We have to meet in Leipzig! A look back on Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2024

WGT 2024 headliner Nitzer Ebb (photo: Evert Palmets)

by Evert Palmets

Last year I had the chance to be the official photographer of WGT, one of the world's biggest dark music festivals. As a photographer in Estonia, I've been capturing events and other mainly cultural activities on camera since the early 00's and that's how I got involved with BFTV about 10 years ago. Since then, I have been looking at our events, as well as events abroad with a much more critical eye and always considering what it would look like through the eyes of the camera, wherever I go.

It's great to work outside my home country and in a professional atmosphere. One of the special things about WGT is that the venues are spread out all over the city, and everything good and even better is happening everywhere at the same time. The most current bands and the chance to meet up with each other in Leipzig invites professionals and music fans in dark clothes from all over the world. An estimated 20,000 visitors participate in it. In addition to the official festival programme, there are also unofficial celebrations in the same city, a series of warm-up parties and very special gatherings even before the main event. Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2024 took place for the 31st time from 17 to 20 May and has grown into a proper multi-day must-attend event once a year. Organisational disagreements seem to have been resolved by the team and the WGT is a pretty solid recommendation from me, with both surprises and traditions guaranteed. I hope to see you there in the future, but here's my summary of last year.

Thursday

You can't say that Leipzig has been shrouded in dark clouds with all this dark music and its contingent - quite the opposite, in fact, by the end of May and beginning of June, the start of summer has arrived in eastern Germany and it's generally already much warmer and greener than here in Estonia. Stepping out of Berlin's new airport when you’re coming from Estonia is like stepping into a heatwave, you're in another dimension. Upon arriving by train to Leipzig, you find that preparations are already well under way for Treffen. The audience is there early and spends its leisure time in the parks and at a local club called Moritz-Bastei. I also usually arrive a few days before the festival to give myself a bit of time to adjust and get used to the situation. In the cityscape, the familiar corners from previous years come back to mind, and it's a nice feeling of recognition to be there after a few years of getting to know the place. Rarely, there’s rain, and on some years it has been a problem for visitors staying in tents, but the last few festivals have fortunately been rain-free, with only a few quick showers in the evenings. Last spring you had to seek shade from the day's sunshine, except for the Victorian Picnic patrons, who arrive super early. Several of them stay in a caravan in the park, they would probably just not fit out of their hotel rooms with their big dresses and costumes. It's a tradition to meet on the half-burnt grass in Clara-Zetkin Park the day before the festival, in the giant dress costumes and suits true to the era, wigs or masks on their heads and faces sweating underneath.

The Victorian Picnic isn't an official part of the festival, but a true WGT fan will at least make a quick tour of the park to build up a buzz in anticipation of the days to come - it's a big park. The picnic is actually preceded by a funeral caravan ride and gathering, which unfortunately I haven’t been able to see, and I haven’t had the chance to go to Pagan village (it's somewhere near the Agra Exhibition Centre) because I’ve had to suddenly get myself ready for the festival pre-party.

Warming-up

Our first choice last year was once again the EBM party at Felsenkeller, which actually comprises several different stages: while the main EBM blast is happening in the big hall, there is another, smaller "Naumanns" stage where we heard some superb noise live. To add to the good surprises, we found another tiny basement room where a very loud Beats From The Vault-like (((EBM Radio))) DJ party was going on with smoke and strobe. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this event, because I hadn't got my photographer's licence card yet and didn't risk carrying my camera. It is forbidden to take pictures with a camera in the festival halls, you need to get a press card for that.

I can confirm that all the rooms were packed and this official pre-party is a must-go for many!

The 2025 EBM warm-up promises to be a particularly awesome one with Absolute Body Control, Kontravoid, Kreign, Buzz Kull and many others, event already done.

