WAVE GOTIK TREFFEN Leipzig 21.05.2018 Day 4


written by Marko Jakob


Japan Suicide

JAPAN SUICIDE is an Italian Post Punk band founded in 2007. In 2015, their album, ‘We Die In Such A Place’, was released and sold out after three weeks. The band tours a lot and plays about 40 concerts each year. Just before Wave Gotik Treffen they played in the USA and Mexico. The band arrived punctually on stage at 5pm in Haus Leipzig. The band was at Wave Gotik Treffen for the first time and was pleased with the invitation. During the first song, the four musicians wore animal masks. However, they only wore them for the first song, as it would have become rather warm over the full length of the concert. For a gothic festival they had strange coloured shirts, but the music was super-fast and refreshing, although some of the songs were also pretty bleak. It was a great, varied show in front of an almost full house. In the background, as an accompaniment to the performance, some interesting short films ran as a video projection. Overall they gave a great performance and the audience in the Haus Leipzig appeared very happy.



Silent Runners

The band SILENT RUNNERS hail from the Netherlands. So far they have released an EP, and in 2017 the album ‘The Directory’. Their music is a mixture of post-punk and dark synth music. Their concert also began fittingly with a very long intro of keyboards and guitars. Haus Leipzig was now completely full and people started to dance, inspired by singer Dolf, who moved around a lot, even playing ‘air guitar’ a few times. He has an incredibly distinctive voice that will be remembered. It was a great show in Leipzig and it will certainly not be the bands’ last visit to the Wave Gotik Treffen.



The Fright

THE FRIGHT from Germany refer to their music as Horrock’n’Roll, a mixture of Horror Pop and Hard Rock in the style of the late 80s. Founded in 2002, the band has released five albums so far. Among other things, they were already on a large tour through Germany with the Finnish Gothic heroes THE 69 EYES. In the spring of 2018 they toured together with SCHWARZER ENGEL.

THE FRIGHT started the concert with an intro and the song ‘Wander Alone’ from the current album ‘Canto V’. The five sympathetic, gloomy men put on an insanely great performance with the audience enjoying a huge rock party with the band. Some of the fans jumped wildly in the middle of the crowd throughout the concert. The atmosphere in the Täubchenthal was boiling, and not only were the fans getting really warm, also singer Nils had to get rid of his jacket during the concert. The two new songs, ‘Oblivion’ and ‘Bonfire Night’ were particularly well received by the audience and could already be called classics. The video clips too are definitely worth seeing. This is the band’s third visit to the Wave Gotik Treffen, it was absolutely breath-taking and hopefully it will not be their last one.

Setlist 01. Intro+Wander Alone 02. No One 03. Edward 04. Leave 05. Beloved Night 06. So Cold 07. Deadly Runaway 08. (Interlude)+Avenger 09. Immortal 10. Drowned In Red 11. Bury Me 12. Your Love 13. Bonfire Night 14. Oblivion  15. Suicide 16. 666  17. Outro