This years WGT didn’t seem to be as crowded as the years before, maybe because there were not too many big names on the bill, maybe because of the economic crisis or why-ever. But the ones that were there definitely had an awesome time and lots of fun. This year there were many new bands to be explored that I personally have not heard or seen before. So this year would be very interesting. Four days, about 40 venues and many many bands, events, parties and other activities all over Leipzig. Impossible to make it to all of the activities, so as every year you have o decide where to go. And as every year two or more bands you want to see are playing at the same time in different venues. But that doesn’t matter.
Friday:
Most people were arriving today, some people had already arrived the day before. Everybody was still trying to find a good camping spot, their hotel or where to start this years odyssey. After we figured out the schedule we decided to start the day at Agra. After checking the shopping area and getting some food, we went to see Zeromancer. For being the first day at Agra tonight, it was very very crowded, as a matter of fact, the agra was packed. Zeromancer is a Norwegian Industrial rock band formed in 1999 by members of the band Seigmen. The current Lineup is Alex Møklebust (vocals), Kim Ljung (bass guitar/backup vocals), Noralf Ronthi (drums) Lorry Kristiansen (programming) and Dan Heide (lead guitar). Their latest album is called ‘The Death of Romance’. The show started out with the intro off the new album. As the band entered the stage, the audience was cheering a lot. Zeromancer played songs off all albums, but many were also off the latest album. The audience was singing along to most. The show was brilliant and very energetic. Kim (bass) was talking to the audience in German almost all the time, Alex said a lot in German as well, but also talked English . The audience appreciated that big time. The band was overwhelmed by the awesome feedback they received. Alex was running up and down on stage, also was he dancing all the time. Kim ran around on stage as well. The show lasted for about 60 minutes, way too short but the guys used every minute. It was a wonderful opening show for the WGT, it couldn’t have been any better.
After the five Norwegians a Austrian band was up: Samsas Traum. Agra was still quite crowded. But still you could tell the audience had changed a bit. Some people had left but new ones had come for them, more the medieval and metal kind of people. Samsas Traum (Samsa’s Dream) is a band from Germany, fronted by Alexander Kaschte. The band is now based in Austria. Their music consists of elements of dark metal, symphonic metal, Neue Deutsche Härte and cantastoria. The name is derived from the 1915 novel The Metamorphosis’s character Gregor Samsa. As they entered the stage, the audience was shouting for them. I personally had expected them to be older and look more like you would expect it in this genre they were playing. The singer wore a green shirt and talked a lot to the audience. They sang mostly in German and also talked a lot in German. The audience could sing along to quite some songs. They played for 60 minutes as well.
The first day continued with Conjure One. Several people had left the Agra now, so the venue was not very full anymore. But the trio onstage did not care. Conjure One is a Canadian electronic music project, headed by Rhys Fulber, better known as a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, as well as other musical groups alongside Bill Leeb. For this show Rhys Fulber had a female singer and a live drummer along on stage. The backdrop was showing a projected image of a sea shore. The singer stood very still on stage and did not move around a lot. Her voice was not very strong either, but it matched the chilled and soft music. There was not much interaction between band and audience, but the music was very relaxing and a nice break from all the fast stuff.
For the following band Agra was filling up again: Kirlian Camera. Kirlian Camera is an Italian group playing mostly electronic darkwave music. The group was founded in 1980 by Angelo Bergamini, and was a pioneering act of the Italian synthpop scene, eventually being the first Italian group to be signed to Virgin Records. Between 1982 and 1984, Bergamini also played in the Italian spacesynth/italodisco group Hipnosis, which earned a platinum record for album sales in Germany, and had a top-10 hit throughout Europe with their single “Pulstar”. During the eighties, Kirlian Camera’s sound became progressively darker, moving away from the synth pop sound dominating their earlier releases. In 1993, they signed to the German label Discordia. 1995 saw them collaborate with labelmates Dive on Obsession EP. While the group’s lineup has constantly changed over the years with many members joining and leaving, it has been relatively stable since 1999, with songwriter Angelo Bergamini being joined by full-time singer Elena Fossi.Krilian Camera entered the stage with black ski masks like you would wear them for a bank robbery. The female singer took her’s off first. She had an awesome strong voice and she could move her body to the music. The dancing moves looked awesome and not only the guys loved watching her. The music was awesome and catchy, Everybody danced along and cheered out loud. The band was very professional and energetic on stage. Kirlian Camera are cult in this scene. Old fans were there and new fans, people that were only there because KC is cult and so on but everybody fell in love with the band. They had a video screen as backdrop showing videos of their songs. So even if you didn’t understand their lyrics you could tell by the images what the message of each song was. Kirlian Camera played for about an hour. What an amazing first day.