And already you have to start making very tough choices about where to go and what to give up. It's not easy to get around the city and see everything, because you have to take into account city transport and your physical abilities. Finding the way still takes a bit of time in a city slightly bigger than Tallinn with 628,718 inhabitants, unless you're being driven around by taxi all the time. Last year, WGT spent around one and a half million euros to make sure that all the festival venues were safe for visitors: they search you at the door and in addition to prohibited items, you have to give up your water bottle as well as umbrella, nothing new. Queues can start as early as 19:00, some of the smaller clubs fill up in the first few hours, but not to the point where you can't fit in.The second pre-party we finally got to was Electro All-Stars. Last year convinced us that this is damn awesome stuff, and completely different from what we first thought. It's not your average Helsinki-style karaoke, right. Daniel Myer is one of the organisers behind Electro All-Stars, and has personally invited friends and members of several bands to perform vocals from other hits to instrumentals that are very professionally constructed. Daniel is an absolute miracle man for managing to do this on top of everything else, as he actually has every hour on the clock during WGT. You can see him in various line-ups on the festival's bigger and smaller stages for several years now. Not to mention organising the official afterparty, which we'll come back to later. Anyway, the karaoke was a lot of fun, and as the venue was as packed as could be, we managed to endure almost 40 minutes. Breathing in the fresh air outside, we spontaneously decided to return to the EBM warm-up, which was also a good choice. That’s where our evening ended by the morning.

Checking-in: Friday Both in the city centre, above the Moritzbastei Club next to the outdoor stage, and at the Agra Exhibition Centre, you can exchange your online ticket for a real one, and you will also receive a festival wristband to travel free of charge on trams and buses in the following days. Super convenient! To register, I recommend to be there shortly after the opening of the booth, when the super-queues have not yet formed. This way you avoid queues of several kilometres where, with bad luck, you can wait up to a couple of hours for your turn.

Picture taken at the Agra ticket office.

You can also use your wristband to access special daytime events such as lectures, film presentations and workshops. City museums are also free on some dates. The Agra Centre is the festival's ’main stage’, which fits a diverse catering and the festival's official merch market into 13,000 square metres. Next to the Agra Centre is the festival's largest camping area, and this venue is mainly for those who want to see the most legendary big stage bands and are less likely to go anywhere else. The bastion rooms of Moritzbastei have several different halls where there are even several sets of parties going on at the same time daily, and it's easy to move between them.We started in the Falsenkeller, a historic party and ballroom associated with "Neumanns" beer garden, where parties are held on several floors at once. The Neumanns hall is for smaller, experimental artists and the main hall already seats several thousand guests for larger artists. We ticked off Dancing Plague and Kontravoid on our list successively, the latter of which remains one of my highlights of last year's festival for his authenticity.

Dancing Plague & Kontravoid

From there, we moved to the Bauhaus-style former swimming pool hall, where the French techno maestro Terence Fixmer took to the stage. Each hall in Leipzig is a landmark in its own and as a photographer, I feel that I'm in safe hands. The visuals work and the lighting artists enjoy their work.

Terence Fixmer

Then we travelled back to Falsenkeller for Rendez-Vous and to enjoy the beers of the Beergarden. You gotta try out all local beverages!

Rendez-Vous

To finish off Friday night properly, we decided to meet up with our friends Hendrick (artist Blac Kolor) and his wife Alex, who have been doing their best on those days for the last couple of years to make Leipzig feel like our second home. They know so well how to introduce us to their hometown and where all the exciting things are happening. They invited us to the fresh Westhafen Club on the outskirts of the city, which, thanks to its private courtyard, reminded us a bit of our own local club Paavli Kultuurivabrik, but the entrance was so innovatively sealed off that you could hardly hear anything from the open door. Astonishing! The evening event sat with us very well, organised by Hands label boss Udo Wiessmann, who also played music in mid-evening. Hands record label's Friday closing party brought us electronic noise and body music artists, and you could instantly recognise the label's handwriting. Totally spot on if you like the stuff that’s somewhere between our BFTV’s Krematoorium and Kabel.

Noise Floors presents: Sans-Fin, 16Pad Terrorist, Greyhound, DJ Udo Wiessmann, Leif, DJ Cervello Elettronico

We decided to stay until the very end and skipped going to Agra, where Ladytron played after midnight, who we missed this time.

