Destroyx at the Angelspit Merch stand with ‘Kattie’ (Angelspit’s mascot)

WGT
ZooG's notes from (Heat) Wave Gotik Treffen

WGT was an incredible and eye opening experience for us. Firstly being from Australia, we never thought it would get so hot in Germany and also we have never seen so many Goths in the one place…it was amazing! It was weird seeing Goths overtake the city of Leipzig, in the supermarket, in every hotel, on the tram… everywhere!

We got in to Leipzig around 10am on Friday. We headed straight for the Agrahalle to set up our stand. The people from Plastikhaar were fantastic enough to let us have a corner of their huge stall. We set up a stand because it was the only way we could get to meet up with friends from MySpace and our Forum. We really enjoy meeting people and talking about music, the scene or whatever.

The gig at Parkbühne was HELLISH! It was threatening to rain in the morning and cleared up in the early afternoon. By 16.40 the stage was in full sunlight and the temperature felt like it was at least 30 degrees. We walked onstage and were immediately hit by the sunlight - some people in the audience had already turned to ash.

Fashion Note: PVC and latex are not a good idea for an outdoor day time gig.

We started the set in good form, but by the 10 minute mark we were starting to realise that this was going to be a hard gig. However the audience were awesome – they encouraged us to keep going! Being from Australia, we are used to hot gigs…but we are not used to doing a set in direct sunlight. We were joined on stage by our keyboard player, Roberto Massaglia (From the Australian band The Tenth Stage). Roberto was wearing a PVC jacket (which he planned on taking off during the show), but his sweat made the jacket cling to his skin…so he had to just swelter! By the end of the gig, Destroyx had tan marks on her legs from her suspenders and girdle and I had heat exhaustion.
We left the stage saturated with sweat and were almost sick – it was the hardest gig we have ever played –though in hindsight it was a lot of fun!

Destroyx at the Angelspit Merch stand. This photo was taken as the Agrahalle was closing on Monday night - hence the messy state of the stall.

The only casualties of the gig were our microphone stands (which broke), our sunburnt skin and our brave fans who stood in the blazing sun.

We always try and meet our fans after we play – but by the time we had recovered our breath, the sky had opened up and the rain poured down. This typified the weather at Leipzig, hot unbearable sun and then pouring rain.

During the rest of the festival, we hung out with our friends from other bands and drank their free alcohol. We’d like to apologise to the 69 Eyes for drinking their whisky, and to the Cruxshadows for drinking their cola.

Our favourite show to watch was the Cruxshadows, who put on an amazing show despite travelling 23 hours non stop from Spain.

Overall it was a fantastic experience. We hope to return in future years as performers or festival attendees.

The hugest thanks to our friends Vulpy (for helping us on the merch stand), Roberto (for playing keys for us) and John Von Ahlen (also from The Tenth Stage, who helped us with our live sound).

View more photos from the festival here.