Saturday:
The second day of WGT and everybody was still fit. So off to a new day in Leipzig. Today we started out at Kohlrabizirkus. The first band playing there was Lord of The Lost. It was still early but Kohlrabizirkus was already very crowded. Chris Harms started out as vocalist and guitarist for industrial rock outfit PHILIAE (1999-2004). Since then his musical career has flourished, from stage guitars for BIG BOY (2007) to guitars, vocals and production for the legendary glam rock explosion THE PLEASURES (since 2004). As well as this, he keeps one foot in the gothic scene as the singer of the electro/indsutrial project UNTERART (since 2006). In LORD OF THE LOST he brings to life his own visions. But he is not alone:Together with Sebsta (Guitars), Class (Bass), Any (Drums) and THE PLEASURES band mate Sensai (Guitars), he founded LORD OF THE LOST in 2008, to breathe fresh life into gothic rock. The band spent much of 2008 in the studio working on their debut album which was released on February 19th 2010.After a long intro one after another came on stage, the singer entered the stage last and then they began to rock. Next to the songs off the current album, Lord Of The Lost also played two songs off the upcoming album. The audience could sing along to most of the songs. Especially in the first rows you could find many fans of the Lord and Co. Sensai couldn’t make it today so Neo was playing guitar for him. The sound was very rough and metal, harsher than on CD. But the fans loved it. Lord Of The Lost performed a nice “wake-up” show at Kohlrabizirkus and also played their cover hit “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. Their performance lasted for about 40 minutes.
Next at Kohlrabizirkus was another metal band called My Insanity. My Insanity is a German metal band founded in 1996. Quite some people had left the Kohlrabizirkus and went outside to enjoy the bright sunshine and explore some other places of the WGT in Leipzig. The four guys on stage still pulled of a great sow. The singer had a great and strong voice. The metal heads in the audience really enjoyed the performance. The bass player played a bit with the audience, and the singer talked a bit to them. But the band more focused on playing their songs. Their show lasted 50 minutes.
Our music journey lead us back to Agra, where the entire festival seemed to be going at the moment, so it seemed. The venue was packed to watch some energetic Mexicans perform and go wild on stage: Rabia Sorda. Rabia Sorda is the side project of Erk Aicrag, lead singer of the Mexican aggrotech band Hocico. Rabia Sorda, like Hocico, is electronic music, though it is somewhat less aggressive and noisy than Hocico. While his main project, Hocico, goes down a certain path, Aicrag uses Rabia Sorda as a vehicle for his own musical creativity. He mixes different aspects ranging from ethnical influences to 80’s-style melodies and punky attitude to aggressive electronic music.As I said before it was totally packed at Agra. Rabia Sorda came on stage covered in something that looked like mud. The singer jumped around all the time, on the spot as well as from side to side on stage. He just couldn’t stand still. Neither could the rest of the band members. The audience was going insane, all the ravers in the audience danced their mind away, nobody seemed to stand still. And if, the singer made sure that they would start moving within an instant. The music was very animating and spreading so much energy, the performance could have lasted for hours without anybody getting tired. The light was awesome and so was the atmosphere at Agra. The cheering was loud, and many were also able to sing along to the songs. The elctro beats and the slightly distorted vocals made a perfect match that shook you deep inside and keep you moving along. The backdrop screen showed videos of Rabia Sorda. What an amazing performance, too bad it only lasted for 50 minutes. The show was so much fun!
Up next was Rotersand. Since we had an interview in between the two bands I was too late for the photopit but we still got to watch most of their performance. When in September 2002 Rasc, Gun and Krischan decided to form Rotersand, they weren”t newcomers any more. Each of them could look back on a rich musical past of their own. Joining forced in “Rotersand”, they eventually began to create their own concept of electronic music: invigorating and contemplative, contemporary yet timeless. Now here at Agra it was still packed and more and more ravers had joined the party to dance along to the EBM music Rotersand was creating on stage. All three guys of Rotersand took turns in singing and were jumping around on stage when not standing behind their Apples. The music was thriving and making you dance along. Fast electro music that made your body move wether you wanted it or not. Rotersand is an awesome band, I hope I get to see them again sometime soon.