Here's already next year's recommendation from the Hands camp for Noise Floors Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday

Saturday's first act was Flawless Issues, who played in the good old Stadtbad, where the floor always springs a bit, because there is also a big swimming pool underneath. From the outside, this abandoned swimming pool building looks treacherously ordinary, but inside it's always beautifully decorated, and you can imagine that it was once a pretty extraordinary swimming pool. It's a good place to catch some of the bands who, after their live show, pop over to the merch table and you usually get your records signed nicely. In the courtyard, there's usually a falafel-fries and hamburger stall with an outdoor bar in between and a classic sausage-schnitzel stall in front of the door. Something for all tastes.

Onwards to the cultural centre Haus Leipzig, where Xeno & Oaklander are already performing. It was a bit of a pity that we didn't make it by the start, but our Saturday schedule was tight and Haus Leipzig is usually short of fresh oxygen due to the big crowds. In between the bands, people not only go outside to smoke but also to breathe in oxygen. On to one of the festival's biggest draws, Nitzer Ebb, on the biggest stage in the Agra Exhibition Centre of course, which was densely packed with people. As a pleasant surprise, we spotted Daniel Myer again, on stage behind the rhythm machine, and it was a nice end to the concerts.

Flawless Issues, Xeno & Oaklander, Nitzer Ebb

Unexpectedly, we still had time to check out the huge merch market in the exhibition centre and of course we also made it to Agra's Saturday afterparty, which again was pretty smoky and strobey. Not to be confused with the gothic lounge called Agra Dancefloor, which was right next door! It's also kind of fun and where people dance to "Youtube disco" mostly I guess. There was definitely info on who played there and when, but we rather enjoyed the spontaneous experience of wandering through the space again and we’ll probably end up there this year as well. If possible, the evening should be rounded off with a proper rhythmic noise set.

Agra afterparty moments.

Sunday and the festival afterparty

That morning, we had to take a long rest from the previous nights dancing, and actually already prepared for Sunday's main event, Dystopic Rave. We stayed in bed for a long time, as the relentless afterparty until the morning was waiting for us. However, we still wished to see a couple of bands quickly, so when the time came, we set off again for Stadtbad to listen to Public Memory. Rightly so. And from there on to one of my favourite clubs in Leipzig, where you usually hear the wildest electronic music and industrial noise, in a factory building with a wonderful atmosphere called Täubchenhal. We got to see and hear Esplendor Geometrico banging away from the downstairs hall as well as the balcony. Once again, an absolutely incredible collective, and this was such a nice cherry on the cake that I didn't even want to go to listen to any other bands that night.

Public Memory, Esplendor Geometrico.

We were shaken from head to toe, and relaxed a bit from it by having dinner somewhere, after which we headed to the grandiose WGT official afterparty in one of the bastion halls of Moritzbastei. The Dystopic Rave DJ-board was shared back-to-back this time by four legends and DJs: Blac Kolor, Daniel Myer, and as guests, boss of the aufnahme + wiedergabe record label Philipp Strobel, and Ancient Methods. With a line-up like this, is there anything to add at all except pictures?

Dystopic Rave: Daniel Myer, Blac Kolor, Philipp Strobel, Ancient Methods

Good news just arrived from the organizers: Dystopic Rave is happening again this year! Who else has been invited behind the decks, apart from Daniel Myer and Blac Kolor, is still a well-kept secret.

