Wave Gotik Treffen - Leipzig 2008 (Day 1)

Leipzig, Germany
9th - 12th May 2008
Wave Gotik Treffen Day 1: Beati Mortui (FIN), Ashbury Heights (S), Santa Hates You (D), Solar Fake (D), Elis (FL), Portion Control (GB), Tristania (N), 32 Crash (B), Tarja (FIN), Dragons (GB), Paradise Lost (GB)

Whitsun 2008 - like every year, about 20.000 Gothics came to Leipzig in the east of Germany to celebrate one of the most important meetings of the European Gothic scene, the 17th WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN. The gathering is more than a normal festival, it's more like a big family meeting, the people came from all over the world to meet old friends, looking for new friends, looking at the fantastic outfits of the other people, demonstrate their own outfits (purchased or self created) and of course to enjoy a lot of bands of different styles from all over the world too.



The venues were dislocated over the whole city, some locations were situated in the city centre, other locations were situated in the periphery of the town and the people shuttled through the city by public transport, by taxi, by own car or by walking. Where ever you were looking, dark clothed people, baroque dresses, kinky outfits, military outfits, varnish dresses and cyber space outfits shaped the townscape. Most outfits were pleasing for the eyes but some fashion lapses we had seen too. The dislocating over the whole town did make a special flair and the whole town was infected by the Gothic people. The largest venue was the AGRA area with the big campsite, the main stage and a lot of stalls where you could buy foods, drinks, clothes and accessories. Other venues, among several others, were the PARKBÜHNE - a pretty small open air stage situated in a park not far from the city centre, the KOHLRABIZIRKUS, an indoor stage easterly from the city centre and the WERK 2 - an indoor stage too. In city centre events took place too: a medieval market at the MORITZBASTEI - an old historic fortress in the heart of the city, signing sessions and cinema shows in the cinema and some more.



We arrived on Friday at noon in Leipzig, the weather report had promised only sun for the whole weekend and we were looking forward having a nice festival weekend. Our first stop was the AGRA area, where we checked in at the press centre before we were looking for our hotel where we checked in as well and took a little fresh up. At afternoon we went back into the city and visited different venues. Because the big distance between the several venues it was not possible to enjoy all bands we would like to see, but we tried to take as much as possible. I went to the KOHLRABIZIRKUS to enjoy ELIS, TRISTANIA and TARJA while our photographer went to WERK II for all the electro bands playing there. [CL]


Beati Mortui (FIN) - Werk II [DV]

The idea for the band was already born in 2005, when Maria and Sami started to write songs to create an electro/industrial band with dark and melancholic influences. In 2006 the line-up grew with the addition of Lilitha and they started to intensively work on songs. The line-up was completed by a guitarist in summer 2006 to add more aggression and live elements into the sound. From fall 2006 to spring 2007, the band produced and released a promotional CD called ‘Modus Operandi’ and after they reached the second position of the ‘Battle of the Bands’ contest of the Sonic Seducer magazine in 2007, they signed a deal with German label Danse Macabre. Their full-length debut ‘All But Dreams Will Die’ is scheduled for a release in May. BEATI MORTUI are Maria (vocals), Sami (synths, programming, production), Lilitha (synths, programming) and Jarno (guitars). http://www.myspace.com/beatimortui



Music & Performance
BEATI MORTUI had the hard job to open the WGT at the Werk II. The venue is usually very packed and it was later as well. Luckily it was not overcrowded at the beginning so I could at least see the band after leaving the pit. The Finnish band did not have an easy job. At the beginning I thought well, quite good music, but the chant is terrible. Later on I’ve heard that singer Maria just came over a bad laryngitis and should not sing at all. But she wanted to do the show at WGT under all circumstances, so my deepest respect! I hope to experience this band some when again under better conditions.

Setlist
01. Winter
02. Blood I Taste
03. Don't look back
04. Mirror
05. Gangraena
06. Cut
07. Cancer

Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 6
Total: 6.5


Ashbury Heights (S) - Werk II [DV]

The history of this Swedish duo is rather short yet eventful. The release of their first demo in 2005 remained unnoticed by most people. Three months later when the twosome handed out its second demo it was approached by German top label Out of Line and became one the fastest signing in the label’s history with the contract signed within an hour. With the following release of the ‘Cry Havoc’ promotional CD and later the limited single, they cracked the German Alternative Charts. The album ‘Three cheers for the newly dead’ produced in collaboration with John Fryer and released in October 2007 received rave reviews from fans and press alike. ASHBURY HEIGHTS are Anders H (lead vocals, programming, synthesizers) and Yasmine U (lead vocals, synthesizers). http://www.myspace.com/ashburyheightsmusic



Music & Performance
For this duo from Sweden, the venue was already overcrowded. There were lots of people who seemed to have just come for this band. After I had seen ASHBURY HEIGHTS already during the Out Of Line tour last November when I was not totally convinced by the performance, I was curious how the show would be like today. And it was much better. The band now seemed much more comfortable on stage, the moves and the dancing of Yasmine seemed much more natural. Alternating on the microphone, Anders and Yasmine impressed with their catchy electronic sounds and made the people move to the beats. Loud applause was their pay for a convincing performance.

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7.5


Santa Hates You (D) - Werk II [DV]

As strange as the name sounds as strange is their appearance if one takes a look at the photos on their MySpace profile. The mastermind of this project should be fairly familiar to the creatures of the dark music scene. Peter Spilles (Project Pitchfork) created this project in 2007 with a woman called Jinxy. The debut release goes by the name of ‘You’re on the Naughty List’ and was released by the end of October 2007. On the WGT the project celebrated its live debut. http://www.myspace.com/santahatesyou



Music & Performance
I really did not know what to expect from this show as it was the live debut of SANTA HATES YOU. And it seemed lots of people did not even know which big name was standing behind this project so that the venue was less crowded than before. I was going for this performance with mixed emotions just because lately not all PROJECT PITCHFORK shows I had seen convinced me and I had no idea what was coming up now. Let me say something… I was not disappointed after the powerful show that rocked the crowd. Peter acted very energetic, he seemed much angrier on stage than during the shows with his main band. His female partner Jinxy was heavily dancing behind her keys delivering some additional vocals while Peter mostly was acting in front of the stage just moving back to his keyboard every now and then to start some track or fiddle around with different knobs and keys. Really hard were the beats SANTA HATES YOU made people dance with.

Setlist
01. Feuerball
02. Ego Inc.
03. Sugar and Spice
04. Karoshi
05. Love Song
06. Machine Sex Symphony
07. Pantheon
08. U’r Fucking it up

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 7.5