Leipzig, Germany3rd to 6th June 2022
Wave Gotik Treffen 2022 Day 4 with Waldkauz, Cesair, Kite, Linea Aspera
Finally, but mostly suddenly, the last day of WGT was here. Time is a weird concept and on Monday it always feels as if one just arrived in Leipzig and here the festival was almost over again. The rain stopped and the early music afternoon started in the burning sun at Heidnisches Dorf.
Monday was started off by WALDKAUZ and their Pagan Folk songs for me. It’s been a couple of years since I got to know them at one of the Mittelalterlich Phantasie Spectaculum events. Years ago there was this one summer when I spent quite some weekends at those events with medieval atmosphere and I have some lovely memories of the afternoons being spent chilling on haystacks hiding from the sun under huge green trees. Heidnisches Dorf is always one of these great places to feel like entering a phantasy world. Good food, beautiful jewellery and dreamy to funny-lets-grab-a-mead live music. WALDKAUZ are definitely on the dreamy, beautiful end and it’s great to see them grow and evolve. Their new album ‘Labyrinth’ was released in October 2021. ‘Labyrinth’ carries the listeners away into magic forests and fairy-tales. And this is also what WALDKAUZ do on stage. Meanwhile, the musicians just have such a sweet attitude on stage and it’s great to see how happy they are to be able to perform live again.
WALDKAUZ were followed by another beautiful band which describes their music as Epic and Mythic Folk. The Dutch formation creates layers of mystical beauty in their music and is spinning, what feels like, weaves around the listeners. The variety of music instruments is as incredible as the amount of talent on stage which one can just admire. CESAIR released their latest single ‘Aux Pieds Nus’ in October 2021 as well and so continued their wonderful journey. Beautiful start of the last day, no matter the sun which was out to burn everyone who was not able to hide in the small shadow corners.
Initially, I planned to finish my last day at Agra with an Electro bang, but FADERHEAD had unfortunately to cancel due to a Covid infection and so I decided to rearrange my plans for the second musical half of the day and finish WGT at Haus Leipzig. In terms of the temperature, when I arrived there it was just as much a sauna as the other days and I deeply regretted that I forgot my fan back home. The Swedish Synth Pop duo KITE were next on my plan. I must admit that I had heard about them already just best critics for years, but this was the first time I managed to see them life. An extremely intense, intimate, private, and in a specific way extravagant show! Dark and foggy - not easy to catch on photos, yet the minimalism on stage made the music and the messages behind it stand out even more. The further into the set, the more I understood the excitement and admiration for KITE. Experimental, soft, and vulnerable, but also surprisingly emotional and direct, KITE was another act which I put on my list of bands which I definitely need to listen to and see more.
And the grand finale of the evening and therefore of the whole long festival weekend were LINEA ASPERA. A sea of blue light covered the stage and created a vibrant, intense space for the music. The venue was fully packed, hot, and the audience just created together with the duo an intense atmosphere. The vocals as fragile and strong at the same time as they could be, and a fascinating interplay between the music layers and the vocals. The Electro Wave project from London was more than a worthy headliner at Haus Leipzig and ending to this long awaited, truly missed Wave-Gotik-Treffen, where people like me can dive into this all so different world for at least four days and forget about everything else around until the always way too early and hard return to everyday life on Tuesday evening. Until next time, WGT. Can’t wait for the big 30th anniversary in 2023!
All Pictures by Nastja Iz
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