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!
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At the Temple of Artemis in Jerash, Jordan. Exploring Greco-Roman ruins with Ya’lla Tours.
It’s interesting to see how this blog has evolved over the years. These days, it’s travel-culture that really makes me tick. On this path, I feel I can make the most difference — especially by shining a positive light on subcultures, and encouraging people to explore the world with an open mind.
For these reasons, I can’t wait to share my experience in the ancient Greco-Roman city of Jerash, in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Our expert hosts Ya’lla Tours — who also guided us through Petra — took us back in time, to a lost civilization.
Jordan is home to dozens of archaeological digs. The UNESCO heritage site Petra is the most famous, but Jerash is noted as one of the best preserved ruins in the Middle East.
Jerash (or Gerasa) is 30 miles north of the capital city, Amman. At the entrance, I saw display tables of scarves, stuffed camel toys and other souvenirs.
When you walk up the south stairway, you’ll encounter the Arch of Hadrian — built to honor the Roman Emperor when he visited around 130 AD.
It felt like a dream, wandering through the three stone arches.
Outfit details: Cute bunny top from the Miffy store in Hong Kong, a Baby the Stars Shine Bright purse from Shinjuku Marui Tokyo, and a blue skater skirt from World Wide Love Tokyo.
Our Ya’lla Tours guide told us about Jerash’s prosperous past, and how it was the hometown of the mathematician Nicomachus. He pointed out Greek words carved into fallen stones.
Jordan is a progressive country so there aren’t any dress code restrictions. It is not a problem to have bare legs here, although you will want to wear sturdy shoes or boots for the unpaved ancient paths.
Amazing to see the Roman’s advanced architecture and engineering, which has withstood major earthquakes.
Unlike Petra, Jerash didn’t have too many tourists wandering about. Only a few vendors offered us a snack or a horse ride.
This added to the feeling that I was re-discovering an ancient world.
The path opened up to the Oval Plaza, surrounded by a colonnade. In the middle, I saw two altars and a fountain.
No wonder Jerash is nicknamed “the city of 1000 columns.” If you’re an art history buff like me, you’ll recognize that these are in the Ionic style. (Other parts of the city have Corinthian columns.)
My filmmakers were shooting video the entire time. This photo is by our Ya’lla guide; the rest are by Melissa Rundle and me.
Wait… why are there bagpipes in Jordan? Our guide told us that a bagpipe-type instrument originated in the Middle East, possibly thousands of years before it appeared in Scotland. You learn something every day.
We perched in the South Theater, which held as many as 3000 spectators, and watched the performers. Funny enough, there was a seat reservation system back in ancient times. You could still see stones marked with Greek letters like alpha, delta, epsilon!
We climbed up to the top, and got this brilliant view of the sprawling ruins. However, descending proved to be a bit of a challenge… I ended up looking like a hunched grandma, as I crawled down the rows. (No, I’m not posting those photos!)
Perhaps my favorite monument was the Temple of Artemis. The daughter of Zeus was the protector goddess of Jerash, and they honored her with a grand processional entrance to this place of worship. Look up, and you’ll see acanthus leaf carvings on the Corinthian columns.
I spotted a lion in the Macellum or marketplace.
Let’s wrap up our journey with some Insta-snaps (follow my my Instagram for more). I’m standing on the “cardo” or long colonnaded street, which was the main route in Jerash. You can still see the marks of chariot wheels on the stones.
Filmmaker Melissa prayed for a hot beverage as we ascended the Artemis Temple. The goddess granted her wish: at the top, a young Jordanian man with a surprising British accent was selling cups of coffee and mint tea!
I leave you with the Hippodrome, or giant arena for chariot races and other sporting events.
We learned so much about Jerash thanks to Ya’lla Tours. With a driver and expert guide, our trip to Jordan was stress-free. Ya’lla does custom, small group tours in many countries including Israel; I hope you’ll keep them in mind for your travels.
Have you ever visited an archaeological site? What was your experience like? And do you like my Miffy outfit?
LA CARMINA
