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