Marking its 32nd chapter this year, WGT has never felt more alive. It’s been a real pleasure to see so many participants fill the venues—from the huge line to enter Stadtbad, where Patriarchy, Rue Oberkampf, and Light Asylum were playing, to the Agra Hall (the main stage), packed on the last day until the final notes of a powerful closing concert by New Model Army.
For those who are new to the Wave-Gotik-Treffen, it’s the place where the global darkwave, goth, and alternative tribes converge once a year in Leipzig, Germany—part festival, part ritual, and fully immersive. For four days over the Pentecost weekend, the city transforms into a gothic playground, with over 50 venues hosting everything from post-punk, industrial, gothic, and neofolk concerts to medieval villages, underground raves, cemetery walks, and the famous Victorian picnic. Clubs, churches, theaters, and hidden courtyards pulse with music and mood, while the Agra fairground becomes the ultimate aggregation point. WGT isn’t just a festival—it’s a living, breathing world built by the people who refuse to live in the ordinary one, at least for one week.
Goth culture has likely seen a global revival in recent years, expanding from subcultures into more mainstream spaces like pop music, fashion, and film—with a shift from the underground, alternative, or countercultural into something more socially and commercially accepted. While this kind of shift is often criticized by purists, it also has the benefit of attracting younger generations to a niche that would struggle to survive without fresh blood. But make no mistake—WGT remains one of the few spaces where aesthetic, sound, and belief collide without compromise. Since the very beginning, it has done its best to preserve the scene intact: for example, they don’t—and never did—sell daily passes, effectively bringing together only those willing to live and share the full festival experience.
From my personal standpoint, this year felt like a peak of the past few in terms of band curation. PiL, Drab Majesty, Linea Aspera, The 69 Eyes, Deceits, Selofan, Plastique Noir, Nosferatu, Then Comes Silence—just to name a few of the 200+ bands on this year’s lineup.
As always, it’s incredibly difficult to choose, but I’ll try to give a well-deserved shoutout to my top three acts that, for different reasons, left the deepest impact.
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Editor Nasty2025-01-04 16:40:282025-01-28 14:11:18From Raves to Reverence / Onlynumbers
