Wacken Open Air
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Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...
, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken in
Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
, Germany. Almost all styles and subgenres of
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
and
metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
are represented and hosted. It is now one of the largest heavy metal festivals in the world and one of the largest open-air festivals in Germany. Between 2011–2018, the number of attendees was around 85,000, 75,000 of whom were paying visitors. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, there were no 2020 and 2021 editions of Wacken Open Air.


History


Background

The idea for Wacken Open Air was conceived in 1989 when Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner visited a restaurant together. Both lived in Wacken and were friends, Jensen played the electric bass with
Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
cover band Skyline. From its beginnings until 1992, the band was composed of Ines Jeske from Vaale (vocals), Thomas Jensen from Wacken (bass), Peter Huhn from Wacken (electric guitar), Dennis Harman from
Itzehoe Itzehoe (; nds, Itzhoe) is a town in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km (31.7 mi) northwest of Hamburg and 24  ...
(keyboard), and Andreas Göser from Wacken (drums). Skyline was one of the first regional Metal and Rock
cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. Ne ...
s at that time. The band was regionally known, working its way from appearances in village pubs and gigs at biker meetings up to an appearance as supporting band of "
Extrabreit Extrabreit is a German band established in Hagen, Germany in 1978. The band was one of the most successful exponents of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement of the 1980s. History The band was founded around the end of 1978, when they began their ...
". Hübner was a disc jockey with a focus on Rock music and Heavy Metal. Jensen and Hübner developed the idea to organise an
open-air concert A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...
in a gravel pit in Wacken and persuaded Skyline drummer Andreas Göser and Jörg Jensen, Thomas Jensen's brother, to help make it happen. Until then, the pit had already served as a meeting venue for up to 3,000 members of biker club 'No Mercys', it was therefore perfectly suited for their plans and also presented an opportunity to attract motorcycle fans. From the beginning, it was clear that the focus of the event would be on Rock and Metal and that, in contrast to other single-day festivals such as
Monsters of Rock Monsters of Rock was an annual hard rock and heavy metal music festival held in Castle Donington, England, from 1980 to 1996, taking place every year except 1989 and 1993. It later branched into other locations such as the Netherlands, Poland, ...
or Super Rock in
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
, there would also be camping grounds.


Early years and initial development

The first two-day festival took place in the gravel pit on 24 and 25 August 1990 and barely had 800 visitors. The performing bands all hailed from Germany, and apart from Skyline, bands like 5th Avenue, Motoslug, Sacred Season, Axe 'n Sex, and Wizzard played. The first festivals were organised privately, with the technology being built on a trailer borrowed from a local trucking company and the stage being a DIY construction. In subsequent years, too, most of the tasks were carried out by the small team. Until August 1994, for example, ticket orders were organised privately by Andy Göser's mother Regina Göser and security duties were performed by friendly motorcycle clubs up until 1996. In 1991, the number of visitors increased to 1,300, and with Skyline returning, Bon Scott, an
AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...
cover band from
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
, Gypsy Kyss, Kilgore, Life Artist, Ruby Red, and Shanghai'd Guts joined them on stage for an all-regional roster. That same year, the iconic skull logo was designed by Mark Ramsauer after the basic shape had been determined by Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner. The cow skull refers to the venue, a meadow for cows, and to Jensen and Hübner as "boys from the village". In 1992, the programme changed to include internationally renowned bands such as
Blind Guardian Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres.Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
for the first time, and the number of bands rose to 26, listing bands from
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, the
USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, and
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. The organisers used a professional stage with lighting and PA for the first time and were able to win cigarette brand Prince Denmark as a sponsor. That year, the Party Stage was set up in the DJ tent next to the main stage, where cover bands and fun projects were to perform exclusively. The additional post-concert costs for garbage disposal on the campground, where 2,500 paying guests and many more were present and celebrated, as well as the significantly oversized security, among other things, meant that the organisers recorded a loss of around 25,000 D-Mark that year. With the reunion of the band
Fates Warning Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman. There have been numerous lineup ...
at the festival in 1993, Wacken Open Air had a special feature and also made a name for itself in the following years with unusual band constellations and reunions. At the same time,
Doro Pesch Dorothee Pesch (born 3 June 1964), known professionally as Doro Pesch or simply Doro, is a German heavy metal singer and the former frontwoman of heavy metal band Warlock. Dubbed the "Metal Queen", Doro's contributions to music and culture mad ...
and other well-known bands made for interesting appearances, which resulted in a new record attendance of 3,500 paying customers. Simultaneously, the team tried their hand at concert organisation and, under the moniker Stone Castle Promotion, held a
Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...
concert for 2,000 people in Flensburg which, unfortunately, could not cover its promotional costs. A show with Dio/Freak of Nature became a disaster with only 167 tickets sold, and together with the Open Air, which again recorded a minus, the organisers incurred debts of around 350,000 D-Mark. As a result, Jörg Jensen and Andreas Göser left the team; Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen remained, as did Jörn-Ulf Goesmann for another two years, continuing to run the Wacken Open Air despite the debts for which their parents had provided guarantees. During the same year, Thomas Jensen's mother died and Holger Hübner had a serious accident – the year went down in Wacken history as the "year of the plague". On its fifth anniversary in 1994, the financial situation stabilised and the festival finally broke even. The line-up remained professional and featured many internationally known bands from the
Metal scene A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
. A total of 4,500 tickets were sold; on top of that, due to the rising costs of garbage disposal, tickets for the camping grounds had to be purchased separately, and pre-orders were rewarded with a free T-shirt. Also in 1995, income and expenses evened out thanks to the commitment of bands such as
Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creati ...
,
D-A-D D-A-D is a Danish rock band. They were originally named Disneyland After Dark, but changed their name to avoid a lawsuit from The Walt Disney Company. History In the early 1980s in Copenhagen, D-A-D started playing together under their orig ...
, the
Pretty Maids Pretty Maids is a Danish hard rock/Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Horsens. Formed in 1981 by Ken Hammer, and completed with Ronnie Atkins in 1982, their sound and music can be described as classic guitar-laden heavy rock with a strong ...
, and Angra. But even with roughly 5,000 attendees, the festival didn't turn a profit. However, for the first time, national media became aware of Wacken Open Air, especially
Rock Hard "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...
magazine, as well as the newly founded TV station
VIVA Viva may refer to: Companies and organisations * Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator * Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia * Viva Air Dominicana * VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company * ...
with its Heavy Metal programme ''Metalla''.


