Side-Line presents: The 17th Prague Gothic Treffen

On Friday 26th and Saturday 27th August, the biggest gothic gathering in Central Europe will return to Prague. It will feature 11 bands (including scene mainstays Christian Death and The Frozen Autumn or contemporary cults Kælan Mikla or Minuit Machine), DJs and the traditional gothic picnic.

In a message to Side-Line the organisation says the following: “Who would have thought seventeen years ago that Prague Gothic Treffen would one day grow into the biggest event of its kind in Central Europe? That it would host the very bands we then used to play from Winamp for a few gothic enthusiasts with religious reverence. But it did. In fact, PGT started attracting so many people that after a few years it is moving from our beloved Futurum to a bigger club.“

In the two inter-connected venues, Fuchs 2 and Bike Jesus, you will be able to enjoy two concurrent stages covering everything from traditional goth to the hottest trends in the dark scene in terms of genre.

Tickets are available right here, you sign up to the Facebook event page right here.

The top 4 artists

The most recognizable name at this year’s PGT is Christian Death, the Apostles of deathrock defined the genre in the early 80s on the iconic albums “Only Theatre of Pain” and “Catastrophe Ballet”. The band continued on even after Rozz Williams left this world and Valor Kand took over the reins of the band. They will return to Prague six years after their excellent concert at Chmelnice.

The Italian The Frozen Autumn are the darkwave ambassadors. Originally a solo project of Diego Merletto the band was inspired by the European cold wave and bands of the iconic 4AD label. The duo perform very rarely, plus their concert at Prague Gothic Treffen will also be their Czech premiere.

The Icelandic women trio Kælan Mikla bring a unique and hard-to-define Nordic atmosphere  enhanced by abstract lyrics in Icelandic. Expect elements of post-punk, synthpunk, cold wave, ethereal to darkwave. The band recently released their fifth full-length album “Undir Köldum Norðurljósum”.

Rounding out the top four names on this year’s line-up is the French duo Minuit Machine who will bring their typical contemporary dark electronica.

And also…

The EBM side of things will be covered by the Swedish band Wulfband. The band will come to Prague for the first time. Another Czech premiere will be the performance of German goth rockers Wisborg and the Slovak deathrock act The Last Days Of Jesus. The Polish subculture will be represented by the dark electronic trio Her Own World and will present their current EP “This Fire”. From Ecuador comes Naturata Brutalismus mixing coldwave atmosphere with deathrock guitars and Spanish sung lyrics. More coldwave, postpunk and new wave will come from the Munich trio Paar. The Czech scene is also present thanks to the electronic act Isiolia.

DJ boots and more

After the live shows on both stages, the afterparties will commence with foreign and Czech DJs, spinning everything from classic goth/deathrock through dark/new wave and post-punk to various forms of dark electronica. The traditional Saturday afternoon gothic picnic is also an integral part of the PGT and a neat tradition – an ideal opportunity to meet and chat with other event visitors from all corners of Europe and tune in to the evening club scene. 

Here’s the video trailer for the event.