Wave Gotik Treffen 2014: festival dates, bands & travel tips! Steampunk Victorian picnic fashion.
Every summer, the streets of Leipzig are strewn with black feathers and glitter… for the world’s biggest Gothic festival, Wave Gotik Treffen! This year’s celebrations are from June 6-9, 2014, and musicians like The Cruxshadows, UK Decay and Apoptygma Berzerk will be taking the stage.
A trip to WGT is at the top of many Goth bucket lists. I still think back fondly to my experience in 2012. If you missed it, you can look back at my Wave Gotik Treffen posts and travel video.
If you’re thinking of going to Treffen, you’re in luck: my friends Jen Hoffert and Holger Karas wrote this post with all the details you need, including where to stay and how to get around. They attend WGT each year, so you could’t ask for better experts. Enjoy their photos from the 2013 festivities, and find out more on their Seventh Sin Tumblr.
The first 145 bands have been announced for the 23rd annual WaveGotikTreffen and we’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of our friends from around the world to our home city of Leipzig, Germany. Wave Gotik Treffen is one of the largest gothic and industrial festivals in the world, with over 20,000 visitors and roughly 200 bands playing at dozens of venues throughout the city over four days. In our opinion, it’s also the most stylish festival, where people go all out to express themselves.
This year WGT falls quite late, June 6-9, so the weather should be perfect for exploring the city. In addition to the concerts and parties, there are dozens of other events: operas, musicals, films, a display of historical hearses, and more. Many of the museums and galleries in Leipzig will features works of particular interest to the Gothic crowd such as the Grassi Museum of Ethnography’s global exhibitions on celebrations of death from Sumatra to New Orleans, a special showing of H.R. Giger’s work at the SansvoiX Gallery, and a multimedia presentation from Slovenian electronic pioneers Borghesia at the counterculture gallery Kultúrny dom B31.
Our dear friend Danarama of TwoKnottyBoys from San Francisco will be presenting a bondage workshop on Friday evening at a special downtown location. Dan will also be releasing the first EP “Inside Out” from his project Harm Joy with Olaf of Tyske Ludder at WGT. You can find out more about the many unofficial events surrounding WGT here at the online gothic event calender Schwarzes Leipzig.
The Victorian Picnic at Clara Zetkin Park is a highlight of WGT for those who like to dress up. Hundreds of beautifully costumed participants gather here on the shores of a lake in a manicured city garden, the perfect setting for Lolitas, Steampunks and other romantics.
The pedestrian road running thorough the WGT’s main venue, the AGRA, is known as “the catwalk” for good reason. There will be many people strolling up and down, wildly costumed in every imaginable version of dark attire with photographers, and even a few video crews taking it all in.
If you find yourself missing the perfect piece to finish your outfit, one of the massive halls of the AGRA hosts the WGT Black Market for vendors of clothing, housewares, music, and just about anything else your little dark heart desires.
You can purchase your tickets to the festival when you arrive (which is much easier than using a wire transfer to purchase them online), but hotel rooms in Leipzig are notoriously hard to come by during the festival weekend. One alternative is to seek private accommodation on the official WGT subforum called “Do you need sleep?” Here you can browse through the offers made or post your own request. Leipzig also has a number of good listings on AirBNB. Private accommodations including a bed and use of the bathroom and kitchen generally run about 20-50€ a night per person.
For the truly adventurous among you, there’s a large official campground set up for WGT visitors (25€ for the weekend). Although for the life of me, I’ve never been able to figure out how people manage to come out of their tents looking so good.
Confirmed performances for WGT 2014 include well known acts such Anne Clark, Apoptygma Berzerk, Hocico, Mephisto Walz, Six Comm, The Crüxshadows, and UK Decay, as well as hidden gems such as Antichildleague and Sieben. Naturally there’s a smartphone app for WGT to help you plan your concert schedule, keep track of where your friends are, and find the best tram connection between venues.
However, it never fails that two of your favorite bands will be playing at the same time at opposite ends of the city. Don’t despair, you’re still going to have a great time and you’ll see an unbelievable number of great performances over four days. The WGT organizers know their stuff about this music, which means that each venue will most likely host a particular subgenre. It’s often worth staying at one venue for multiple bands to discover new bands similar to one you showed up to see.