First achievements and growth

Ticket sales for the 1996 festival again started sluggishly, despite a headliner like
Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédér ...
and numerous internationally renowned bands such as
The Exploited The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1979 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981,Gorefest Gorefest was a Dutch death metal band from Goes in Zeeland. It was founded in 1989 by Jan-Chris de Koeijer, Frank Harthoorn, Alex van Schaik and Marc Hoogendoorn. History Within two months of existence Gorefest recorded their first demo. A ...
, and
Crematory A crematorium or crematory is a venue for the cremation of the dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a crematorium can also b ...
. Management tried to prevent another loss by securing more acts and finally managed to get
Böhse Onkelz Böhse Onkelz (), sensational spelling of ''böse Onkel'' (German for "evil uncles") is a German rock band formed in Frankfurt in 1980. The band reunited in 2014. Despite mass-media criticism concerning their past as skinheads, several of their ...
to perform. The engagement of the controversial band also led to criticism, and some bands cancelled their gig in Wacken that year. Cologne band Brings called off their gig on short notice and offered to refund their fans’ ticket prices. As a result of many visitors flooding the village in 1996, the inhabitants of Wacken voiced their concern over an event of this size being held in the local gravel pit. Uwe Trede offered to relocate the festival site to his own property and the areas previously used as campgrounds and took care of the acquisition of additional land. The organisational team grew to include Thomas Hess as production manager, who had previously been active as tour manager for Die Böhsen Onkelz, as well as Sheree Hesse for catering to the artists and VIPs. With the W.E.T.-Stage, a third stage was set up in 1997. The "Wacken Evolution Tent" was to be made available primarily to newcomers and bands without record deals. That year, the number of visitors reached 10,000 for the first time, with
Rockbitch Rockbitch was a British, mostly female, lesbian and bisexual metal band, who performed nude and incorporated sexual acts and Pagan rituals into their performances. History Rockbitch was originally formed in 1984 as Cat Genetica by bassis ...
's erotic stage show causing a scene.


