FRIDAY – 29. May 2009

We write the year 2009 and it the fifth time for me driving to Leipzig. My dear friends in Leipzig are surly glad that I am getting on their nerves again. The already small flat which could be labeled ‘higher than broad’ feels a bit smaller as I put all my technical devices on the table. And the worst of all, I fill up the kitchen with true bavarian food as a present. Well, I will buy everything in Leipzig, but bavarian taste is bavarian taste. Some days later I should regret, cause the half of it has been brought back to my car. Some food for the travel home, they said.

However. The journey was good this year. At least for me. Usually there were hundreds and thousands of cars blocking the highways. This year was a traffic jam too, but no problem. I was up so early that everything happened behind me. I asked myself: what’s going on in the other german states? Either german people have a travel to some foreign, sunny countries or they are having party with some Gothics in Leipzig. Are the other states actually empty?

But there was a bitter end. Some kind of traffic jam happened in Leipzig again, after I got my concert card and reached the WERK II. Hundreds of people here, cause everybody seemed to want to watch DIE FORM. I was accompanied by a friend and so I decided to wait with her till they’ll let us in. Usually I could go directly through the controls, since I had a photo pass, but I didn’t want to leave her alone (between all those evil looking people).
After 40 minutes of waiting time we got closer to our goal – the first gothics left crowd of waiting masses. DIE FORM would play in just a few minutes and so I left my friend and tried to get into the press pit in time. I felt that there were much more people at the WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN than ever. But that’s just a guess. Well, my friend made it into the hall too, only two songs delayed.

I managed it (and that was quite hard and rough) to get into the presspit in time. As soon as I was there, hall went dark. Somebody with gasmask entered the twilight stage and hided again behind his computer. Well, thats the thing with electro bands. Then heavy bass opens the sceen, a beamer was turned on, bringing light and movies on the wall. A dancer, dressed all in white, entered stage. Soon we knew how this show will go on: the dancer danced in a spectacular way to the atmospheric music of DIE FORM.
I mean this without any sarcasm: the arrangment was very detailled and told us about scary happenings: first the story of a dying butterfly, then the story of an undead. That peformance was great and really well done. It was a surprise and I forgot that there is just a man on the computer doing some playbacks. It’s theatre.

After the first dance, Éliane (vocalist) entered stage and began to sing in an utter darkness. It was good luck that her voice was mixed into the background. She would sing without pressure, with some wrong tunes. I wasn’t too impressed about that. Maybe the mixer should have turned on some compressors and maybe a harmonizer, but that way… no good.
Lucky as we was, the dancer safed the evening – at least mine. Cause there were some bitter pills here too. If you were somewhere in the back of the hall you couldn’t see anything from the performance. I guess, most people won’t have seen too much.
DIE FORM had some good ideas, a very good sound (surprise, it was playback) but could have used a better stage – a theatre stage, not a rock convert stage. Well, at least for me it was very good and will stay in mind for a long time.

SATURDAY – 30. May 2009

I was up extraordinary early on saturday. I wanted to check out ATARGATIS who played on the WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN for several times. Happening was in the Kohlrabizirkus. I know this band for quite a long time and wanted to see how they envolved myself. They call their music DARK GOTHIC METAL.
First tunes started, and vocalist Stephanie was on speed immediatly. She is wellknown with her second band DARKWELL too. With unbeatable positive attitude she jumped from the one corner to the next. She made up the songs with “Leipzig – how are you??” or “LEIPZIG ARE YOU STILL THERE???”. That kind of entertainment reminds me on rock vocalist DORO. I really think that Stephanie Meier can have the chance to walk in DOROs footsteps one day. But she needs to tell some more on stage besides always the same motivation cries. After a while those kind is getting a bit boring and male visitors concentrate more on the beautyful dress of Steffi. Female, so I guess, too.
Songs were mixed very well and band played in routine. But besides Steffi, there was less to see on stage. Her musicians hided behind their star and that was dissapointing. If they would have more action on stage, this would be great. If ATARGATIS feels the need to play more in the evening hours next year, they should invest some cycles in stage action.
On a sidenote, Drummer Shadrack was very impressing: he played with a click in the ear and managed to handle the synthesizer where other bands need a keyboarder. Well maybe Shadrak has been played by the syntheziser – who knows

Surprising is how ATARGATIS works with their fans: directly after the concert Steffi jumped in her shoes (she was on stage with bare feet) and met up with all the lads on the merchandise basar where she signed cards. Well, as already said, ATARGATIS could do much more than that, even when this is still a great band!

