Der Rabe – ULRICH PLEITGEN
Death Of Days – MYRKUR
Elinore – CHRISTOPHER LEE
Forgone – DARKHER
Heaven Is A Dark Place – THE HUNGRY GHOST
Lucifer On The Moor – SIEBEN
Just Dropped In – DEATH IN ROME feat KING DUDE
Go Your Own Way – LISSIE
God A Pale Curse – DEATH IN JUNE
Velorenes Heer – TRAUM’ER LEBEN
The Shape Of Things To Come – SONNE HAGAL
I Called Your Name – OF THE WAND AND THE MOON
Les Reves Dedorian – DERNIERE VOLONTE
Les Sombres Plis D’lame – COLLECTION D’ARNELL ANDREA
Repentance – ARCANA
Sonnenwalz – TRIARII
To Break A Heart – HEKATE
Wolf Totem – THE HU BAND
Vor Sonnen Aufgang –LAIBACH
Mad World – THE HUMAN EXPERIMENTE
Goodbye – ANNA VON HAUSWOLFF
Himlen Blev Sort(live) – MYRKUR
Where Night Is Eternal – PETER BJARGO
Summoning Of The Gods – TROBAR DE MORTE
Vision Libertine – ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO
Summertime Sadness – DEATH IN ROME
Under The Great Black Sky – FAKE MOSS
Death Of A Diamond – EDEN
Prayers For Rain – THE CURE
Face To Face – SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES
Day To Pray – IRFAN
With Or Without You – U2
Curtain – THE WAKE
Venus In Furs – ANDERS MANGA
Dead Souls – NIN
Boulevard Of Broken Dreams – GREEN DAY
Wycca – FRIENDS OF ALICE IVY
Ceremonie Secrete – DIE FORM
Ohne Dich (Laibach rmx) – RAMMSTEIN
You Don’t Know Love – EDITORS
Hollow Days – THE DEAD SOULS
Forget Tomorrow – DRAB MAJESTY
Darkness – THE COLOURS OF SILENCE
Without You – THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE
A New Dawn – ASH CODE
Reap The Wild Wind – ULTRAVOX
So this year The Biggest and Best Gothic festival in the world hits the 25th anniversary mark. It’s seen a lot of changes and challenges for the organisers behind the festival, such as the security not being paid one year so they left the main Agra site unprotected and Neo Nazis broke in and set fire to tents. I remember being at an all night party in the room at the back of the Agra which is now used as cafe, partying hard and ready with the rest of the attendees to confront the Nazis if they turned up, but they didn’t reach the venue.
Another year one of the organisers ran of the with the ticket money meaning that the last couple of days the line up and venues were cancelled. On the Monday several bands announced they were paying for free but whether they did or not is unclear as other bands who did not play have metioned these bands were actually paid. The following year the organiser responsible is alleged to have rejoined.
One of the main driving force behind the festival Marco Göthel quit and started his own successful festival – The Amphi festival which is also a festival worth visiting. There has also been the threat of redevelopment of the main venue the Agra which would be a big blow if it did happen as it may prevent the festival happening. More recently there has been the loss of some great and favourite venues used by the festival due to covering the cost of hire. Venues like the ParkBuhnne and Werk2 which were very popular venues.
I remember attending my first WGT in May 1999, the main reason being that one of my favourite groups at the time Ikon were making their European debut only to find out when I arrived they had cancelled due to the band receiving no confirmation from the organisers about payment for their flights. I flew into the epic Templehof airport and met a couple of friends who loaned me a tent. The whole event was just wow and showed how poor the UK scene was at the time (and still is). Bands I managed to see where Still Patient?, Scream Silence, Lore Of Asmody, The Last Dance and Inkubus Sukkubus at the Parkbuhne. Him, Joachim Witt & Project Pitchfork,at the Grosse festival hall.(now the Agra) Goethes Erben at the Grosse festival hall. Sex Gang Children at the grosse festival hall. Sepulcrum Mentis, Neon Dream , Illuminate and Sanguis Et Cinis at the Eiskeller Conne Island. Monday was Black Metal monday (sucked) managed to see Therion and tolerate 2 minutes of Dimmu Borgir at grosse Festival Hall. I did try and go see the only Goth gig on that day at The Moritzbastei The House Of Usher but along with another 30 people we missed it due to the time changing/ no-one knowing which room it was in ;). Hardly any UK visitors but had a great time meeting a drinking with people from around the world. The gothic markets at the Agra site (not the main hall) and in Moritzbastei were the thing of Gothic dreams.
