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Wave Gotik Treffen 2006


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If I was to describe this year's WGT in one word it would definitely be the word FEINDFLUG!!!:D If the description was to be more elaborate there would appear the words such as Nitzer Ebb and VNV Nation. However, I realize that these words, though meaningful and appealing to many hearts may not me sufficient, then I'll add some more to make the coverage full.

FRIDAY 02.06

We got to the place slightly later than the rest of the Polish united forces, namely on Friday at about 10 a.m, so while we were picking the tickets and other gadgets we were constantly coming across familiar faces (a bit tired already, well, the night was long and cold:p) After setting our tent and blossoming on our way to showers (the matter of showers and organization of WGT is another thing, however I won't develop it in this place for my inborn gentleness of feelings) we could finally go to conquer the territory of the enemy what we did. The way to the first of the concerts -Witt – took us a long time as by the way we we were observing those nice individuals presenting male and female fashion ideas. The jesters mark: the trends that are now fashionable in the gothic vanity fair make me think that during this season the hosiers won't earn much on women, however, they may get plenty of money from men...
When we got to Werk II we switched our attention from eyes to ears as it was really worth it. Being late for Accessory we listened to the concert of Witt. The vocalist seemed to have a wonderful contact with the audience, and the barge seemed quite rich (unfortunately, as I don't speak German - shame on me – I didn't understand what was all about). Anyway the style of the vocalist was quite specific – tensed, impatient and engaged – it was combining with the bass and drums perfectly.
Next, we decided to change the place and we went to Moritzbastei. It's an interesting place – at the top there was a market where the people were getting rid of their money with the accompaniment of a folk band, in the middle of the place there was a bar, and downstairs - a bit more elegant canteen and the concert hall. It was the place where I spent most of the evening, listening to the bands Zeitgesist Zero, Culture Kultur and Schattenschlag.
The first of the bands made many of us smile and the associations with the performance of the Flesh Field vocalist on M'era Luna 2005 were unavoidable. The lady was styled to the overgrown gothic girl (nasty girl one should say) with the skulls in her bunches and (at times) the sulky face expression. As to the music... well... the vocals were very aggressive, neurotic and emphatic, the whole? definitely of deafening quality. If someone likes the ladies of an expressive face mimicry screaming appealingly in the noisy background – go for it...
Culture Kultur made the whole place dance. No surprise, as the Spanish duo plays an extremely danceable and energetic music. There were some technical problems and funniest thing was that the electricity went out the moment they started playing "Wonder"... I don't know if the Heavenly Forces didn't like their show that much?:) The Spanish got a wonderful response which isn't surprising if one takes into consideration the music taste of the Germans.
The last of the bands - Schattenschlag – was one of my favorites of the Festivals, a real must-see as I liked their EP "Gefuehlskalt" very much and I wanted to see what they can do live. Let's say it like this - musically they do quite well, however, as far as the lyrics and scenic frame are concerned they miss a bit to reach the level 10/10. The music is great with the electronic background: the pressed vocal and fast tempo are things that I like. In the background some sort of erotic(?) nuptial (?) opening-love-battle (?) dance of two (un)dressed ladies. Be it as it may, the band made a good impression on me. As to Combichrist whose concert we missed: the people claimed it was one of his best performances with many hits played, fans yelling, screaming and dancing by the stage and the farewell: now go to the concert of this fucking Nitzer Ebb (or something like that).
Nitzer Ebb, the concert I was waiting for impatiently, made mixed impression... We'd been waiting for the concert to start for 20 minutes. There were people cramming by the stage, one of them jumped onto the stage with flag (I think) electro terror breslau – if anyone saw what was written on the falg let me know as I wonder whether it was my countryman rocking the place?:p
The calling, whistling and screaming finally encouraged the band to come to the stage and the show started with "Getting closer". Dantean scenes would be best to describe the hell that unleashed by the stage: screams, yells, squeaks, regular pogo, pushing, pulling... those weaker fans were escaping from the place to save their bodies in one piece. Those who tried to get to the stage to accompany the vocalist were brutally pushed down to the photographer's channel. Bosh, that was it! On the other hand they were playing well known hits: "Join in the chant", "Fun to be had" and so on and I must say that the music is so perfectly familiar to me, I'm used to it like to the pajamas... and after all, nobody gets excited with the pyjamas... so, yes... I was dancing like mad, screaming until my throat was done but I was left with a sense of lack of – I know – novelty or surprise maybe? And perhaps I'm just spoiled, that's all:) There was a bis, naturally, but as for me it was weak and again we needed to scream and clap our hands a lot to call the band back to the stage... well, McCarthy claimed that it was good to be back... the fans, including me, will wait and see what the result of this return will be...