The halls of Moritzbastei are connected by bastion walkways and staircases, and all rooms can be accessed with the same wristband, so there's an unusual amount of wandering around. However, there are always lots of people dancing in front of the stage and they even have a habit of climbing on it. I guess this somehow helps to enjoy the music better? Luckily they don't all fit in there at once. I guess I'm used to Beats From The Vault parties lasting until 9.00 in the morning, but at the Moritzbastei bastion, the party is strangely finished by the minute and no afterhours hanging is allowed. It's good if the afterparty lasts even until 6am. At one point, the ceiling and work lights are turned on, the curtains are pulled from the windows and the security team even uses force to throw people out. One more thing to add, our own BFTV resident Tamhiis also played back-to-back with Blac Kolor and Daniel Myer at the 2023 Dystopic Rave, even though Estonian artists and DJs are generally rare at WGT. The last time Bedless Bones played in 2022 at Volkspalast Kuppelhalle, but before that, did anyone ever manage to make it? It seems to be getting harder and harder, as there are a lot of well known artists in the scene who are dying to play at WGT and not everyone fits into the framework the organisers have set up. I imagine that the sieve is mercilessly tough and there are a number of pitfalls to get through. It may not be enough just to have acquaintances and DJing talent, as is the case for Tamhiis. It is certainly much harder for bands to get a slot on stage as the queue likely stretches out the door and around the corner. However, the festival does offer quite a varied selection, so it's definitely worth making the effort and getting your foot in the door.

If you can't get your foot in the door as an artist or a band, get that foot in the plane door early anyway and fly to Germany. Surely you can find a way to come from Estonia, for example via Berlin like I did. There's nothing better than taking a city stroll with some local beer in Berlin before heading to Leipzig, and only then taking either the midday or evening train. Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2025 has already announced 151 artists by now and usually a few days before the first day, a few more hot acts are announced, mostly performing on the big stage of the Agra Exhibition Centre. If you buy your ticket now (currently €170) it's cheaper than on the day of the festival, and it's also worth looking for accommodation early as you can't leave it to the last minute. There are several hotels in Leipzig and also Airbnb accommodation offers, but you still have to take into account that the number of visitors to this festival is huge for the city, and the best deals and sweetest locations go fast! Some people will also take the daily commute by car or train to the nearby villages, but it would be smart to stay closer and take the maximum from the festival. Or take the well-considered minimum, that's okay too. Summary For us, this was the third WGT in a row and it seems that the more the years go on, the less we tend to rush and run back and forth across the city to catch as many fragments of performances as possible. Our first WGT experience was quite a culture shock and we wanted to get everywhere because it felt like the only way. So how do you not make an effort when you have been handed such an opportunity to see so many artists? But in this case, the festival somehow goes by too fast... Rather, with a good artist, we've now made spontaneous decisions on the spot and given up some of the next shows to see the previous one in its entirety and enjoy the moment. Otherwise, we do look at the programme at the start of the day, but don't follow it as painstakingly as in the first years. You have to savour the moment too and it's increasingly pleasant to do that in a relaxed way. At the same time, it's important to maintain a critical reserve of energy for all the surprise moments that the festival throws your way, because they come all the time.The more experienced visitors don't even recommend to rush around too much for the music programme, for them the most important thing is getting together with friends, chatting, getting ideas and making plans, exchanging impressions, etc. Sometimes they don't even buy a festival pass, but go to a specific party, sit for a couple of hours in Vodkaria (Leipzig's most popular vodka bar) or elsewhere beforehand to do some warming up. In our case, we’ve been lucky many times to be invited to backstages of parties through artists we know and local WGT-organising friends, where we can have a polite chat with some dark electronic superstars. In Leipzig, this is possible on festival days and everyone is somehow always in a good mood. It's also well worth checking out the merch on offer at venues, as direct support is very important for an artist. It's also worth going to the Black Market fair in the city centre (you need to buy a separate ticket to get in) and also the Agra Black Market, which used to be pretty huge but in recent years is just big and crowded. You can get everything from merch, music, handicrafts to gothic accessories, piercings and other art - you could buy some souvenirs to remember the festival afterwards.

1992 poster of Wave-Gotik-Treffen, from "Our Darkness - Grufties und Waver in der DDR" by Sascha Lange & Dennis Burmeister

Our special thanks to the Grothe family, wonderful friends who have made Leipzig our second home for almost a week every time for the last few years. The more the years go by, the dearer the week becomes.

WGT 2025 will take place this year from 6 to 9 June. Tickets are already on sale and with most of the artists already announced, it's going to be a blast, see you in Leipzig!