The (WGT; German for "Wave Gothic Meeting") is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds (gothic rock, EBM, industrial, noise, darkwave, neo-folk, neo-classical and medieval music being examples) play at several venues throughout the city over four days on Whitsuntide. The festival also features multiple all-night dance club parties, several fairs with medieval, gothic, and related merchandise, a variety of cultural exhibitions and performances, large themed picnics, and a number of unofficial fringe events.
With 18,000 to 20,000 regular attendants, the WGT is one of the largest events of the gothic, cybergoth, steampunk, and rivethead subcultures worldwide.
History
A first attempt at a Treffen was made in 1987 in Potsdam. However, as the laws of the German Democratic Republic made this kind of event illegal, only a few hundred visitors attended.
thumb|Day ticket for WGT-1
In 1992, after the re-unification of Germany, the first official Wave-Gotik-Treffen was held in the Eiskeller club (now Conne Island) in Leipzig. Since then, the number of visitors has increased greatly.
The largest installment of the WGT was the one in the year 2000 with over 300 acts and an estimated 25,000 visitors. However, that year's festival suffered financial collapse on the third day and had to be aborted. After all festival security guards, most bands, and much of the technical staff had left, volunteer helpers and several bands who played for free staged a final concert. Contrary to police expectations, no rioting of any sort occurred.
Description
Over the four days of the festival, visitors are offered more than a hundred concerts and a wide range of cultural events. These include special film screenings, club parties, readings of eerie and romantic literature, exhibitions in museums and galleries, live role-playing, church concerts, medieval markets, and workshops on various topics. Visitors stay in hotels, guesthouses, or use the camping facilities at the main event site, the agra exhibition grounds, with a campsite.
In addition to the admission tickets, special Obsorge cards are sold for the Wave-Gotik-Treffen. The basic admission ticket allows access to the events and use of public transportation during the festival. Owners of an Obsorge card can also use the campsites and received the festival program book Pfingstbote for free until 2017, which is now sold separately. Until 2007, a sampler CD – Silberling – Artists of the XX Wave-Gotik-Treffen was included. The CD featured selected songs from bands performing at the festival.
A major attraction of the Wave-Gotik-Treffen is the band performances. Generally, the number of musical acts is close to 200,
thumb|left|upright|[[Umbra et Imago performs at WGT 2014.]]
Many museums in Leipzig such as the Egyptian Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Grassi Museums offer free admission or special guided tours for paid festival attendees. artist signing events, brunches celebrating absinthe, and fetishistic events. and Moritzbastei, as well as a dance area within the main venue itself.
Many fringe events with separate admission take place in Leipzig simultaneously with . There is an electronic music festival at NonTox, a "Gothic Pogo" festival, free events like Victorian and steampunk picnics and a "Victorian Village", and more. spread across four days on parallel stages throughout the city.
Venues
The venues for the are spread out all over Leipzig.
The main venue is the massive 10,000-person capacity Agra fairground halls, 4.2 miles (6.75 km) south of central Leipzig. One of the two largest halls at the Agra is for the headline concerts, the other is for the main shopping market, and a third hall at the Agra houses a bistro area and a dance forum with many well-known DJs. In front of the Agra halls 1 and 2 is the "promenade" of the festival. The dozen-or-more additional venues for the WGT concerts and activities are as varied as the events, from the stately Schauspielhaus to the somber Krypta of the Völkerschlachtdenkmal to the Parkbühne under the trees.
Festival participants typically stay either in designated camping areas on the Agra grounds near the main venue or in the hotels and hostels in and around Leipzig. This is on the Sunday seven weeks after Easter and can range from as early as 10 May to as late as 13 June . Unofficial events start in Leipzig on the Thursday night preceding the date of , with activities such as a social gathering for English-speaking attendees and multiple dance club nights with DJs in the Agra's bistro area as well as at local venues like Darkflower, Moritzbastei, and others. The official festival starts on Friday, and as Monday is a public holiday in Germany the events run until the end of the all-night farewell club parties in the early morning on Tuesday.
Example recent and/or near future dates:
- 2019: 7 to 10 June
- 2020: 29 May to 1 June (Cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic)
- 2021: 21 to 24 May (Cancelled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic)
- 2022: 3 to 6 June
- 2023: 26 to 29 May
- 2024: 17 to 20 May
- 2025: 6 to 9 June
- 2026: 22 to 25 May
See also
- List of gothic festivals
- List of electronic music festivals