Now we went over to the little Agra venue 4.2 to see Dexy Corp. Actually another band was supposed to play now but there was some delay. Creating an imaginary world drawn from japanese science fiction movies, DEXY CORP_ sends us from the contemporary industrialism to a technosciences era as dark as Tetsuo or Akira’s society. There is no doubt that their music, tinged with synthetic and “cold-as-a-Lynch’s shot” atmospheres makes us sink in timeless mythologic societies, in which human kind remains the first character for all the rising of sciences and technology. Their songs are resonant paintings of a cyberpunk future, with all its dangers and temptations. And so looked their microphone stand: very cyperpunk like and industrial. You could hear their French accent when talking. The little venue was not very crowded but filling up throughout the performance. The audience was very mixed. The music was very artistic and thriving. The band had some technical issues but were able to handle them very quick.
Now we went to Moritzbastei. This place was packed and nobody was being let in anymore, only if people left some could go in. Moritzbastei has three “towers” in which bands and DJ’s were playing. We went to the one were Schneewittchen was playing. Here as well the audience was mixed. Schneewittchen won critical acclaim and prizes in Germany for their performances and vocal abilities at renowned German art houses and institutions. Marianne Iser who is best described as a gothic Barbie, a high priestess combining bitter angry sentiments and tragic comedy at the same time. She wants to break taboos, provoke and confront. She rebels, screams and fights. They are somewhere between Classic and Avant-garde, giving you very intriguing unexpected soundscapes: classic music, atmospheric, computer sounds, electronic beats, rock e-guitars and pounding techno basses, all interwoven with screeching metallic sound effects.I had heard of them before, but only of their existance and nothing in detail or about their music. So it was pretty exciting to now see them on stage. The keyboarder entered the stage first, then singer entered the stage as well. Topless but with heavy makeup she started her performance. With a strong voice that reminded of NIna Hagen and story telling German lyrics they performed an odd yet interesting show. She moved around as if in ecstasy and told the stories along with the music. Her voice went through everything and was to be heard all over in the club, I am sure she wouldn’t even need a microphone to be heard. Everybody’s eyes were locked on the singer, you couldn’t help it but stare at her. Not because she was topless but because she put up such an amazing performance. I was glad to had come here and se that awesome performance of Schneewitchen that lasted for about an hour.
After Schneewittchen was done, there was a short changeover before the DJ Andy K from Melotron started with his set and the after party. The after party was packed as well and everybody was dancing along to the music Andy had picked for the evening. He played all club hits from IAMX, to Apoptygma Berzerk, the latest In Strict Confidence song “Silver Bullet”, and many many others. Everybody was having a good end of the day, dancing and shaking off all the hustle of the day. A nice closing for the second day. WGT was half way done already, time flies when you have a good time.
Sunday: The third day of WGT has begun. You could tell people were tired and exhausted. Two long days of festival were showing it’s marks. The weather was still good, it had rained in the morning hours a bit but all in all the sun was out and it was warm, not too hot, just nice and warm.
We started out our day at Parkbühne. La Magra was playing there. La Magra was founded by Louis Cyphre in 2001. Dark electronic sounds covered by dark vocals about death, love and immortality. It was early and therefore not very crowded at Parkbühne. Three people on stage tried to chase away the tiredness with their electro music. They had a female singer dancing around on stage, but she seemed to be quite tired as well. The electro beats were a little monotone. Fair enough as a wake up call though. After half an hour La Magra were dióne.
After soaking up some sun at Parkbühne we went to Agra. It was not too crowded there either but still a lot more people than at Parkbühne. The band we went to see at Agra was the second band there for the day and came from Finland: Indica. The Finnish girl group was founded in 2001 by schoolmates Jonsu (vocals, violin, guitar, keyboards, theremin) and Heini (bass), who had played together in a children’s string orchestra. Their line-up was soon completed by Sirkku (keyboards, clarinet, piano), Jenny (guitar) and Laura (drums, percussion). Five beautiful girls with just one thing in common: as fully fledged musicians, they’re all light years away from casting shows and musical triviality. And they’re also great friends.I had seen them before in Finland and was always amazed by their fairy like sound and their amazing performances with the strong voice and the awesome appearance of the girls. Today as well they came on stage with awesome outfits. As they began singing in English I was shocked though. It was strange to hear Indica sing in English for the first time, somehow I felt like they lost some of the mystery they always carried in their music. And also did I have the feeling that them singing in English lost some strength and power because they were not as sure as when they sing in Finnish. But maybe it was just because I had to get used to that. Several people in the audience seemed to feel the same way though. All the others enjoyed the fairylike performance the girls put up on stage in front of the growing audience. They played several songs of their upcoming English album. Thankful and overwhelmed by the audience Indica kept on thanking their fans. Even though I believe that they could have impressed the audience even more with their songs in Finnish I was glad to see Indica outside of Finland and receiving such a positive feedback, hoping that we will hear a lot more of them soon.