Despite all this it is still going strong and next week Leipzig will again be painted Black next week. So what can we expect from the line up. Well for me it looked a stronger line up for the 20th anniversary, there are quite a few big names playing but some can’t live up to the standard their past performances. The main reason I go to Leipzig is to see new bands or bands who don’t play the UK. If it’s Your first time you will be amazed and blown away by the whole event, however I have seen lots of changes over the years and it is becoming a bit like Whitby for people dressing up in costumes rather the coming to enjoy the music. But each to their own 😉
Recommended places to visit are Völkerschlachtdenkmal, Südfriedhof, Heidnisches Dorf (pagan village) and Moritzbastei which will add to Your great memories of the WGT.
The highlight of this years event is on 12.05.16 when the amusement park BELANTIS will be taken over completely by the visitors of the 25th Wave-Gotik-Treffen. There will be some Mittelalter bands playing and clubnights with something for everyone hopefully 😉 8pm til 5am.
If you care about sound quality/mixing at gigs then the venue to be concerned about is Altes Landratsamt very poor everytime I have been there.
Here are my recommendations of bands to see from not the strongest of WGT line ups(no obvious headline apart from Peter Murphy).
Cortege – IN THE NURSERY
October – U2
Hurt – PETER MURPHY & TRENT REZNOR
Dead Souls – EVI VINE
The Last Beat Of My Heart – SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES
Anywhere Out Of The World – DEAD CAN DANCE
Hell Is Where The Heart Is/ Gospel Of Tomas – ORDO ROSARIUS EQUILIBRIO
Enemies Of God – ANGELIC FOE
Head Of The Serpent – KNIFELADDER
Der Brandtaucher – ROME
The Puritan – THE PROTAGONIST
Feral Love – CHELSEA WOLFE
Haunted – THE UNDERGROUND YOUTH
Fall Apart – NIC HAMERSLY
Last – TAMARYN
A Night Like This – SCHONWALD
Windfall – PARADE GROUND
Delerium – KOBAN
Undoing – TEMPERS
Suicide Saturday – AUTOBAHN
In the last death throes of 2014 Coph Nia gave the signal of reanimation, blowing the dust of the gathering shadows of darkness and from the depths came forth A Prelude To Lashtal Lace. Absence seems to have darkened Aldenon even further with his Neo-Occult-Folk-Classical-DarkPop now polished to perfection. Lashtal Lace is a beautiful black menacingly melancholic masterpiece. Mother Of Songs – A neoclassical hymn for the damned conjuring the perfect sinister soundscape. One of the things that has always greatly impressed me about Coph Nia and made them one of the stand out bands when they were on Cold Meat Industry, is Aldenon’s ability to take a well known song, deconstruct the music element completly and like BaronFrankenstein constructs a monster of such magnificence, as to leave one breathless. Here we find New Order’s In A Lonely Place wreathed in the depths of velvet darkness, creating the soundscape of the most desolate, depressive and lonely place on the planet. An Epic track! The E.P closes with a Seancetronica remix of Lashtal Lace.
More than 7 years since Coph Nia’s last album on Cold Meat Industry sees Rabbau having the good fortune to release possibly the best Coph Nia album so far! The album opens with the marshalled-occult-folk-darkpop sound of I shall Be No More. Great! Lashtal Lace is naturally included leaving it’s melancholic stain upon the ear. Love it! Next comes a cover of Pete Shelley’s Homo Sapien given a complete bombastic reconstruction – neoclassical, Neo-Occult what a fantastic cover! Hearing this live would be a defining moment in music! Love it! All My Filth – is from 2011 and has a riff which just burns into the soul. I think the original version appears on Visions Of Love & Death. Great Track! In Colour – a dreamy neoclassical sky above a marshalled folk landscape marches into the dark void. Lovely! Glass House – The sound of breaking glass, sparse spaced instrumentation. Welcome to a dark trip! A Sonnet – a majestic mix of of occult inspired lyrics and a soundscape to invoke the unseen. Love it! Little Death – a darkfolk / darkpop classic! Alone And Godless – A delightful dirge of lonlines wrapped with monastic chants that summons very dark shadows. Epic! The Dreamer – if Edgar Allen Poe had written music it would sound like this. The perfect ending to a perfect album! Rumour has it that Coph Nia might be appearing at the WGT in Leipzig which would be a very special event indeed !