I didn't have any strength to go to the after party so I went to sleep to my cold tent.

SATURDAY 03.06

We spent the whole Saturday in one place - Agra this time – as there were interesting things going on. The first performance was of my personal top 10: Imperative Reaction is a band that has my heart (and ears) forever for the hits they made: "Fault" (they started the concert with it), "Guilt", "Severed" czy "Arrogance". Ted Phelps and his characteristic vocal oscillating somewhere between a scream, lyric lullaby and noisy slide together with a rhythmic music made the audience dance. The track of the new album 'Red" promises much, too. If they could come to Poland and give a concert here wouldn't cry, no... ;)
Necro Facility - I'm telling you, it's a band worth knowing. I'm sitting now and listening to their album of 2005 "The black paintings" and I think that the alcohol restrictions don't do any harm to the artistic output of the Swedes, it's quite the opposite I'd say... Two young gentlemen presented a high class show on the stage, though honestly speaking, when I saw them for the first time (not knowing them earlier) I thought 'what is this? two doll faces playing truant?'. But when they started playing... very hard, dynamic pieces, very good ones. They didn't escape some technical problems, however, it wasn't that bad, as the vocalist was chatting with the audience opening his heart and telling how happy he was being in the country where he could be drunk 24/7 and that he'd already had 8 beers...
I cannot say much about Vigilainte as though I was standing right beside the stage I felt neither ruined nor devastated: vocals and guitars, nothing more. Fortunately soon after that Daniel Myer and Destroid, wearing their overalls and masks,entered the action and speeded the audience's pulse right to the level it should be during the genial concerts. during the concerts, apart from the fact that Myer kept saying "I love you friends", Seb Rydell performed as a vocalist.
I listened to SITD and Cat Rapes Dog in a horizontal position as I was starting to feel really tired and I know it wasn't over yet. As to SITD I may only say that their image was more grunge than gothic, but they evoked euphoria among the fans. they presented, as far as I remember, the frame construction of the concert (based on "Snuff Machinery"). As to CRP I think I felt asleep for a moment so the only thing I remember is that they have a wonderful lady guitarist:)
Finally, the climax of the evening came - VNV Nation. The show was a bit similar to this of M'era Luna, but it torn the audience apart. Of course they played "Chrome", but the old hits like "Beloved", "Epicentre" or "Carbon" as well. Ronan Harris run like mad on the stage, he moved with a speed of a Pershing, talked to the audience (in German so we, English speaking ones were angry like hell:p), cursed the cameraman who was operating his equipment right in front of Ronan's face and his face expressed disbelief and happiness (perhaps of the audience's euphoric reaction). It was a beautiful concert; one of these that stimulate the production of endorphins and I think that if they are planning to give such a concert in Bolków we have the strong reason to look forward to it impatiently.
We didn't go to after party also this time, we just went to our tents and slept like logs till the next day that was...

