Leipzig, Germany hosts the largest number of steampunker, gothic and baroque followers in Europe this weekend in the 29th edition (Wave Gotik Treffen)>> (WGT). The event lasts until Pentecost Easter Monday. The Saxon metropolis is bursting with people in opulent suits, spectacular makeup and who love to visit cemeteries to listen to dark music after two years of being forced to pause by the coronavirus outbreak. The rally features representatives from all walks of the black scene, dark hippies and vampirism fans. It has more than 50 events including acts in cemeteries that have titles like “Funeral poetry,” whispers from the beyond the grave and music hauntly” and night excursions to find the bat shelters.
The 200-plus scheduled musical events include the Monument to the Battle of Nations open-air concert The Prophecy>> featuring music from the Game of Thrones>> or the film The Hobbit>>, as well as the interpretation of the choir. The internationally renowned Gewandhaus musical theatre is based on Joachim Raff’s “End of the World-Last Judgment” oratorio. While the Leipzig Opera Comique presents Carl Nielsen’s “Masquerade”.
Theater pieces like “El Revisor”, by Nicolas Gogol, and variety shows like “Cuestion de Nerves”, by the group “Adrenalin”
Sabine says, “It’s an see and be seen.” She is there with her husband for the seventh year. They are both dressed in custom-made baroque suits, wigs, and have acknowledged having spent several thousand euros. Isabel says that “here, I can let my inner fantasies run wild once a year.” She also admits that she has traveled from Regensburg with seven suitcases, each day bringing along a different model. It is so complicated and expensive that she requires the help of her husband to dress.
Luis Felipe de Orleans is the oldest participant. He’s a 87-year old German who imitates Sun King brother and wears a period suit to impress in his 12th participation in this eccentric concentration. He enjoys dressing up in period costumes and attending the Dresden Baroque Association’s 17th-century ball. Three years after the fall the Berlin Wall, the East German city hosted the first East German meeting. It was attended by approximately 2,000 people and eight bands. Now, thousands of people come from all parts of the globe to support this event.