After Indica we decided to enjoy the sun a little more, so we went back to Parkbühne. Back there it had gotten extremely crowded. Cephalgy were playing in the sunshine now. Cephalgy is a German electronic music project, founded in 1997 under the name Sven West. As the guys entered the stage everybody was cheering out loud, you felt more like a bunch of guys watching a soccer match than an electro band on stage, but it was tons of fun just watching the audience and the band communicate like that. Everybody danced along to the beats of Cephalgy. EBM music and sun shine, everybody was in a good mood and enjoyed the show. Cephalgy kept reminding us to keep the hands up to clap and go along to the music, everybody did as told and danced, clapped and sang along. Cephalgy played a great set full of catchy music. Awesome!
Topping that would be hard, but hey. Vigilante did an awesome job and accomplished the mission. Vigilante is a Chilean aggrotech/Industrial Metal band formed in 2005. These three Chileans just didn’t stand still for not even a single second, but their music wouldn’t allow it either. Very energetic and thriving they animated everybody to go along and keep going along. It was a blast and a lot of fun watching them perform on stage. With a guitar, keys and the vocalist Vigilante rocked the Parkbühne and made the audience all theirs. The band built up a strong connection to the audience within an instant. Their music was quite aggressive but the guys made up for it. Many ravers were dancing along to their music as well. During one of their last songs the singer was walking through the audience while singing. Somehow South American electro bands seem to have an endless source of energy somewhere deep inside them. Vigilante: What an awesome and powerful band!
Up next and still at Parkbühne was SITD. SITD, often depicted [:SITD:], is a German electro-industrial band founded in 1996 by Carsen Jacek and Thorsten Lau as Shadows in the Dark. They as well played very energetic EBM music. The Parkbühne was getting more and more crowded until they finally had to stop letting people in because it was getting too crowded. Everybody was dancing and shouting along to the fats beats. The band animated every one to keep on going along and to of course keep their hands up. The audience seemed to not get tired even after three awesome bands. They were still giving everything they could to the band. SITD appreciated that and thanked the audience a lot for it. SITD played for an hour.
After SITD we went back to Agra. As we arrived we still got to see half of Faith And The Muse. Faith and the Muse is an American, underground gothic/darkwave band composed of two musicians, Monica Richards and William Faith. They are well-regarded in the gothic music scene as innovators and icons. Their music encompasses many genres, from folk-style songs to darker compositions. Richards is the primary singer, although Faith sings one or two tracks on each album. The band is hard to place in any single genre. Their influences include dark alternative, gothic rock, Celtic, and other folk influences. Welsh and Irish mythology have often served as inspiration to many of the band’s songs. Agra was extremely crowded with a mixed audience. From medieval dressed people, baroque dresses, ravers, punks to electroheads and pure rockers you could find everything in their audience. With awesome outfits Faith And The Muse performed their music in a theatrical way. Their show was very interesting to watch. With Indian traditional dance choreographies two female danced synchronized while another female was singing and the rest of the band was rocking along with the audience. It was an amazing scene on stage with awesome punk hair yet classic dresses. Too bad we didn’t get to see the entire show.
Next band at Agra was Diary Of Dreams. Diary of Dreams is a German electronic music group with a gothic attitude. The lead singer and founding member Adrian Hates has produced most of the albums by himself or with minimal help from others. He rarely uses a full band, except when he is on tour. It was getting more and more crowded in the venue. With a l,ot of fog and piercing strobe lights the band came on stage with the intro of their latest album. Then Diary Of Dreams continued playing some new songs before they went back to sing older songs. The audience sang along to most songs, especially to hits like “Traumtänzer”, “The Plague”, “The Curse” and many others. The light was kept quite dim in general with some lighter moments. This light play and all the fog created the right atmosphere for Diary Of Dreams dark and deep music. Adrian’s voice was filling up the entire venue and caught everybody’s attention. He wouldn’t let go before he finished. Everybody was in a sort of trance, following the music and words of Diary Of Dreams, clapping and singing along without a will on their own. It was an amazing show. Diary Of Dreams are an amazing live band.
Tonight we ended our day at Dark Flower where Daniel Graves (Aesthetic Perfection), Ronan Harris (VNV Nation) and several others were playing their DJ sets. Along with SITD, Cephgalgy and other EBM and Industrial bands everyone could have a chilled drink at the bar or dance along to the industrial music the DJs played. But you could tell that everybody was being exhausted after three long yet brilliant days. Dark Flower was getting really crowded around midnight. The people had a good time and danced the night away, ready for another and last day of WGT.