SUNDAY 04.06

Sunday was a noise time, discoveries on this field, terrible massacre by the barriers and the admiration of the power of the machines. But before all that happened we went across the park (molesting squirrels on our way there:p) to Parkbuhne to see the concert of Agonize and what would turn up by the way (XP 8 turned up, but I'll tell about it in a moment).
I have to say a bit about the concert of Agonize, as many things were happening during that particular show. One could say it was a red-white paint performance but the effect was intriguing:)Musically it was a butchery, the audience was holding to each other or to the barriers, behind that some dancing riots were taking place... in short it was a very amazing rollercoaster. Result: no knocked out teeth, some twitched and jabbed wounds, some painful landings on the ground. We stood right beside the stage so we could observe the action on the scene quite well. What we saw was sticking the needle into the vocalist's arm, splashing of 'blood' and other bloody operations and splashing of the white liquid from the frontman's pants and crazy mimicry of his – only need to say that the stage looked like after the war when they finished and those who stood the closest didn't escape shower (eg. one Japanese photographer who, literally speaking, experienced blood bath:p). It was a very diversified performance – both musically and theatrically.
Next, as I sad, the Italian trio XP 8, appeared on the stage and I must say that either because of the contrast with Agonize or their music itself – their performance was plain. Paul Toohill, the vocalist, made impression of being afraid of using his voice which resulted in the suppressed sound, too little power and expressiveness. So we went from there not waiting for the rest and we got back to Werk II where, as it was before, the various types of noise prevailed.
One could say that after the day in Werk II I've become a neophyte as the impression was enormous. Generally speaking it'd always been quite difficult for me to listen to noise at home, but the concert was a totally different thing! We come right on time to see Neotek. The two gentlemen, one of who presented the style of our Norbi constituted quite a decent warm-up before what was about to come. And S.K.E.T was about to come. The project bewitched me completely. The gentleman playing rhythm-noise put the audience into trans and catatonic movements. "Baikonur", their latest album, is definitely worth your attention and the organizers of the festivals such as WIF should think about them while preparing the line-up for the next festival(wishful thinking, I know:p)
As to the next two bands - Bahntier and The Pain Machinery - they didn't evoke such emotions: the first presented visualizations as if from rotten.com plus average music. I didn't see the second as I went to spare my time for social and nutritional activities(I don't know whether the bartenders served spritzer or what, but it was disgusting, pfeh:p)
We danced during the whole the concert of Implant and pushed all those undecided. An extremely fast melody line and dynamic vocal – the combination perfect for killing the shoes and tired bodies.
As to the two remaining bands - Projecto Mirage and Winterkalte, they were shakers making cocktails of our brains: the vocalist of PM was singing to the microphone through the loudspeaker, so as you can easily imagine, the result was stunning. We run away from the last concert to see a bit of Deine Lakaien. No surprises as far as this concert is concerned: the full band, poignant, hypnotic and moving of Veljanov and beautiful music – combined together give a rare jewel that dazzles and enchants every time in an unbelievable way. At least me, who is writing it:) When they played "Love me to the end" one could see that Deine do have a place in many people's hearts forever (unless the fans pretended so well hehe)
After the concerts we finally went to the after party in Agra 4.2 (don't ask me where I got the strength from cuz for God's sake I've no idea:p, Perhaps it was for the fact that Ronan Harris was to play his DJ set that night:>). Anyway, we had a wonderful time there – the music was fantastic, the place – spacious, with a high ceiling, so despite the great number of people there was no danger of stepping on someone's foot, back or head and no one felt molested:) Party animal's mark: though you might be tired like hell - ordinary thing after several hours of dancing, unless you're supernaturally supported:p - it's really worth going to one of the after parties organized during WGT – first, you'll have a good time and secondly, you'll see how your perspective on the parties as such will change:p

MONDAY 05.06

Kohrabizirkus and for me personally, the sweetest cookie of the whole WGT. Leaving the place was no use, as the line up for the day was smashing, to say the least. Before I get to the gigs, though, I would like to say a few things about the venue itself – it's a huge dome, with holes on top, making you feel like looking straight into the starry sky at night. When the inside part of the roof was occupied by And One visuals – it looked amazing. Generally speaking, a concert in such a place is one hell of a treat. As for the bands of the day – the majority played dynamic dance sets, like Reaper (the vocalist was wearing a mask, so many people had doubts whether he was using playback or not), Violent Entity, Taktical Sekt or Glis. The last one was vigorously enjoyed by the crew from Warsaw, who might still remember his feats in their city:p.

God Module: the frontman masked as well – as if we were on location of 'Monster' – when the mask was taken off, it was much better. All in all, the Jasyn Bangert & Byron C. Miller duo alternating on stage proved to be professional EBM entertainers.
With Sonar we were deep in pleasant trance, but it was only a warm-up before Feindflug. Which eventually happened. First, they dug in on stage, with the majority of instruments hidden behind a net, plus a scaffold and an electric chair, with drums being the only exposed element, right at the edge of the stage. When they appeared on stage, the crowd went wild with an explosion of energy, honestly. Each band member was wearing clothing that fit the style: gas masks, uniforms and other pieces of equipment, the vocalist had a mask on (as you can see, masks were the leitmotiv of Monday, I just don't know why). So, the show began, testing our tired hearts and muscles. "Truppenschau" for a starter, and later my fave "Gulag", for instance. While we had the "Stukas im Visier", everything was vibrating; the vocalist controlled the mesmerized audience skilfully, especially when the band froze during the sampled speeches in their music – the audience followed, to go crazy a moment later... During one of the songs, please forgive me for not remembering which one – I was trying to stay alive, so I didn't get it all – the band performed an electrocution, received enthusiastically by the crowd. The concert was superb, great and very, very spectacular.
The last gig of the fest – at least for me – was And One. Crowd response surpassed everything I had seen so far – you could say that the national heroes appeared on stage – such an applause, madness and wild howling they inspired. They played old tracks, of course, with a couple of new ones from their latest "Military Fashion Show". We were dead tired, though, so we escaped from the venue and went to sleep.

To sum it all up – amazing 4 days full of superb music, meetings and goth-scene observation (especially the visual part :p). WGT is worth a visit anytime if you only have the money, and can stand the weather and the living conditions that are not always comfortable. What can I say – time to start saving for 2007...


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Translator: khocico
Add date: 2006-06-12 / Live reports


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