Editorial note:
At Wave Gotik Treffen days do rather beautifully melt into one and other. That is why I mistakenly said that When We Were Young took place on Friday when in fact it took place on Saturday night. I have no clue where I was on Friday Night (therefore probably Sixtina) and if anyone can remind/enlighten me I would be most grateful!
After an afternoon trip to Morrison’s Irish Pub to meet with friends, we missed Luxury Stranger (who after endorsements from friends, I was eager to see) due to some stupidity on my part. We didn’t realised we had missed the gig until we turned up so spent some time milling around the Werk II area and had some food and drinks.
We then decided to investigate the Pagan Village for a bit. The Pagan Village is a fantastic place to just lay back and relax at the festival. At the Pagan Village you can taste all kinds of freshly made food from freshly baked goods to a whole pig roast! All can be consumed with mead (from a drinking horn if you are willing to pay extra) or beer. There are also many stalls full of everything from homemade elderberry wine to medieval style clothing.
After the Pagan Village I made my way to the Agra Halle to see a band who’s performance turned out to be one of the highlights of the festival – Rotersand.
Rotersand performing at Agra Halle
As a recent EBM convert, I really only knew Rotersand for “Exterminate, Annihilate, Destroy” (especially being the Doctor Who geek I am) but unlike some electronic bands they really put on a tremendous show. They opened to an expectant and excited crowd to “Basterds Screaming” – a brilliant call to rebellion from their new album “Random is Resistance“.
Rascal Nikov and Gunther Gerl really got the crowd going – jumping around on stage and looking like they were having a fantastic time. One of the things that I think sets a decent performance apart from a great performance is interaction with the audience which Rotersand did beautifully – talking to the audience and jumping down to party with the rest of the Agra Halle.
Rotersand performing “Waiting to be Born”
Just to add to what would have been an already fantastic performance, Rascal then unexpectedly invited a very special guest onto the stage – Ronan Harris of the fantastic British/Irish Futurepop kings VNV Nation!
Ronan Harris of VNV Nation performing with Rotersand
Rascal and Ronan did a special duet version of “Merging Oceans” - Rotersand‘s breakthrough hit. This really was a great treat for the audience at Agra – seeing these two giants of the alternative scene perform together and if the crowd weren’t excited enough, then this sent them wild!
Ronan leaving the stage took the tone down a little but Rotersand’s top performing skills kept the pace. Of particular note, during “War on Error” Gunther Gerl donned a dollar sign mask which added well to the tone of the song which is about being against a “big brother society”.
As a finale to Rotersand‘s set the voices of the Daleks were heard to introduce Rotersand‘s most famous track – “Exterminate, Annihilate, Destroy“.
Rating: 5/5
Rotersand‘s latest album Random Is Resistance
Then, on the recommendation of a friend, we went to see Portugese Goth Metalers Monspell. Despite not particularly being a Metal Head myself it was an enjoyable gig. They gave a good performance and the graphics and music videos on the wall behind the band definitely added to the performance. As previously stated I’m not a metal fan so I can’t really say that the music was to my taste but by the reactions of a friend who is a fan of Moonspell it was a good performance.
Moonspell Performing at the Kohlrabizirkus at Wave Gotik Treffen 2010
Rating: 2/5
Moonspell‘s latest album Night Eternal