Further development of the festival

Over the years, the size of Wacken Open Air has grown continuously, and now dozens of bands and tens of thousands of visitors flock to the festival. Even though the organisers said in 2006 that 62,500 visitors were "the limit of what is possible", changes were made to the structure of the festival grounds the following year by allocating a larger area to the "Party Stage". In addition, tickets could no longer be purchased directly on the festival grounds to reduce the number of spontaneous or ticketless visitors. In 2007 and 2008, the festival had already sold out as a result of advance ticket sales; for W:O:A 2009, tickets had even sold out by the end of 2008. The tickets for 2010, too, sold out months in advance. While the festival originally only lasted two days, the performances have been lasting from Thursday to Saturday, i.e. three days, for some years. Thursday became a "Night to Remember", with mainly "classical" Heavy Metal bands appearing, such as the
Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
in 2006. On the actual Party Stage, younger and more modern bands play as a contrast to the "Night to Remember". In addition, the event is accompanied by a rich complementary programme; in addition to a merchant area – obligatory for music festivals – a beer garden has been operating since 2000, in which the
Wacken Firefighters Wacken may refer to: * Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, a municipality in Germany * Wacken Open Air, heavy metal festival held in Wacken * Wacken, former name of Wakken Wakken is a village and ''deelgemeente'' in Dentergem municipality, in the Belgian ...
' marching band opens the festival before its official start. On Thursday in 2007, the "Hellfest Stage" was initiated. Since 2009, there has been a "Medieval Stage", where mainly
Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
and
Folk Metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...
bands play. The fact that many well-known bands, including the Scorpions,
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
,
Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with m ...
,
Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, ...
,
Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style ...
, and
Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...
, have recorded live
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
s at Wacken, shows how esteemed the Open Air has since become. Ahead of their farewell tour in 2004, Die Böhsen Onkelz also performed an extended set at W:O:A. Since 2002, the so-called "Metal Train" has been travelling from Zurich to Wacken and back before and after the festival to bring fans to the Northern German village and provide a matching entertainment programme. Bus tours from
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
n countries, especially
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, but also from
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, are organised each year and used by several hundred fans. The "W:O:A Soccercup" has been taking place annually since 2002. This football tournament, which started with nine teams and takes place on Wednesdays, has grown over the years and has been held in World Cup mode with 32 teams since 2007 (a one-off event in 2011 featured 36 teams). The international teams register in advance and are composed of festival visitors. For the tournament's 15th anniversary in 2016, a band was featured and took part for the first time: Serum 114 formed a team with several fans and were able to win the tournament. Although it is meant to be a fun tournament, in which creative outfits and names take precedence over athletic performance, the award ceremony after the tournament has been held on one of the stages since 2013 and prizes can be won. In 2013, the "Full Metal Church" took place in Wacken for the first time. Marking the local church's 150th anniversary, the team, together with the parish, organised a concert by the band
Faun The faun (, grc, φαῦνος, ''phaunos'', ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology. Originally fauns of Roman mythology were spirits (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their c ...
, which was framed by two readings and sermons by " Volxbibel" author Martin Dreyer. Both the concert and the services were completely overcrowded by festival visitors.