Monday:
The last day of WGT, everybody looked extremely tired. As awesome as the festival was, four days festival does not include a lot of sleep. Today the weather was a mix of sun and rain. One last time for this year we were all over Leipzig seeing acts in different venues. We began at Werk II. Werk II was filling up fast, not only because it had begun to rain, but because there were great bands going to play at Werk II. Here you could mostly find punks, rockabillies and psychobillies. The first band playing there was Dead United. Dead United is a German Horrorpunk band. They had quite some fans in the front rows as the guys entered the stage all dressed up for Halloween. For several of their songs they had either a mummy running around on stage, a doctor cutting living people (as a hint to Dr. Horror of House of the 1000 Corpses by Rob Zombie) or a giant chain saw. Besides all that show massacre they also played music and jumped around on stage trying to get everybody along. Several people went along but it was still a little early for everybody to go along. The tunes of Dead United were easygoing and a lot like stuff we had all heard before. Dead United put up a nice opening show though.
The next band at Werk II was Kitty in A Casket, a female fronted rockabilly band from Austria. There were a lot more people going along that did for the band before, but the singer still wanted more and tried to get the audience wilder. Kitty In A Casket had a standup bass player. The singer was moving around on stage reminding of the early times of Avril Lavigne, only in a rockabilly way. She and the guys put up a great performance and the audience enjoyed it, singing and dancing along. They also played a cover. Kitty In A Casket played for about 40 minutes.
Even though there were still several great bands coming up we went to Parkbühne to catch a few bands there. As we arrived there we still saw the end of Morlocks. Morlocks is a band from Sweden playing Gothic Rock./Industrial. The singer reminded of The Cure. There were many people at Parkbühne, all enjoying the music and being glad it wasn’t raining at the moment.
The next band was Zeraphine. Zeraphine is a gothic alternative rock from Berlin, Germany, formed in 2000 by Sven Friedrich (vocals, programming, lead song writing) and Norman Selbig (guitars) from the then-defunct Dreadful Shadows. The audience welcomed them with loud cheering. Zeraphine played some songs off the upcoming album, even though they had some sound problems.. Tonight they were only four, their second guitar player couldn’t come along. The music didn’t lack of it though. The fans all sang along to all songs out loud Zeraphine played songs off all albums, and especially all their hits. The audience enjoyed watching Zeraphine. Most people in the audience were goths and rockers. Hardly any electroheads or ravers were to be found in the audience, but the dark rock music Zeraphine played was not the fitting music for these kind of music fans anyway. Zeraphine’s dark and dreamy music fitted to the weather perfectly well. Dark clouds were on the sky as Sven sang the dark ballads. You could tell the guys were glad to be back on stage and play their music in front of their fans as well as talking to them all the time. Their show lasted for 40 minutes only and the day was getting closer to an end.
After Zeraphine we went over to Kohlrabizirkus. There was hardly any getting in because the venue was terribly crowded. We made it in before the band we were there to see, so we still got to see half of the band before: Trial. Trial is a German Industrial band. Somehow their sound was almost metal like. There were many electro fans at Kohlrabizirkus as well as many ravers.
After Trial another German band was up: In Strict Confidence. They have just released a new album and played some songs of it tonight. In Strict Confidence is a German electro-industrial band. Formed in 1989/1990, they were previously known as Seal of Secrecy until 1992. With the intro of their new album “La Parade Monstrueuse” they entered the stage and began right away with an awesome show. The female guitar player rocked on stage when she was not playing with fire or even swallowing the flame. Nina, the co-vocalist wore a gorgeous red latex dress for the first half of the show and danced around beautifully. The singer was walking around on stage singing with his dark voice. Nina was singing and dancing in front of Haydee (the blonde guitar player) while Haydee was whirling around with flames. What an amazing performance that left everybody speechless. The audience loved them, sang and danced along, did everything the band wanted them to do at all times. Halfway through the show Nina changed her dress to black. Everybody sang along out loud not only to the old songs but also the new ones. Especially “Silver Bullets” received a lot of positive feedback from the audience. Everybody was astonished by the performance of In Strict Confidence. Towards the end of the show Hadyee was even spitting fire. The Industrial rock music of In Strict Confidence as well as their performance lasted for about an hour but could have went on for much longer. In Strict Confidence is an awesome live band. I hope to see them again soon.
