people just doubled. Amazing! This last track was dedicated to long-time bassist Paul Raven, who sadly passed away in 2007. The audience received it with stormy applause and prepared for the next classic - “This World Hell”.
The lights together with the smoke and the theatrical performance of Jaz Coleman were the perfect ingredients for an absolutely delirious evening! “Wardance”, as the title clearly explains, made everyone move their bodies and manifest themselves. It was the turning point when the participants where practically transposed to a different dimension, encouraged to release their inner self and stand for honesty and their beliefs. At this point Agra Halle was packed: thousands of mesmerized people were singing, dancing, screaming and applauding. Their sound didn’t lose a bit of their 80s spirit and aggression on the rest of their setlist, which included “European Super State”, “Madness”, “Primitive”, “The Great Cull”, “Depthcharge”, “Asteroid”, “The Wait”, “Pssyche” and closed with the epic “Pandemonium”. Undoubtedly Killing Joke was one of the best acts of this year’s WGT!
After a short break, headliners Fields of the Nephilim went on stage in front of the anxious audience which welcomed them with whistles, shouts and applause. Agra was so packed that moving from one side to another one would have been extremely hard, if not impossible, judging on our experience of trying to leave the room when the show was over. Their performance slightly reminded me of the actual shows of The Sisters of Mercy: lots of smoke and lights. I had really high expectations because last time I saw them, in 2008, they gave an incredible show. Unfortunately for me, I had the impression I’m no longer at a gothic rock show, but a metal one. The extremely bad sound didn’t help much either. Despite this, the crowd really seemed to enjoy the concert and was quite ecstatic. Fields of the Nephilim started their act with “Shroud” and “Straight To The Light”, which were followed by “Penetration” and “From The Fire”, all shrouded in smoke clouds. I could barely see what was happening on the stage – not that I’d miss too much: to be honest, the artists rarely have any stage presence; they’re static all the time. I must admit that Carl McCoy’s baritone voice still sounds amazingly good. Probably their most known and successful track, “Moonchild”, was next on their setlist together with “Love Under Will” and another great piece, “For Her Light”. Totally unexpected for many of us, “New Gold Dawn” followed; due to the live version changes, I barely recognized what it is in the first seconds of the song. “ZOON III”, “Sumerland”, “Psychonaut” and (the encore) “Last Exit For The Lost” ended this magical evening at Agra Halle.
Next, we went to WWWY again, at Werk II, to have a good time and to dance on the old school setlists of DJs Patrick Cusack (Salvation, US), Ralf Thyssen (Pagan Love Songs, DE) and NecroPhil (Death # Disco | Remembrance Daze, DE).
After partying till morning the night before, it’s understood that we took it easy on the last day of WGT. We woke up rather late, but still in time to go see the Californian titans Mephisto Walz, who were celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.
I arrived at Parkbuehne even earlier than expected so that I also participated (unwillingly) to half of Tying Tiffany’s show. This is a rather new (2005) electroclash band from Italy, that wasn’t my cup of tea at all. I had the impression that the singer was screaming in my ears all the time or maybe the sound wasn’t good and I just didn’t realize. The small audience however enjoyed it and danced to their tunes. The artists were very dynamic and put on a nice stage performance.
At 20:30 the long awaited moment finally arrived, so we took our seats in the first rows. Mephisto Walz came on stage, introducing us to the lovely Sara Reid, the new vocalist, Christian Omar Madrigal Izzo on drums, Benn Ra on bass and the already known Myriam Galvin (vocals) and Bari-Bari (guitar & vocals). At this point I should add that Parkbuehne got remarkably crowded. “Mephisto Walz” and “Eternal Deep” were received with applause and shouts of enthusiasm. “Aegis”, which happens to be my favorite MW track, was next. I can’t describe how amazing it sounded. Once again Bari-Bari showed us what an incredible guitar player he is – PERFECTION in one word; no one can do it better than he does it. This song haunted me for days later on. We also enjoyed new songs from their last album (“IIIrd Incarnation”, 2011) such as “Alexandria”, “Keep Me From Walking”, “The Storm” or “Going Under Ground”. It was indeed a dazzling and forceful performance - I’ve never heard a more sensual vocal duo (Sara/Bari-Bari) before – and those mystical guitar riffs just won everyone’s heart. Older fans were pleased with early materials of Mephisto Walz (even from the Christian Death period), such as “Alle in Asche”, “Facade” + (as an encore) their most famous cover versions of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “Painted Black”. The audience simply went crazy: everybody was dancing, screaming, shouting, singing along with the artists, whistling and applauding! It was certainly a special experience for all of us, an extraordinary concert and a great achievement for the festival’s anniversary line-up! I hope to live/feel such “insanity” again soon!
Since it was the last day of WGT, we got back to Werk II for one last ghoulish celebration at WWWY, on the sonorities of DJs "The Pirate Twins-DJ-Team" aka Scary Lady Sarah (Nocturna | American Gothic Prod., US) + William Faith (Faith And The Muse, US) and Tino (Horror Highschool, DE). When we got there, there was a huge queue formed by the people: some were standing in line to get to the Misfits show, others to get to the party. It all went on pretty fast and we managed to get inside in 20-30 minutes.
All in all this year’s Wave Gotik Treffen was a truly amazing experience with a great line-up! I met a lot of people, made new friends and witnessed incredible live shows! Congratulations to the WGT team for all their efforts and for being so professional as always! Looking forward to WGT 2012!
Written by: Ina Dinu
Pictures by: Adi Dinca & Patrick Cusack
Berlin, August 2