I-M-R formed 2011 singer/songwriter Ralf Jesek and his former IN MY ROSARY live guest musicians Martin von Arndt (Printed At Bismarck’s Death), HolgerDiener and Hansi Huenig continue the musical idea of his first project In My Rosary.
This is the bands follow up to “From Letters To The Paper Garden”. What I really like about I-M-R is that they are a band as clearly demonstrated by this album, which appeal to a variety of fans into different genres of dark music, and so they can’t be easily pigeon holed into a particular genre.
I-M-R cleverly mix darkwave, goth, neoclassical, neofolk, ethereal, wave and dark electronics. Stand out tracks are Never Again – a clever collison between neofolk and electronics with perhaps a hint of Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio creating a lovely wave of sound! In Two mixes neoclassical with ethereal. Epic! Drowned in You reminds me of Hall Of Souls locked in a closet with Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio and struggling to breakout with deep dark waves of sublime music! Night is possibly my favourite track on the album a minimal electronic dark track which is damn catchy! Almost a new genre Neolectrofolk. Love it ! Shattered is a mix of darkwave / gothic and should be a smash on the dancefloor! I-M-R do a great job with their cover of Joy Division’s – A Means To An End giving it a danced up darkwave feel whilst clinging on to the beautiful melancholy of the track. Should be a dancefloor smash!
From the ashes of the etheral / darkwave project Ostia came the Australian project Friends Of Alice Ivy a duo of Kylie & Amps. Finally after 2 full E.P’s of beautiful ethereal music which I have featured in my sets and podmixes comes their debut album. The Golden Cage and its Mirrored Maze .
The album opens with The Aerial Mariners – is inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The intro reminds me slightly of Lovice from Forthcoming Fire slowly building into crescendo of elegant ethereal music, great female vocal delivery perhaps a hint of Arcana and This Mortal Coil and newer Dead Can Dance. Wow! Epic ethereal opening. Song Of Lyra – Opens with Dead Can Dance chimes and well crafted classical orchestration that will make the hairs rise on the back of your neck and then angelic vocals flow forth oozing aural please. Nice! Miranda – released as free download single has a strong Cocteau Twins / This Mortal Coil feel with soothingly sweet swirling guitars, maybe a hint of Tamaryn! Love it. False Fox – Very good use of strings which weave a web of atmosphere around Kylies perfect vocals. A very relaxing song with a hint of Arcana/Hekate.Great!
The Sky Of Bright Unfoldings -has a very chilled out ethereal feel to it a bit like slower Collide tracks. Love it! Igraine – Opens with sparse harp strings that dance around angelic vocals before further strings add a darkened edge of melancholy. Building in almost classic Dead Can Dance crescendo of musical magic. Breathtaking! Oars Under Glass–
More deft strings give way to a song which has almost a hint of U2’s October in it’s atmosphere but far more beautiful and haunting in it’s delivery building into an enigmatic ethereal ending Love it! Song of The Willows – has a strong neoclassical feel with some great ethereal guitars. Great ending to a Great album!
An exceptional production job has been done by Adam Calaitzis the producer of several reelease from Ikon. Friends Of Alice Ivy would make the perfect performance At The Schauspielhaus in Leipzig during the WGT. Let’s hope the organisers make this choice!
What a great album which I strongly recommend for fans of Dead Can Dance, Jocelyn Pook, Gothica, Arcana, Lisa Gerrard, The Cocteau Twins, Neoclassical, Darkfolk, Neofolk, This Mortal Coil, Anna Von Hauswolff, Hekate, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, Tamaryn, Cold Meat Industry, Zoar, In The Nursery, Collide Ethereal, 4AD,- Get your copy from http://friendsofaliceivy.bandcamp.com/album/the-golden-cage-and-its-mirrored-maze