Afterwards – and not with bare feet – MEGAHERZ were on stage. Hall was quite full, even in that early hour. Thats maybe cause of MEGAHERZ, a band which is quite famous these times and is called as the heritage or even replacement of RAMMSTEIN some day. On the other hands it’s maybe cause of the much more people attending the festival.
MEGAHERZ had their guest under control immediatly – ok, nearly immediatly. Cause MEGAHERZ Frontman Lex struggled with some cables and went to the ground, ass first. But nothing happened, audience was under control. Very impressing songs and very competent musicians delivered a compact arrangment. Refrains was made to sing along with, and people did so. Loudly one song by one hit us directly in our face.

At some time the belt of Lex felt down, suddenly damaged. But he managed this problem like a pro: he asked the audience if somebody has problems with him, standing in underwear on stage. All the woman cried out loud expecting… well whatever, you know! While the concert goes on, the guy usually would come back to this little story and after a while I was bored of hearing all about his underwear – same thing like ATARGATIS before. Since MEGAHERZ is from bavaria too, maybe this a regional problem? Well, but the musical side of the show was very tight and good. Everything was mixed well, with a clear sound (as good as possible in the Kohlrabicircus). At least, hard drum kicks and precise riffing gave a straight and hard feeling for whole the time.

At the evening, Felsenkeller called. This one is a new location to the WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN. Its build in the architectural style called “Jugendstil”. Experts, forgive me if I am wrong. What I mean is high walls, wide rooms, huge lusters. It was a perfect ambient for that kind of bands and brought up a great atmosphere. The best one this year and I really would enjoy to watch concerts of this kind there on a regular basis. Even if I was a Werk II addicted before.

FANGS ON FUR opened the evening. That means very straightforward, oldschool Gothic Punk fronted by a female vocalist who dresses in arabian wear and bone chain. Besides that, she looks totally weird Her band mates do not wear arabian dresses, but look quite strange too. Lucky as we was, that music is really cool and made me thirsty for more. Song structures were quite simple, but immediatly blowed your mind after you heard it.

Show was presented competent and rocked like hell. No big surprises here – sound was very, very good and nobody could think bad about it. All instruments were crystal clear to hear. However, this band will definitly impress the masses again in future. But to make people totally crazy about them, that needs a bit more time. Music should go more under the skin. At the moment we speak of a gothic punk band, nothing more. Well, it worked for me and suddenly saw myself going directly to the merch basar and buying a FANGS ON FUR CD. This band has made it to my personal watch list. Thanks guys, for opening that evening so tight!

Afterwards THEATRE OF HATE: at the beginning of that show you may think on grabbing a beer. After two songs you get used to that sound. After five you are moving your old, decaying body to the vibes and afte eight you find yourself sing along with the band, even if you don’t have a clue bout the text.
THEATRE OF HATE is a rock band which was long on duty. Its fronted by SPEAR OF DESTINY vocalist Kirk Brandon. And to make it short, guys who like rock like JOY DIVISION played should urgently check out THEATRE OF HATE. Chances are, that songs like WESTWORLD already have taken place in you music mind and you already have heard of that band.

Like FANGS ON FUR THEATRE OF HATE had a very good, warm sound. Songs came like they are playing it five times a day. Just on the vocals sometimes one could reckognize some misleading tunes. But that wasn’t a problem, it just gave more charisma to the band.
Summed up, this was very tight, nobody can complaing about this show.
On a sidenote: the guy playing bass is the first lad I know who enters stage with a bottle of wine – and a glass! Jörg, the guy from german gothic rockers THE HOUSE OF USHER drank his stuff directly from the bottle at one of the past WGTs. Well, i guess Jörg is younger

