The bones of this article were compiled on the terrifying early flight back on May 21, from my very first visit to Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig. The day before the celebrations of World Goth Day, it seems apt to share my thoughts on goth through the prism of this major festival!
The most immediate impact is the scale. Over 200 bands were booked and played to appoximately 20,000 attendees across multiple venues in the city. Event organizers worked with city authorities to allow free travel on trams and buses, and as I rode from venue to venue, every stop was crowded with the black-clad masses. Shops, restaurants, bars, tourist attractions and public spaces were full of the goth-inclined – and all of it marked by a harmonious cooperation that ensured minimum delays. It stands in stark contrast to the ever-increasing chaos at the UK’s flagship event, Whitby Goth Festival, where attendees have to contend with overwhelmed local transport and a lack of overall coordination.
Not that one can compare the attendance however – conservative estimates are more in the region of hundreds of visitors to Whitby, and how many of them attend any gigs has always been a source of debate. But WGT demonstrates there is a huge audience out there willing to travel the world for a massive festival experience. The responsibility, I believe, falls on us as punters to support those events already taking place in the UK – for example, Corrosion and Bats in the Attic in Morecambe, Leodis Requiem in Leeds, or Infest in Bradford which seems to be closest to WGT in terms of scale, acts and optimal operation! More attendees, more profile, more money all mean a wider variety of popular acts and exciting new talent – and a healthier goth scene.
Back on my WGT review though, we started with Echoberyl at Felsenkeller. This was a great venue, not a main location and yet packed to the rafters with fans. I noted sadly that the vocals seemed low in the mix, and this was an issue I’d see throughout the weekend – and heard from other attendees too. Did you notice any sound issues at the events you went to? Let me know in the comments!
We headed next to the Taubchenthal, merely a pleasant walk rather than a multi-stop tram jump! I really liked the scale and style of this venue, and caught the closing few minutes of Cemetery Girlz who definitely intrigued. Principe Valiente really delivered that Cure-inspired sound, minimal stage presence and yet maximum sound – expansive, introspective, beautifully crafted. One of my top picks to see, and I was delighted I was able to squeeze in two bands at two different venues. This is counter to much of the advice online which is to pick a venue and stay put – and I can see the benefit. It’s less stressful, and you’ll likely catch bands you’ve never heard of but are on your frequency! It’s the right kind of attitude for a scene which can become insular and siloed with its various subgenres and artists.
Already exhausted, we called it a night there and retreated, resolving to make Saturday a day of effort! We visited Agra for the first time, finding the market extensive although providing much of the same merchandise as at UK events like Tomorrow’s Ghosts or Infest. I like to browse but rarely see anything I passionately want to pick up. I might be tempted to get some WGT merch at least – how about you? Does the shopping element of WGT appeal?
For Saturday, the group decided and I was off my familiar style of bands – checking out the haunting pagan/medieval style of Almara at Schauspielhaus. What a rare delight, to enjoy gorgeous, archaic talent in a professionally classic venue! My companions elected to stay and see the apparently intense and bizarre Nemeur, whilst I struck out again for nearby attractions, namely Haus Leipzig and the catchy duo Xeno and Oaklander! Here the scheduling worked well, letting me step effortlesly from genre to genre via venues just metres apart. I thoroughly enjoyed this American synth duo who’ve long been on my Spotify playlists, and they delivered a mesmerizing set.
Sadly, we found Martin Dupont failed to live up to headline status for us personally. But I actually didn’t mind overmuch – the joy of a universal ticket to all these venues and artists means you can gamble on a band you’ve never seen before, and if it doesn’t pay off, there’s always another you can look forward to! Such freedom to explore the variety of artists is both rewarding, and encouraging of experimentation. Cross-pollination of fans makes the entire scene stronger, and I thoroughly encourage the uptake at other events – Goth City Leeds had several venues and it’s a blueprint I’d like to see applied elsewhere!
I love to cap an evening out with an afterparty and we set forth to explore the various DJ events. In our rookie status, we found ourselves bewildered by the array I’ve celebrated previously, and seeking a generic cross-genre DJ night that would appeal to our myriad tastes, we tried Darkflower. Sadly I found the venue too small AND oversubscribed by other punters, hosted by DJs hewing close to a hard EBM style – at one point I went from Room 1 to Room 2, only to hear the same X-RX track! This was sadly not shaping up to be our evening, so we cut it short. I’ll be endeavouring to pin down a satisfying DJ experience for next time…
I also took a valuable lesson away, which is that it’s difficult to take all the info in at once, especially at an event as vast as WGT. I remain grateful to the invaluable resource that is Sadgoth.com, and on reflection feel there is something of the goth scene in my experience. You cannot know it all, do it all, or feel comfortable to begin with as a babybat. Experience and learning will lead to the familiarity that breeds confidence, from one event to your entire experience with goth. Relax, keep your eyes, ears and mind open, and you’ll find the way!
Back in Leipzig however, we used Sunday to visit some more sights. We took in the astounding grandeur of the Monument to the Battle of Nations, a fascinating historical site that commemorates the legendary 1813 battle before becoming embroiled itself in Germany’s turbulent history thereafter. It was an informative and enjoyable visit, but as not part of the festival meant sacrificing some time we could have spent seeing bands, shopping at the market or exploring the busier places like the Pagan Village. I think we learned the hard way that a conventional holiday and a festival need careful balancing, or at least an acceptance tthat something somewhere will be compromised. Again, I feel like this is also a useful approach in contemporary goth – where compromise between ultra-gatekeepers and diletttante participants could be helpfully harmonious! Dare I say it, we may need to find consensus on What Goth Is so we can at least find some agreed, neutral middle-ground!