After the concerts and cultural events shut down each night, DJs from all over the world will invite you to dance at clubs throughout the city. From NeoRomantic parties held in ballrooms and Batcave themed old school nights in cellar vaults, to the hardest industrial and noise and even one of the largest fetish parties in Germany, no matter what your taste is there’s something, somewhere in the city to keep everyone on their feet from Thursday night till the sun comes up on Tuesday morning. We hope to see you there!
Back to La Carmina. Thanks to Jen and Holger for the report and photos, and I echo their words: I hope you’ll make it to Wave Gotik Treffen one day, to see the inspiring fashion and culture for yourselves. One is never too young to enjoy, as you can see from the “baby Goths” in Victorian prams…
While you may not want to take a youngster into the crowded concert halls, they’ll enjoy the outdoor food courts and fashion stalls.
Want to see more of the “black market” clothing and bands? Watch my Wave Gotik Treffen video (it includes tons of travel tips), and peruse my blog posts about the festival.
What do you think of the dark outfits in these photos? Do you know any Goth or punk parents? If you have more Treffen tips for newbies, please share them in the comments!
SHARE & COMMENT
LA CARMINA
55 Comments
hope to see you there!!
xo
danke !
thx a lot to you
i like you <3
<3
brings back joyful memories! Wanna go back! <3
we musttt
Amazing and I have to go!
YES
Also I like both of your hats
I love WGT, sadly can’t make it this year. I will be going to @Amphi_Festival in July & the new @AltFestival in August
I would love to go to that!
viel Spaß
Fabulous! Yes, it’s on my ‘Bucket List’ !
What cool clothes at the picnic!
Thank you for the props! And yes, Jen and Holger are the best! Also, the Americans in Leipzig dinner on Thursday evening is a great way to meet others who are eager to share the best insider hints about getting the most excitement out of WGT.
Awesome!! Thanks for that.
The typical WGT visitors schedule changes over the years:
– Beginning years: Watching concerts, high culture events and the awesome people on the catwalk.
– Following years: Being one of the awesome people on the catwalk.
– Later years: Drink lots of alcoholics and have fun with friends you only see once a year, mostly done at the camping place or the Heidnische Dorf.
;)
Great! :)
Amazing fashion! I love the pictures with the children too <3
Baby goths!!
I would absolutely LOVE to go to WGT. The chances I actually will be able to in my lifetime are very very slim but not impossible. It’s probably one of the only places I could walk around without being started or shouted at.
This is really amazing and very inspiring! Wonderful blog I follow you now in G+ :)
http://www.urbanikamoda.blogspot.com
Thanks dear!!
it’s me on the picture xD
awesome!
Ah ive always wanted to go :’)
you must!
dises jahr wieder!!!!yeah
Gracias!!
One day!
yes!
I know a pair of goth parents. Their kid is more into steampunk (and is good friends with kids of two steampunk parents). WGT sounds like a cool event to just go and see everyone’s outfits.
Amazing pictures!!Earlier I didn’t knew much about steampunk clothing like what all categories will come into it and how to actually implement them on us. After reading your blog I was fascinated to research more on steampunk fashion and concluded with many online steampunk clothing store which I will refer before going for my next steampunk festival.
Awesome! There are more steampunk posts on my site, at https://lacarmina.com/?s=steampunk
Fantastic!
Rock Princess
xoxo
Loving your spooky-cute world! & Looking forward to your future posts. ;D
<3 Carsla
Founder & CEO of Connect-the-Cloths
http://www.connect-the-cloths.com
http://blogspotter.co/connect-the-cloths/
A stylist, foodie, & writer's blog in development.
Thanks!
I hope to go one day!!!!
Will you be there? I miss it,was about 7 years or so the last time (every year as i was younger..),but next time in 2015..would love to met you once!
I am not sure yet, my travel plans are always so unpredictable, but if so I will definitely make an announcement
I, my wife and my daughter will go to the WGT this year. Do also will visit this meeting?
I’m not sure yet if I’ll be able to go, but I will definitely make an announcement and keep me posted. Hope I can
Make UK your midpoint and you can fly all over Europe for 50 cents!!
are you going to this?
i wanna go one day
You must, it’s very worth the trip
I would die of happiness to be able to attend WGT. Looking forward to your posts on it this year!
Yay!! You must go one day :)
Such a great post, loved reading each moment :)
Aww I’m so glad! Did you see my WGT posts from previous years too? I miss it….
Yes I spent quite some time reading through your posts ^^ I have made a page with directions to all the WGT events for 2014, and some more information! People that use maps will find it useful I hope :) http://bit.ly/1jRMOcE