The SCARY BITCHES was one of the must have bands at this years WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN. I own all CDs of em and meanwhile I even bought a t-shirt. That three old frumps just entered stage and start rocking like hell. No big deal, for them. Presence on stage of them is really incredible. At least the dresses are fascinating: spiders, bones, ankhs everywhere. And about music I don’t need to speak lots: nasty lyrics together with simple, buy straight-into-your-mind rock music.
The bitches came, saw and gained victory. Even with some technical problems (guitar muted while concert) were people catched immediatly by the songs. Just one drawback: the chicks played mostly stuff from their new CD THE ISLAND OF THE DAMNED. That album was available just a week before the gig and the songs weren’t reckognized by the audience. That was a bit bad fo the overall atmosphere. But here and there the bitches then came up with old songs and refrains like “piss all over your grave” which lead to immediate cauterwauling of myself.

Again, the Felsenkeller team presented a crystal clear sound, very warm. A bit more bass wouldn’t do any harm, but well, so be it. Lyrics were very good to understand, and thats more important if you want to enjoy the SCARY BITCHES.
The SCARY BITCHES btw are part of the phenomen of “not moving rock stars”. That are people of that kind who don’t move at stage, but still draw full attention of the audience to themself. Why that is- just the gods can know.
Having that said – you shouldn’t bother to let a concert of the bitches go if you have the chance to attend. Esspecially if you want to see Almas Doppelgänger live in concert. Fantastic band, thanks!

On Saturday SPECIMEN was the last band. SPECIMEN have invented the word BATCAVE since vocalist Ollie Wisdom founded the wellknown and legendary club THE BATCAVE in 1982. Meanwhile the term batcave describes quite a whole music genre. Guess, one can say that everything can call itself batcave if it would have gathered a concert in that holy halls. Well, philosophical debate.
SPECIMEN entered stage, audience went insane. The mixer gave the last decibels he had (unfortunatly). Actually the whole gig was a damn loud thing.
Who doesn’t know SPECIMEN should know, that at least everybody of us must have heard the one or other song somewhere. I thought myself that I don’t know a song of em as I decided to attend the concert, but in fact, I knew EACH song, which suprised me lots. SPECIMEN is rock music, sometimes with glammer, sometimes a bit punky. It’s extraordinary played, with guitars doing strange screams and feeeps and such. For 1980 times it could have been called industrial aswell. Extraordinary in the past, but still extraordinary good rock today.

Ollie Wisdom was happy with this evenings audience and smile friendly to the people at the beginning – that was the first time this year a musician at the WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN has been seen smiling. The show was incredible, with much action and movements, jumpings and even climbings could been seen. Great shit!
Air was full with expierence and the joy to play live – that is, what SPECIMEN of today differs from so much other bands today. This made me walk to the agra the next day, where I bought the brandnew SPECIMEN live recording ALIVE AT THE BATCAVE. Besides the high volume, this one was a really enjoyable gig with great special moments. Yes!

After the concert, saturday ended for me. I had fever again. Is this cause of the masses of people? Outdoors of the Felsenkeller, people cuted themselve on their nacked ass – with fly flaps and others. But maybe this was a fever dream. Was it?

SUNDAY – 31. May 2009

Fever was more worse, but shit happens. Punkband FLIEHENDE STÜRME would play in the Agra. I missed them last year. I promised myself to attend next time and so I decided to ignore all the heat in my head and attend.
The FLIEHENDE STÜRME are a punk band of the old school. Raw, melancholic, critical. If you know CHAOS Z, this band is the follow up band.
The melancholic thing is, why they play at the WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN. If this would be missing, they would not really fit to this festival. But well, people loved those guys. For me it wasn’t the thing I would love too much. Sometimes the sound remembers me to the other german punk band which were in trend in the 90ties, like BÖHSE ONKELZ, TOTEN HOSEN and more. FLIEHENDE STÜRME are more serious of course, but sometimes it simply remembers me that bands.

With 14 euro the CD prices were actually to high – on the left side of the FLIEHENDEN STÜRME CDs was SPECIMEN for just 10 Euro. That one and the fact that I grew up at the wrong corner of musical earth prevented to much enthusiasm. And that even when the sound was great, the songs well balanced and the atmospere very tight agile. Well, so be it. I am more into FANGS ON FUR kind of punk music. I think, only british punk is true (not always, haha).

