05-06-2017 Wave Gotik Treffen

[schema type=”event” evtype=”MusicEvent” name=”05-06-2017 Wave Gotik Treffen” sdate=”2017-06-02″ edate=”2017-06-05″ street=”Leipzig” city=”Leipzig” country=”DE” ]

The last day of this year’s WGT has begun. Today we spent the entire day at Täubchenthal. A medium sized venue in an old industrial building. The venue has a balcony above the dance floor and the stage is medium sized as well.

Even though it was still quite early in the day, the venue was packed already. The first band was about to enter the stage and rock away the last day of the festival.
Opening up the venue was the German band Johnny Deathshadow.

Following their start with legendary Horrorpunk cover versions of Top 40 Pop hits and a foray into Death Rock with their debut EP in 2013 the band has finally found their own sound. They combine electronic and industrial sound with a hardened metal edge, energetic Punk and catchy hooks to a fascinating melange that has been missing in German Gothic for years. Somewhere in the dead mans land between Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Ministry, Pain and Combichrist Metal riffs, searing electronics and captivating vocals meet to create a modern style of Industrial Gothic Metal.

The band entered the stage with their faces painted as skulls. With lots of fog and flashing lights, the band entered the stage. The loud and fast rock music got the people in the venue cheering and dancing along to the music. The bass player and the singer took turns in singing. The melodies were catchy and so were the choruses. Fans were singing along and the band was blown away by all the interaction and positive reaction. After each song the band was thanking the audience for having come out so early.

Johnny Deathshadow played for about an hour. For one of the last songs, the guitar player joined the newly formed circle pit and bounced around with the fans, taking pictures with them here and there. What an energetic opening show today.

On it went with the Canadian band Nim Vind.

Nim Vind is a Canadian solo musician/artist and songwriter. He describes his sound as “Music for Outsiders”. Along with two fellow musicians on bass and drums, the three-piece took over the stage, which all the sudden looked big with only three people on it.

The band entered the stage with dim light. Although the venue had emptied during change over it was quite crowded again.

Nim Vind was making sure, people understood what the band was saying, before they were telling their stories. Nim Vind played old and new songs.

Quite some in the audience knew the lyrics to the songs, so they sang and danced along to the music.

Nim Vind played for about one hour plus a well deserved encore before it was time for the next band to play.

The venue was packed again for the next band: Der Fluch.

Der Fluch is a German rock band that was formed in 1981 by Deutscher W. First as a project but that soon turned into a serious band. The lyrics are somewhere between tales of horror and anger.

It is an almost legendary band, so many people had gathered to see them perform. The band entered the stage, dressed in all black and with sunglasses on. The intro was a fairytale of horror before the singer continued his horror stories which he shouted towards the audience. The vocals were low and dark, the rock music and the dim light perfected the creepy atmosphere. For one song the singer poured melted candle wax into the audience and received a lot of cheering for it.

The audience went crazy during the performance of the band. Dancing and singing along, loud cheering after each song. The venue was heating up quickly and soon was steaming hot. Der Fluch played for over one hour before they left the stage.

The day was getting closer to an end. Up next was the Californian band Frankenstein. Only one more band after them and this year’s WGT was about to be over.

Dredged up from the sewers of the LA underground and the deepest, darkest bayou, Frankenstein have emerged only to become the most talked-about, bone-crunching, gut-wrenching, flabbergasting band of our time!

With catchy rock tunes, the band entered the stage and took over the stage and venue. Everyone began dancing along instantly. Cheering and shouting along. The singer had a dark voice. But not in a creepy way, but more in a Johnny Cash way. The audience loved it. The music was somewhere between rockabilly and punk. Each of the band members was rocking their part, getting the audience to go along more and more.

Frankenstein did not only talk to the audience between the songs, but also passed out rattles for one of the last songs, so everyone could join them in making music. And it worked out perfectly well. After about eighty minutes the band left the stage. But the audience did not want this show to be over so they demanded more. So Frankenstein came back for an encore, supported by Frank The Baptist and others who joined the vocals for the last song.

It was an energetic performance that was spreading a lot of positive vibes in this dark venue. Simply mind blowing!

The last band of the night was from Canada again: The Creepshow was closing the venue tonight and ending the festival.

The Creepshow is a band from Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The band formed in 2005 when the four original members got together with the purpose of starting a psychobilly band. The Creepshow writes the majority of their songs about horror films.

There was no space left in the venue, it had gotten steaming hot and everyone was ready to rock one last time. And so was the band. With loads of energy and good vibes, the band entered the stage and rocked big time from the first second on. The singer jumped around on stage, dancing and flirting with the audience.
Each of the songs was followed by immense cheering. Everyone was singing and dancing along, having a smile on their faces while doing so. The band members rocked the night away. Here and there they talked to the audience, thanking them for having come out, encouraging them to dance and shout more, and having a good time altogether.

The Creepshow played for more than ninety minutes, including encore. Leaving behind many fans that were soaked in sweat but happy to have been to this amazing show.

Now, this year’s WGT was over and everyone was heading home with nothing but great memories in their minds. See you in 2018!

Johnny Deathshadow Official
Nim Vind Facebook
Frankenstein Facebook
The Creepshow Facebook