However ambitious this plan is, at the time I was still not finding the right balance! I hurtled back, grabbed the lightest of meals and an outfit change at home before racing to Stadtbat for Semiotics Department Of Heteronyms. I’d been taken in by their aggressive track ‘No Miracles’, a merciless threat – but their performance on Sunday was a reversal of this style, darkly alluring and sultry! This was an intriguing and enjoyable variation, although I simply couldn’t give them sufficient time to explore. The next band I keenly wanted to see were hitting the Westbad stage before SDH even finished, so I had to depart early. Sometimes, compromising too much can rob you of your enjoyment – and I feel I did SDH a disservice, not to mention the other bands at Stadtbat. A cautionary tale!
Ah, but I was so anticipating Night Club, the darkly sweet synthpop from the US, all sex, shadows and scene war! So had everyone else – the queue was around the block, and I wondered if my gamble would fail! Yet the venue staff were exemplary, hurrying the hordes in to a waiting space – perhaps there had been less inside for Vanguard and Rroyce, other patrons who had ignored the sage advice to arrive a couple of acts early? Perhaps I would have enjoyed these bands as much as SDH?
As I said before, it’s a cautionary tale, and a valuable early lesson to all goths – get to the venue on time, support every band on the bill, take the gamble that you may find someone new to listen to. Above all, we must encourage fresh blood into this creaking old scene! Veteran Goths agree, the scene cannot survive on legacy acts indefinitely!
So then, Night Club delivered, with all that irrepressible American energy channelled into a frantic stage-show and enthusiastic delivery of songs. Again, I noted sound issues – the venue’s PA seemed to struggle at the lower end of the band’s spectrum, but Night Club overcame to deliver a piunding set of absolute bangers that seemed over too soon.
Yet another venue change then, and down to Agra for my first ‘big headliner’, the unique chologoth act Prayers! We navigated the extensive markets and made our way into the venue just as the band took the stage, an ideal moment of serendipity. I enjoyed the performance greatly, with Rafael Reyes encompassing that archetypal goth frontperson duality – “I’m really quite a shy person” he says, before launching into aggressive yet heartfelt anthems to death, love, fear and hope. I know chologoth is a dramatic addition to the sprawling gothic pantheon and yet I can detect that midnight DNA that underpins all the music I like in the scene – I am delighted WGT had them to headline and that I could enjoy it. It was something novel and yet familiar all at once, a tantalising contradiction!
Sadly, again we were motivated to head for home early, afraid of trams being curtailed, and so missed yet again the chance to find a DJ willing to deliver an evening’s dancing. This again led me to reflection, and a personal plea to more promoters – please consider if you can double-up the experience with bands and DJs? On these two sturdy pillars can the goth scene not only be sustained, but hopefully grow!
Monday we took a day trip to Berlin, and the evening was given over to grimly packing ahead of a 6:30am (!!!) flight, where I drafted the first version of this article. I know now I will be back to Wave-Gotik-Treffen, armed with my experience of what to expect from his event, how to get what I want, and how to enjoy even more of what goth can give me. To make it this time, I foregoed the April trip to Whitby, an event I’ve been visiting on and off since 2007 – and I’m still debating over whether to attend November’s festivities. The decision may end up being made for me, if logistics and costs simply price me out of attending as they have so many others, and what a grim conclusion that will be.
WGT has thrown into sharp relief these concerns I have about the flagship UK goth event to date. Even as our key legacy festivals must adapt or wither, so must the subculture itself. What succeeded for so long must not fall into complacency, or it will be unable to adapt to challenges and begin the slow fade to obscurity. What appealed in Leipzig was variety and novelty – yet wedded to those foundations of community, a killer soundtrack and a good drink or three. Success for any goth event – for goth as a whole – will synthesize these parts into an elixir that can keep us undead a little longer! Until next time, WGT…
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Thankyou Eldergoths: Juliette Williams, Maderloss
Thankyou Babybats: Claire Victoria
The Blogging Goth 
Whenever I see the name Echoberyl I read it as Echobelly! Glad you enjoyed your first WGT!
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Ha ha yes, the eye will deceive on first glance! Cheers for dropping by.
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Couple of notes.
I’m pretty sure that the number of visitors to WGW is thousands, just that it’s only hundreds of gofficks!
Advice on venues at WGT is not to make more than one change, rather than must choose one venue. But yeah there are some exceptions where the venues are close together.
And no need to run home early just in case the trams end, they run pretty late, then the night bus starts! They have proper public transport 🙂
As for which after party, lists on the main site are reasonable but always check in with folk on Sadgoth. As yes, some venues are pretty small, and some may be packed or empty. Personally we’ve only ever done Moritzbastei and Taubchenthal for the DJ sets.
Final one, second visit is way better than the first. We learned how to navigate things better. Though also had made a bunch of acquaintances via a few Twitch streams in the missing years. A whole bunch of who we met up with either at the Sadgoth or Moritzbastei pre-parties and are now definitely friends.
see you next year 🙂
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Thanks Tez – definitely expecting next visit to run more smoothly now we’ve got a handle on how things work in Leipzig!
I like the idea of pinning myself to just a couple of venues, the impetus was there to USE a brilliant integrated travel system, regardless of how it skewed events and shattered people.
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Next year you should visit the concert at the Kirchenruine Wachau. Bring a blanket and a bottle of wine and attend at least a hour before the concert starts. And then relax at the cemetary beside the beautful ruin of a church.
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Thankyou – that sounds ideal!
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