mrph | Leizpig WGT

So, where were we? Ah yes. Friday.

The day certainly started in style - the Renaissance does scarily impressive breakfasts, so I fuelled myself on muesli, fruit juice, scrambled egg and fine cheeses. I'm still not entirely sure that Brie with chilies is an appropriate way to start the day, but they didn't seem to kill me...

Just after breakfast I realised what I'd forgotten to pack. It's traditional. I always forget something - and this time it was razors. Oh, I had a blade (just the one). And a handle. But the two weren't compatible (I wonder if that means my housemate

mrbear was in the same situation? That handle had to come from somewhere, after all...). A warning to others - shaving without a handle can be hazardous.

I think Friday morning was also my first encounter with German MTV2. I'm sorry. I'm addicted. Not because I like it, just because it's there. This year we had a little less German rap on there, but we did have lots of Eamonn ("Fuck It I Don't Want You Back"), Frankee ("Fuck you Right Back") and Anastacia. Interesting to note that while MTV2 doesn't censor the song lyrics at all, the titles are displayed as "F*ck" - I'm sure there's some logic in there somewhere, but...

And then there was the purple dancing hippo, who was advertising ringtones (the link has a different song, but I'm sure you get the idea...). Come to think of it, pretty much every ad on MTV2 was advertising ringtones. But the hippo was definitely the scariest of the bunch.

davefish was planning to meet Laszlo for lunch at 1PM and had invited me along, so we decided to dash down to the Agra and get our tickets exchanged for wristbands before noon. We got there just after 11AM, and there was quite a queue. We were still in the queue at noon. In fact, we were still in the queue - without much sign of movement - at 12:30, when

davefish had to give up and head back to meet Laszlo at the hotel. I decided to stay, mostly because the idea of another 90 minutes queuing scared me, and eventually got my wristband at about 1PM. Yay, go me!

...and then it was off to the Werk II to actually see some bands. I keep referring to the Werk "as one of the smaller venues". Well, it's not. Seeing it empty makes that very clear - you could fit several Camden Underworlds in there. So, anyway, about those bands...

First up were Gray/Scale, one of the three bands from Ukraine that I'd been looking forward to. Opening the WGT has to be a bit nerve-wracking - especially when it's 2PM on a Friday, many people are still queuing for tickets and the 'official' opening is at another, larger venue two hours later.

They were a futurepop/industrial duo, a male vocalist and a bloke behind a keyboard, and they didn't do badly. They didn't rock my world, but they were better than the mp3 snippets I'd heard suggested (the mp3 vocals weren't always terribly good), and the music was interesting and spiky. The main problem was that they had a ten second gap between songs, which killed much of the atmosphere. The other problem was that some of the audience was there for the next band, goth-metal act Mandrake...

Mandrake were actually quite fun. Female vocalist, grunty male vocalist, second male vocalist who didn't realise that his mic was switched off until he'd almost reached the end of his one and only song. Er... ooops. Other than that, pretty good though.

One alarming thought crept into my head about both bands, though, and it was this: "they're so young". Somebody shoot me now, please. Although, in all honesty, that might be something to do with the slightly nervous performances rather than their actual ages...

Off to the main venue, the Agra, after that - a lengthy and solemn opening ceremony, with vikings and torches onstage - then a chance to see the world premiere of Leaves' Eyes. Now, certain cynics were heard to say that we only had 'two reasons' for going to see them. I suspect this is some sort of reference to the singers tight rubber dress. Er...

They were actually a lot of fun, even during the soundcheck - one of the guitarists wandered on and had some fun playing a few riffs. As for the band itself... it's a bit like Kate Bush fronting Paradise Lost. Although this time they also had Alex from Atrocity providing some guest vocals and some very effective stage presence. I'm not so sure how they'd do without him.

And then it was back to the hotel. A stop-off in the hotel bar for coffee and chat, then an early night. The only early night, as it turned out. The rest of the weekend was a bit... busier...