Straight after, the meanwhile some pounds grown Frank entered stage: FRANK THE BAPTIST. This is another one of the best bands this year and I recommend all rock fans out there his music. A very good vocalist with plausible, sad melodies and down-to-earth gothic rock riffing.
FRANK THE BAPTIST have one of the rare vocalists who can -really- sing (OK, Stephanie Meier of the band ATARGATIS can sing too). The guy is a true rocker, and proves that: after the third song Frank told us that a guy called X is in the hall and would like to ask his girlfriend Y a question. Its silent for some seconds, then Frank told us:”Hey, X has just asked Y to marry him, and she said yes. Now, kiss the bitch, we would like to play along!”.
Isn’t that cool? Time is expensive at a festival, but Frank sacrifized it for his fans. On the other hand, who is really such a cool ass and names the freshly engaged lady a bitch?

Then a very atmospheric evening with the most cool songs from BEGGARS WOULD RIDE, DIFFERENT DEGREES OF EMPTY and THE NEW COLOSSUS happened. But not too much people would sing along with FRANK THE BAPTIST, which made me feel the even when FRANK THE BAPTIST has become a really successful band the should play in smaller halls. Frank needs direct publicum contact, that’s for sure. And people are far away in the agra.
Well, but that doesn’t prevent ME to sing as loud as I could. Hope, people weren’t to annoyed from me Great gig, and one of the best together with the SCARY BITCHES.

As already announced fever was even more worse. Even beer didn’t help. But UMBRA ET IMAGO must be watched. This is a hate it or love it band, and there was much chattering about this german sadomaso freaks. They were loved by the audience, thats for sure. And one could see that Mozart meanwhile seems to love food in return.
On stage there was a quite old guy in front of me, completly dressed in roman legionnaire armory, including helmet. There was much fog, much light, somewhere in the corner a girl with less clothings. After the first song Mozart explained to us, that he has become an old man and put down his helmet. I guess, you need to be completly into UMBRA ET IMAGO to enjoy this. Later this corpulent lad did some pole dancing, but failed to climb up on it. He stayed with both feet on earth and posed a bit. But audience – they were screaming for joy! Why – don’t have a clue, even when I was impressed by the light show.

Afterwards Mozart said that he has been reading on the WGT, cause he is an book author too. Before 10 years or so, it was trendy to be intellectual and an musician at the same time. Of course you needed to write some books. Think on GOETHES ERBEN. After he said that, the dialogues between Lutz and Mozart are to be considered as strange:
“Lutz, all our friends have come.”
“You seem to be a nice guy.”
Hope he doesn’t have dialogues like this in his books. I know I repeat myself. But why the heck are all announcements so odd this year? Is this me? I mean, SCARY BITCHES announced the song DOPPLEGANGER with “this is my best friend” and and pointed to a hand puppet. Thats cool! But:”Lutz, I daresay, Lutz, blablabla….”

Well, however. There were more sexual things on the show. Not bad, but nothing which makes me crazy about it. Sound was good, and the light show too. Atmosphere was great and all the songs were performend very well. Actually the music isn’t bad – its straightforward, well composed and very earthy. But just this typical german stage thing, that doesn’t rock anymore to me. Confused I left the hall. I tried beer against the fever, but it failed. My brain cooked up like some milk in several breakfast occasions.

THE END

Monday I broke down. My friends didn’t have a good announcement too, before they brought me to my car. Bye, till next year, they said. I have colded more and there was no more energy left for music. But after a few days, it came to my mind how a high neveau the WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN 2009 had. Even if there were so much more people and it has been sometimes needed quite a long time to enter halls and so, it was a really fantastic festival. Sound was very good all the time, even when the rooms where huge.
But sometimes I had hard times to get good photos, cause either the lightshow was to bright or to dark. In the Werk II i had to deal with a nearly complete darkness, while in the Felsenkeller it felt like normal daylight. Just the light in the agra was perfect.
Having that said, this was a very good and enjoyable festival. Bands were killer, and I will worry about my fever for a long time, which made me miss INKUBUS SUKUBUS, NOSFERATU and UK DECAY on monday. Last announcement: good night Leipzig, see ya next year.