Last band at Kohlrabizirkus was The Klinik. The Klinik is an industrial music band from Belgium, originally formed around 1982 by electro-synthpop practitioner Marc Verhaeghen, who is the only constant member. There were two guys on stage with long black coats and their heads all wrapped up in bandages. Their music was extremely industrial. The people watching The Klinik were dancing in ecstasy. The audience seemed to be enjoying the band. Many Front 242 fans were in the audience cheering after each song. The band was not very talkative. An interesting ending for a wonderful festival. Can’t wait till next year.
Most people were arriving today, some people had already arrived the day before. Everybody was still trying to find a good camping spot, their hotel or where to start this years odyssey. After we figured out the schedule we decided to start the day at Agra. After checking the shopping area and getting some food, we went to see Zeromancer. For being the first day at Agra tonight, it was very very crowded, as a matter of fact, the agra was packed. Zeromancer is a Norwegian Industrial rock band formed in 1999 by members of the band Seigmen. The current Lineup is Alex Møklebust (vocals), Kim Ljung (bass guitar/backup vocals), Noralf Ronthi (drums) Lorry Kristiansen (programming) and Dan Heide (lead guitar). Their latest album is called ‘The Death of Romance’. The show started out with the intro off the new album. As the band entered the stage, the audience was cheering a lot. Zeromancer played songs off all albums, but many were also off the latest album. The audience was singing along to most. The show was brilliant and very energetic. Kim (bass) was talking to the audience in German almost all the time, Alex said a lot in German as well, but also talked English . The audience appreciated that big time. The band was overwhelmed by the awesome feedback they received. Alex was running up and down on stage, also was he dancing all the time. Kim ran around on stage as well. The show lasted for about 60 minutes, way too short but the guys used every minute. It was a wonderful opening show for the WGT, it couldn’t have been any better.
The first day continued with Conjure One. Several people had left the Agra now, so the venue was not very full anymore. But the trio onstage did not care. Conjure One is a Canadian electronic music project, headed by Rhys Fulber, better known as a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, as well as other musical groups alongside Bill Leeb. For this show Rhys Fulber had a female singer and a live drummer along on stage. The backdrop was showing a projected image of a sea shore. The singer stood very still on stage and did not move around a lot. Her voice was not very strong either, but it matched the chilled and soft music. There was not much interaction between band and audience, but the music was very relaxing and a nice break from all the fast stuff.
For the following band Agra was filling up again: Kirlian Camera. Kirlian Camera is an Italian group playing mostly electronic darkwave music. The group was founded in 1980 by Angelo Bergamini, and was a pioneering act of the Italian synthpop scene, eventually being the first Italian group to be signed to Virgin Records. Between 1982 and 1984, Bergamini also played in the Italian spacesynth/italodisco group Hipnosis, which earned a platinum record for album sales in Germany, and had a top-10 hit throughout Europe with their single “Pulstar”. During the eighties, Kirlian Camera’s sound became progressively darker, moving away from the synth pop sound dominating their earlier releases. In 1993, they signed to the German label Discordia. 1995 saw them collaborate with labelmates Dive on Obsession EP. While the group’s lineup has constantly changed over the years with many members joining and leaving, it has been relatively stable since 1999, with songwriter Angelo Bergamini being joined by full-time singer Elena Fossi.Krilian Camera entered the stage with black ski masks like you would wear them for a bank robbery. The female singer took her’s off first. She had an awesome strong voice and she could move her body to the music. The dancing moves looked awesome and not only the guys loved watching her. The music was awesome and catchy, Everybody danced along and cheered out loud. The band was very professional and energetic on stage. Kirlian Camera are cult in this scene. Old fans were there and new fans, people that were only there because KC is cult and so on but everybody fell in love with the band. They had a video screen as backdrop showing videos of their songs. So even if you didn’t understand their lyrics you could tell by the images what the message of each song was. Kirlian Camera played for about an hour. What an amazing first day.