Present

The festival is one of the Metal scene's highlights of the year. Nowadays, about a third of the visitors, some of whom arrive quite some time before the official start of the festival, and the majority of the bands come from abroad. According to the organisers, 2018 saw visitors from more than 80 nations attending the festival. The number of participants increased to 75,000 in 2008 and included 65,000 paying guests. In 2008, the festival sold out twice ( W:O:A 2008 in spring and W:O:A 2009 on 31 December 2008). As is common with festivals of this size, Wacken Open Air received criticism for its hygienic conditions, prices, security personnel, as well as for the overcrowding and commercial orientation of the event. These points of criticism were addressed by making further substantial investments in the festival's fixed and mobile infrastructure. In 2008, the organisers also contributed 1,000,000 Euros to the expansion of Wacken's local outdoor swimming pool in order to make the festival even more attractive to the residents and visitors of the town. Since 2006, the festival has been running an
online radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...
station called
Wacken Radio Wacken may refer to: * Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, a municipality in Germany * Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacke ...
, which broadcasts Metal music around the clock. It is being produced in cooperation with
RauteMusik RauteMusik (also RM or ''#Musik'') is an internet radio station based in Germany. RauteMusik was first broadcast on 20 April 2003 with just one main stream. In the next four years, RauteMusik established itself as one of Europe's biggest internet ...
as of February 2014. For the 23rd edition of Wacken Open Air, the sale of an "X-Mas Package" started on Monday, 8 August 2011, shortly after the end of that year's festival, and was sold out within 45 minutes. The event sold out ten times in a row between 2006 and 2015. Tickets for Wacken Open Air 2015 sold out after just 12 hours on 4 August 2014 – just a few hours after the end of W:O:A 2014. The X-Mas Tickets for W:O:A 2016, which cost 10 Euros less and whose buyers were entitled to a free T-shirt, were completely sold out only 20 minutes after the start of pre-sales. Booking office Metaltix’ servers were highly busy. In the minutes before the start of the pre-sale, the pages were no longer accessible; after that,
data traffic Network traffic or data traffic is the amount of data moving across a network at a given point of time. Network data in computer networks is mostly encapsulated in network packets, which provide the load in the network. Network traffic is the main c ...
had to be limited by wait lists. Prices for the festival have risen and are currently at a level similar to other major Rock festivals, such as
Rock am Ring The (German for "Rock at the Ring") and ("Rock in the Park") festivals are two simultaneous rock music festivals held annually. While ''Rock am Ring'' takes place at the Nürburgring race track, ''Rock im Park'' takes place at the Zeppelinfeld ...
and
Hurricane Festival The Hurricane Festival, also just Hurricane, is a music festival that has taken place at the Eichenring, a speedway race track, in Scheeßel, Germany, since 1997. With more than 80,000 attendees (2022) it is one of the largest music festivals in ...
. After several years of success in which the festival sold out within hours, the first 60,000 tickets for the 2017 festival were sold in mid-2016. 55,000 tickets were sold within the first hour. By the end of April 2017, the festival was almost sold out except for a few remaining tickets. The price for the festival ticket was 220 Euros, but there was no fee for early arrival campers, who often set up their elaborately designed accommodations before the festival begins – partly to get the best spots near the festival grounds. In addition, all toilets and showers were free in 2017. The festival sold out within a few days each in 2014–2016. However, the last tickets for the 2017 festival were sold after 309 days, a mere 2 months before the start of the festival, even though only 10,000 tickets remained after the first day of sales. This was a matter of speculation at first, and reasons such as the changed security situation or the price development were taken into account. Regardless of that, the festival sold out for the 13th time in a row in 2018. On 5 April 2018 Thomas Hess, the festival's longtime production (and former security) director, passed away. He had joined festival management in 1996 as a former tour manager of Böhse Onkelz and was considered one of the most important leading figures for the festival, along with the remaining founders and the Trede family, who organise the camping areas and the camping supervisors as subcontractors. He made a significant contribution to the W:O:A being so well organised, peaceful and successful. Wacken Open Air 2018 was named the best major festival at the European Festival Awards 2018 and best festival at the Helga! Awards. For W:O:A 2019, all 75,000 tickets were sold within the first four days of sales, making this the 14th time in a row that the festival completely sold out.


2020 and 2021 edition postponements

On 16 April 2020, it was announced to that the 2020 edition of the festival would be cancelled because of the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. The first set of bands were announced on 1 August 2020 for the rescheduled festival for 2021. On 1 June 2021, the promoters of Wacken Open Air announced that the festival would not take place this year, again due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and is scheduled to return in the summer of 2022, with more information and details to be announced in September 2021.


Organisation

The organisers of Wacken Open Air founded ''Stone Castle Rockpromotions'' in 1990 in order to organise the first festival. The name is derived from the direct translation of "Steinburg" from the district of
Steinburg Steinburg () is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, administered from Itzehoe. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Dithmarschen, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Segeberg and Pinneberg, and by the Elbe River (and the dist ...
, to which Wacken belongs. Stone Castle remained the company's name until 1996. Up until 2014, the headquarters were located in Dörpstedt (Schleswig-Flensburg district) and then moved to Wacken. The company's name has been ''ICS'' (International Concert Service) GmbH since 1999. The company owns the label ''Wacken Records'' and the mailorder Metaltix, among others. A daily festival newspaper has been available since 2007, reporting on what's happening on the festival grounds. The Thursday edition is also included free of charge with all newspapers published by
Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag ("Schleswig-Holstein Newspaper publisher"), sh:z, is a newspaper group based in Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein. With 22 daily newspapers, the group is the largest daily publisher in the state. sh:z's publicati ...
. In 2014, the online radio station RauteMusik took over production of the official Wacken radio. Wacken Radio has its own container on the festival grounds every year, where it reports live. Up until a few years ago, Wacken's official town signs were either replaced by plastic signs spelling Heavy Metal Town during W:O:A or bolted more tightly because they were often stolen as souvenirs. Some shops are now selling black cotton bags with the Wacken town sign on one side and the words "This town sign I may keep" on the other. An action for exceeding the maximum noise limit, brought before the Administrative Court of Schleswig by residents of Wacken, ended in January 2013 with an out-of-court settlement. Now, if the average noise level of the festival exceeds 70 dB, the organisers pay 1,000 Euros to the community, which donates the money to charitable causes. In July 2022, it was announced that starting with W:O:A 2023 and onwards, the festival will be officially extended from three to four full days and that the Wednesday will be the new first full day. Up until 2022, while there was plenty of programme on Wednesdays, it was more of an unofficial afternoon introduction to the festival and Thursdays remained the official opening day.


