In truth, it was all planned from the start and with the assistance of the
Thursday started weill as I was up on time, packed and out of the house without any problems. Even the roads didn't put a dent in my happiness as I had time to get some petrol (handy) before visiting Chez
However, standing at the station in the cold and rain I was reminded of
We reached Leipzig at about 7:30pm and then found the hotel which was very well positioned. We did decide to go "where
Friday was the start of the festival proper, so it was off to the Agra to get wristbands and passes. This was achieved with surprising ease and it was nice to get a photo of myself to carry around on a piece of plastic. We wondered around the viking market for a little bit, paid brief attention to some horns and bagpipes, then headed off (via the included tram travel) to the Parkbuhne to see the our first bands. This is an outdoor venue and seeing goth bands in the daylight remains odd and was a bit of a throwback to the slightly weird Depeche Mode/Sisters of Mercy gig at Crystal Palace in 1993. The acts we actually saw we pretty mediocre and failed to set me on fire. I wanted to write more, but I've already forgotten most of what they were like.
Then we decamped to another venue, Werk II, which is a lovely warehouse with a real raw industrial feel about it. Accessory were playing when we got in the door and I was gearing up for a bit of dancey/EBM (Accessory) - but unfortunatley after they finished the music genre continued to flip-flop around to some more guitar rock (Witt), then synthy goth crooning and I was soon pleading for mercy (Catastrophe Ballet). I bumped into
Saturday started with a bagel, then a chance for some shopping at the Agra. I surprised myself by actually buying some clothes (this is noteworthy - I don't do it often) so the afternoon's bands were punctuated by a quick run back to the hotel room. This meant I missed shooting S.I.T.D. except from the crowd, but it's not as if I haven't shot them before. The Agra, where we spent the whole evening, was pretty electronic/noise, with the exception of Cat Rapes Dog - who I'm not sure how to classify. VNV Nation headlined with their typical solid performance. They played some good tracks, but are a bit too safe and reliable at times and slightly unexciting as a result. Though that's probably down to over-exposure. After the bands it was back to dump bags at the hotel then a couple of hours clubbing at the Moritzbastei where my earplugs and I enjoyed dancing to a bit of heavy ebm/noise and pottering round the lovely venue which, as linked underground vaults full of weirdos, was more like a scene from The Matrix or Blade than any UK club. Bed about 3-ish I think.
Sunday was building to be a little bit of a disappointment as Decoded Feedback, who I really enjoyed at Infest, had cancellled. However there was an unexpected chance to see Ooomph! who I first discovered on Swiss music TV a couple of years ago and are pretty unknown outside German-speaking Central Europe as far as I can tell, so I hadn't ever expected to see them. Lola Angst were very strange, with a fake pipe organ and ballerinas but some cracking sounds; Metallspürhunde won "ugliest front man of show" and although they started well lost it as time when on; and Cephalay did a pretty solid performance, but having musicians with LED headsets really doesn't work in daylight and there were some Blutengel moments with a semi-dressed woman writhing as backing entertainment which was more comic than anything else. Oomph! were clearly a cut above all the others in production, confidence and sound. They're really a rock band with pretensions but the crowd was going wild for the catchy anthems and the stage presence.
Actually the funniest thing about the party was trying to find it. We knew "a tram line" and "a stop". The plan was to get off the tram and follow some goths. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea. About 40 of us got off onto the platform, looked around at each other and realised none of us knew where we were going. Cue mutterings in German and some rapid translations by some Dutch people who could understand "them" and "us".
Monday was a bit of a false start. We met up with
Then back into town for an hour of clubbing (well, queueing for food and a brief chat with
Finally Tuesday was mostly travelling. There's something heartwarming about trains and airports full of goths - it makes the whole thing seem to last longer. Anyway, finally got back to Birmingham about 9pm - and relax.
It was a fantastic experience overall - there were loads of people but unfortunately not all that much to eat and dehydration was a perpetual risk. What I wasn't prepared for was each photo-pit being jam-packed with German photographers. They were pretty much all either so full you couldn't move for three songs or even worse where there were shifts of photographers - 30 people each shot one song until 90 people had a go over the course of the three-song limit. To prove a point look at this shot: It looks like I'm in the middle of the crowd - but actually it's densely packed photographers.
Thanks to
Not looking forward to seeing my mobile phone bill though!
Right, better do some work now...
As ever, click thumbnails for larger versions.