The second day of WGT and everybody was still fit. So off to a new day in Leipzig. Today we started out at Kohlrabizirkus. The first band playing there was Lord of The Lost. It was still early but Kohlrabizirkus was already very crowded. Chris Harms started out as vocalist and guitarist for industrial rock outfit PHILIAE (1999-2004). Since then his musical career has flourished, from stage guitars for BIG BOY (2007) to guitars, vocals and production for the legendary glam rock explosion THE PLEASURES (since 2004). As well as this, he keeps one foot in the gothic scene as the singer of the electro/indsutrial project UNTERART (since 2006). In LORD OF THE LOST he brings to life his own visions. But he is not alone:Together with Sebsta (Guitars), Class (Bass), Any (Drums) and THE PLEASURES band mate Sensai (Guitars), he founded LORD OF THE LOST in 2008, to breathe fresh life into gothic rock. The band spent much of 2008 in the studio working on their debut album which was released on February 19th 2010.After a long intro one after another came on stage, the singer entered the stage last and then they began to rock. Next to the songs off the current album, Lord Of The Lost also played two songs off the upcoming album. The audience could sing along to most of the songs. Especially in the first rows you could find many fans of the Lord and Co. Sensai couldn’t make it today so Neo was playing guitar for him. The sound was very rough and metal, harsher than on CD. But the fans loved it. Lord Of The Lost performed a nice “wake-up” show at Kohlrabizirkus and also played their cover hit “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. Their performance lasted for about 40 minutes.
Next at Kohlrabizirkus was another metal band called My Insanity. My Insanity is a German metal band founded in 1996. Quite some people had left the Kohlrabizirkus and went outside to enjoy the bright sunshine and explore some other places of the WGT in Leipzig. The four guys on stage still pulled of a great sow. The singer had a great and strong voice. The metal heads in the audience really enjoyed the performance. The bass player played a bit with the audience, and the singer talked a bit to them. But the band more focused on playing their songs. Their show lasted 50 minutes.
Our music journey lead us back to Agra, where the entire festival seemed to be going at the moment, so it seemed. The venue was packed to watch some energetic Mexicans perform and go wild on stage: Rabia Sorda. Rabia Sorda is the side project of Erk Aicrag, lead singer of the Mexican aggrotech band Hocico. Rabia Sorda, like Hocico, is electronic music, though it is somewhat less aggressive and noisy than Hocico. While his main project, Hocico, goes down a certain path, Aicrag uses Rabia Sorda as a vehicle for his own musical creativity. He mixes different aspects ranging from ethnical influences to 80’s-style melodies and punky attitude to aggressive electronic music.As I said before it was totally packed at Agra. Rabia Sorda came on stage covered in something that looked like mud. The singer jumped around all the time, on the spot as well as from side to side on stage. He just couldn’t stand still. Neither could the rest of the band members. The audience was going insane, all the ravers in the audience danced their mind away, nobody seemed to stand still.
Now we went over to the little Agra venue 4.2 to see Dexy Corp. Actually another band was supposed to play now but there was some delay. Creating an imaginary world drawn from japanese science fiction movies, DEXY CORP_ sends us from the contemporary industrialism to a technosciences era as dark as Tetsuo or Akira’s society. There is no doubt that their music, tinged with synthetic and “cold-as-a-Lynch’s shot” atmospheres makes us sink in timeless mythologic societies, in which human kind remains the first character for all the rising of sciences and technology. Their songs are resonant paintings of a cyberpunk future, with all its dangers and temptations. And so looked their microphone stand: very cyperpunk like and industrial. You could hear their French accent when talking. The little venue was not very crowded but filling up throughout the performance. The audience was very mixed. The music was very artistic and thriving. The band had some technical issues but were able to handle them very quick.
Now we went to Moritzbastei. This place was packed and nobody was being let in anymore, only if people left some could go in. Moritzbastei has three “towers” in which bands and DJ’s were playing. We went to the one were Schneewittchen was playing. Here as well the audience was mixed. Schneewittchen won critical acclaim and prizes in Germany for their performances and vocal abilities at renowned German art houses and institutions. Marianne Iser who is best described as a gothic Barbie, a high priestess combining bitter angry sentiments and tragic comedy at the same time. She wants to break taboos, provoke and confront. She rebels, screams and fights.
We started out our day at Parkbühne. La Magra was playing there. La Magra was founded by Louis Cyphre in 2001. Dark electronic sounds covered by dark vocals about death, love and immortality. It was early and therefore not very crowded at Parkbühne. Three people on stage tried to chase away the tiredness with their electro music. They had a female singer dancing around on stage, but she seemed to be quite tired as well. The electro beats were a little monotone. Fair enough as a wake up call though. After half an hour La Magra were dióne.
