Live Review: Wave Gotik Treffen 2025 - Leipzig (Day 2)

Various Venues, Leipzig, Germany
6th to 9th June 2025
Wave Gotik Treffen 2025 Day 2 with Veljanov, Rabengott, In Mitra Medusa Inri, Diavol Strain, Balduvian Bears, Die Welt Von Otto Dix, Osi & The Jupiter, Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, Combichrist

If there’s one constant at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen, it is that at least one day will defy even the most carefully laid plans. So I came prepared: multiple schedules marked up in the WGT app, handwritten alternatives on paper, passages highlighted in the Pfingstbote - my personal survival kit for the inevitable shifts of fate. On this particular Saturday, it would be the weather playing its whimsical tricks. Still, no forecast could dampen the spirit of exploration this festival always awakens in me.

Around 2:30 PM, I made my way back to Clara-Zetkin-Park, this time to attend the charming gathering of Steampunk aficionados. It was a photographic feast: lace parasols, brass goggles, velvet waistcoats, and an abundance of imagination brought the grassy park to life with colour and elegance. Even as ominous clouds crept across the sky, the mood remained lifted. The air was rich with creativity and camaraderie - a living diorama of a beautifully reimagined past.

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Veljanov - Kuppelhalle

As the wind picked up, I made my way toward the majestic Kuppelhalle in the north of the city, a venue far from the central festival circuit but all the more worth the detour. There, beneath its soaring dome, VELJANOV took the stage. The DEINE LAKAIEN frontman, with his baritone voice and magnetic presence, offered a Best Of set that transformed the hall into something almost sacred. The acoustics were lush, reverent - each note reverberating with intimacy and emotional weight.



With minimal yet evocative lighting, the atmosphere was dreamlike. The set flowed with grace, elegance, and melancholy, leaving the audience enraptured and hushed. VELJANOV was not merely performing; he was weaving stories with every gesture and phrase. In that moment, the outside world faded, and all that existed was the poetry of sound. I would have stayed for every second, but the road ahead called.

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Rabengott - Felsenkeller

From transcendent calm into shadowy ritual: RABENGOTT brought a very different energy to the stage at Felsenkeller. The lighting was low and bathed the room in deep crimson tones, intensifying the already arcane aura that surrounded the band. Their presence was commanding - raw, grounded, and steeped in ritualistic force. Their blend of dark ambient and tribal-infused soundscapes felt like a summoning, and the audience responded in kind, silently enthralled. Next to the stage I ran into Konstantin of WISBORG, who would later confirm online that RABENGOTT would be joining their upcoming tour - news that only amplified the significance of what we had just witnessed.

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In Mitra Medusa Inri - Felsenkeller

Next came the legendary IN MITRA MEDUSA INRI, whose return to the WGT stage felt long overdue. Announced with genuine reverence, they delivered a set that drew from decades of darkwave and gothic tradition. Their sound was layered and emotionally resonant, conjuring a sense of nostalgia without ever becoming stale. Yet as much as I would have liked to stay longer and take it all in, my schedule nudged me onward to the next venue.

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Diavol Strain & Balduvian Bears - Moritzbastei (attempted)

I had planned to witness the highly anticipated European premiere of DIAVOL STRAIN and BALDUVIAN BEARS in the historic Moritzbastei. Both bands have garnered attention for their immersive, genre-blending styles: dark Shoegaze meets dreamlike Ambient in the former, and a post-apocalyptic Folk mood in the latter. Unfortunately, the popularity of the event exceeded all expectations - the venue was bursting at the seams, and even with effort, there was simply no way in. It was a disappointment, of course, but one softened by the spirit of discovery that this festival cultivates.




Die Welt von Otto Dix - Krystallpalast Varieté

Since the Krystallpalast Varieté is just a few steps away from the Moritzbastei, I decided to take a spontaneous detour and explore something quite different: a tribute to visual expression in motion. The performance, blending dance, theatre, and music, interpreted the grotesque and haunting world of the German painter with vibrant sensitivity. The cast brought his distorted characters and bleak yet poetic universe to life with compelling grace. The venue staff were welcoming, the performers exceptional, and I found it difficult to tear myself away. It reminded me how WGT also celebrates the avant-garde and interdisciplinary - where art moves freely between walls and hearts.

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Osi & The Jupiter - Heidnisches Dorf

Eventually, I boarded Line 11 and journeyed to the Heidnisches Dorf, where the haunting Folk ritual of OSI & THE JUPITER awaited. Bathed in gentle torchlight and dusk’s fading glow, their set was an invocation of ancient memory. The Ohio-based trio crafted a soundscape of drone-heavy strings, low chants, and subtle electronics. It was a performance that required silence and presence, and the crowd, enraptured, gave both. Time slowed in that forest glade, and I stood there, feeling as though I had stepped into a forgotten myth.

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Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat - Parkschlösschen

My path then led to one of the festival’s more poetic venues, the Parkschlösschen im Agra-Park, where KISS THE ANUS OF A BLACK CAT were set to perform in the Barocksaal. Racing across fields and through shadows, I feared I had missed them - but a twist of fate granted me entry. Technical issues had delayed the start. The Belgian project - always straddling a fine line between psychedelic Folk and experimental Neoclassical - created an eerie and cathartic finale to the venue’s programming. The Baroque surroundings only amplified the contrast of sound and space: ornate walls, otherworldly drones. It was unlike anything else that day.

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Combichrist - Agra

Finally, the night drew me back to the Agra Halle - where the mighty COMBICHRIST were set to close the evening. Only weeks ago I had seen them in Passau, but this, their WGT appearance, felt like a powerful bookend. As I made my way through the darkness, I arrived just in time to capture their ferocious energy through my lens. The Industrial titans did not disappoint. Lights strobed, the crowd surged, and the raw aggression of the set was both punishing and euphoric. It was the kind of performance that leaves you breathless, thankful, and a little bruised.

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Day 2 of WGT reminded me why this festival is unlike any other. It demands flexibility, rewards curiosity, and brings beauty to unexpected places. From cathedral acoustics to forest rituals, from theatrical homage to furious industrial firestorms - this day was a masterclass in contrasts. Not everything went to plan, but everything found its place. And that, perhaps, is the true magic of Wave-Gotik-Treffen.

All Pictures by Dagmar Urlbauer