NSTV's WGT 08 Special
By our on-location investigative videographer Danarama.


Medium Bandwidth (Windows Media Player)



Noisescape TV's Guide to WGT
You've heard the name, you've wondered what it's like. Wave Gotik Treffen is many things: the world's largest goth/industrial festival, a four-day extravaganza of music, parties, and social activities, an opportunity to see 200+ bands, a literal invasion of black on the east German city of Leipzig.

For all its generous upsides, the downside of attending WGT is that it requires a bit more planning than pretty much any other festival you could choose. To that end, I've put together the following bits of advice for the novice Treffener.

1. Since both official and unofficial WGT events happen all over the city, it's easy to get lost ... or just plain confused! Therefore, it helps to befriend other English-speaking people who've been to the festival before. There's a mailing list, Americans in Leipzig, where you can meet other people going to the festival. The Sadgoth guide also has a lot of good information for English-speakers.

2. The live venues are all over the city, and figuring how to get from one to the other can be tricky if you've never been to the festival before. One thing I strongly suggest is budgeting a certain amount of money for cab fare. The trams, while usually reliable, can sometimes get overloaded and/or not arive on time.

3. If you get lost, when in doubt, follow whatever group of people dressed in black you can see. They often know where they are going, even if you don't. And if it turns out they don't know where they are going either, at least you have a great opportunity to meet new friends.

4. Beer is frequently cheaper than water. Water almost always comes in the carbonated variety. You don't have to tip your waitress at restraunts but you frequently do need to tip in public restrooms. Yes, there are lots of things that may seem weird; just roll with it.

5. If you're from the US, you'll find you can drink in many places that are totally illegal to drink at in America, such as, for example, the park, the sidewalk, the tram, and even, yes, the backseat of a moving vehicle. Enjoy it (responsibly, of course) while it lasts.

6. Lastly, the single biggest advice I can offer anyone: your feet will hurt. A lot. I recommend wearing comfortable shoes. And drinking heavily.


Cervello Elettronico
An upcoming American powernoise superstar brings a little bass to the world's largest goth/industrial festival.



Destroid
We were dissapointed he didn't do his fantastic VNV Nation impersonation, but we were nonetheless gratified by a fantastic Destroid concert.




Ashbury Heights
Despite getting off to a shaky start, Ashbury Heights absolutely proved why they were the fastest signing in Out of Line history.



Santa Hates You
Apparently this was one of Pete Spilles' side-projects. Who knew?

Portion Control
These completely awesome elektro-industrial legends showed up just to prove that there is no experation date on kicking ass.



Reaper
Despite the lack of dancing reapers (as was the case the last time I saw Reaper live), this show was utterly fantastic and got the crowd pumping like nothing before it.



Sprectra Paris
A great showing from this Kirlian Camera side-project featuring only completely hot Italian chicks on stage.



Signal Aout 42
Despite being sometimes called Belgium's "other" Front 242, Signal Aout 42 was always about their own unique brand of kick ass EBM. Here it was no exception.



Hocico
This show's dancing aztecs made me miss the dancing reapers less.



Schallfaktor
This was evidently one of Ronan Harris' favorite shows from the WGT. Who knew?



Din[A]Tod
So cute.



Nullvektor
One of the best one-man-and-a-laptop powernoise performances I have ever seen in my life.



S.P.O.C.K.
What made this show so incredible was the fact that someone was passing out thousands of little Swedish flags to the audience beforehand. Skål!



Esplendor Geometrico
One of the great forebearers of the powernoise scene shows up to school every single band that played beforehand.



Militant Cheerleaders on the Move
I was expecting these guys to be terror EBM a la their single "Freaks"; instead their were far more ecclectic, fusing live guitar with a lot of beat-driven material and vocals that were sometimes reminiscient of Ian Curtis. Not what I was expecting, but great nonetheless.