After soaking up some sun at Parkbühne we went to Agra. It was not too crowded there either but still a lot more people than at Parkbühne. The band we went to see at Agra was the second band there for the day and came from Finland: Indica. The Finnish girl group was founded in 2001 by schoolmates Jonsu (vocals, violin, guitar, keyboards, theremin) and Heini (bass), who had played together in a children’s string orchestra. Their line-up was soon completed by Sirkku (keyboards, clarinet, piano), Jenny (guitar) and Laura (drums, percussion). Five beautiful girls with just one thing in common: as fully fledged musicians, they’re all light years away from casting shows and musical triviality. And they’re also great friends.I had seen them before in Finland and was always amazed by their fairy like sound and their amazing performances with the strong voice and the awesome appearance of the girls. Today as well they came on stage with awesome outfits. As they began singing in English I was shocked though. It was strange to hear Indica sing in English for the first time, somehow I felt like they lost some of the mystery they always carried in their music. And also did I have the feeling that them singing in English lost some strength and power because they were not as sure as when they sing in Finnish. But maybe it was just because I had to get used to that. Several people in the audience seemed to feel the same way though. All the others enjoyed the fairylike performance the girls put up on stage in front of the growing audience. They played several songs of their upcoming English album. Thankful and overwhelmed by the audience Indica kept on thanking their fans. Even though I believe that they could have impressed the audience even more with their songs in Finnish I was glad to see Indica outside of Finland and receiving such a positive feedback, hoping that we will hear a lot more of them soon.
Topping that would be hard, but hey. Vigilante did an awesome job and accomplished the mission. Vigilante is a Chilean aggrotech/Industrial Metal band formed in 2005. These three Chileans just didn’t stand still for not even a single second, but their music wouldn’t allow it either. Very energetic and thriving they animated everybody to go along and keep going along. It was a blast and a lot of fun watching them perform on stage. With a guitar, keys and the vocalist Vigilante rocked the Parkbühne and made the audience all theirs. The band built up a strong connection to the audience within an instant. Their music was quite aggressive but the guys made up for it. Many ravers were dancing along to their music as well. During one of their last songs the singer was walking through the audience while singing. Somehow South American electro bands seem to have an endless source of energy somewhere deep inside them. Vigilante: What an awesome and powerful band!
Next band at Agra was Diary Of Dreams. Diary of Dreams is a German electronic music group with a gothic attitude. The lead singer and founding member Adrian Hates has produced most of the albums by himself or with minimal help from others. He rarely uses a full band, except when he is on tour. It was getting more and more crowded in the venue. With a l,ot of fog and piercing strobe lights the band came on stage with the intro of their latest album. Then Diary Of Dreams continued playing some new songs before they went back to sing older songs. The audience sang along to most songs, especially to hits like “Traumtänzer”, “The Plague”, “The Curse” and many others. The light was kept quite dim in general with some lighter moments. This light play and all the fog created the right atmosphere for Diary Of Dreams dark and deep music. Adrian’s voice was filling up the entire venue and caught everybody’s attention. He wouldn’t let go before he finished. Everybody was in a sort of trance, following the music and words of Diary Of Dreams, clapping and singing along without a will on their own. It was an amazing show. Diary Of Dreams are an amazing live band.
After Trial another German band was up: In Strict Confidence. They have just released a new album and played some songs of it tonight. In Strict Confidence is a German electro-industrial band. Formed in 1989/1990, they were previously known as Seal of Secrecy until 1992. With the intro of their new album “La Parade Monstrueuse” they entered the stage and began right away with an awesome show. The female guitar player rocked on stage when she was not playing with fire or even swallowing the flame. Nina, the co-vocalist wore a gorgeous red latex dress for the first half of the show and danced around beautifully. The singer was walking around on stage singing with his dark voice. Nina was singing and dancing in front of Haydee (the blonde guitar player) while Haydee was whirling around with flames. What an amazing performance that left everybody speechless. The audience loved them, sang and danced along, did everything the band wanted them to do at all times. Halfway through the show Nina changed her dress to black. Everybody sang along out loud not only to the old songs but also the new ones. Especially “Silver Bullets” received a lot of positive feedback from the audience. Everybody was astonished by the performance of In Strict Confidence. Towards the end of the show Hadyee was even spitting fire. The Industrial rock music of In Strict Confidence as well as their performance lasted for about an hour but could have went on for much longer. In Strict Confidence is an awesome live band. I hope to see them again soon.
Last band at Kohlrabizirkus was The Klinik. The Klinik is an industrial music band from Belgium, originally formed around 1982 by electro-synthpop practitioner Marc Verhaeghen, who is the only constant member. There were two guys on stage with long black coats and their heads all wrapped up in bandages. Their music was extremely industrial. The people watching The Klinik were dancing in ecstasy. The audience seemed to be enjoying the band. Many Front 242 fans were in the audience cheering after each song. The band was not very talkative. An interesting ending for a wonderful festival. Can’t wait till next year.
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