Infrastructure

The site covers more than 240
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
s, which are divided by more than 45 kilometres of fence. The inner area, including the main stage, has a size of 43,000
square metre The square metre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. It is the area of a square w ...
s. More than 1,300 toilets and almost 500 showers are available for the 75,000 paying attendees. 2,200 trucks with equipment are needed for the entire festival. Stage construction and dismantling usually take 7 days and 5 days respectively. For this, 75 trucks of stage equipment (1,000 tons), 10 trucks of sound equipment and 27 trucks of lighting equipment are used.W:O:A press kit 2018 Since 2014, the
electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
output has amounted to 12 megawatts, roughly matching the needs of a small town counting 70,000 inhabitants. In addition, 40 diesel-fuelled emergency power generators are required. 25 electricians are responsible for the power supply. 600,000 Euros were spent on the construction of sewage systems and the improvement of power supply on the festival grounds. At the same time, 700,000 Euros worth of drains were installed in front of the stages in order to improve the drainage of water masses during heavy rains. The main paths were also paved with 10 km of mobile roads to facilitate access for rescue vehicles. A total of approximately 5,000 employees work for the festival, including 1,800 security staff members, 150 cleaners, 70 construction and dismantling assistants, as well as 400 police officers, 250 firefighters, 900 paramedics, and six emergency doctors. In 2017, a beer pipeline measuring one kilometer to supply ten dispensing systems was used for the first time. At full capacity, this construction allowed for 10,000 litres of beer to be tapped within the hour.


Stages

Wacken Open Air now boasts eight stages for musicians and accompanying entertainment. The most important ones are the Faster and the Harder Stage, which are designed as connected twin stages and have a shared sound and lighting system. Together with the slightly smaller Louder Stage, these two stages make up the Infield, or The Holy Ground. All three stages are also equipped with
video wall A video wall is a special multi-monitor setup that consists of multiple computer monitors, video projectors, or television sets tiled together contiguously or overlapped in order to form one large screen. Typical display technologies include L ...
s to allow visibility of the performers even from remote positions. Up until 2016, these three stages were called Black Stage, True Metal Stage, and Party Stage. After Wacken 2016, visitors were encouraged to suggest new names. From these suggestions, the best ideas were to be put up to a vote in a survey. Instead, however,  the slogan "Faster - Harder - Louder" became the inspiration for the names and the three stages were renamed accordingly. Two more twin stages, the W.E.T. Stage (Wacken Evolution Tent) and the Headbanger Stage, are located inside a big tent called Bullhead City Circus. The Metal Battle takes place on these stages on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by regular band appearances on the days after. While the large stages and tent stages are open to all genres, the remaining stages are dedicated to specific themes. The Wackinger Stage is located in the medieval area of the festival and is played primarily by bands from Folk, Pagan and Medieval genres, while the Wasteland Stage, which was established in 2014, is geared towards music with an apocalyptic touch. The Beergarden Stage is modelled after typical folk festival stages, but also accommodates permanent Wacken guests such as the Wacken Firefighters and
Mambo Kurt Mambo Kurt (born Rainer Limpinsel; 11 April 1967 in Hagen) is a German comedy and novelty act who performs covers of mainstream and classic rock hits. Mambo has performed at the Wacken Open Air festival and provides music for a German televisio ...
.


Event area

Wacken Open Air's event area is divided into several structurally separated sections. Since 2014, only one major security check is performed upon entering the grounds, after that, only the festival wristbands are checked. Special features of the W:O:A include the Wackinger area, which resembles a medieval market and contains specialty food and beverage stalls as well as the Wackinger Stage, where matching music is played. Various walking acts also entertain the audience. This area borders on the Wasteland designed by the Wasteland Warriors, where a
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
world and stage (Wastelandstage) styled in homage to the
Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...
-franchise is set up. The area in front of the main stages comprises both the
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n
beer garden A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...
and a large shopping mile called Metal Markt. There are also various food stalls, the Wacken Foundation Camp, ATMs, and the Movie Field, where Heavy Metal
documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
and
feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s are screened. The most important stages, the focal point of the festival, are located in the so-called Infield, which can be reached only via the Center. In addition to these stages, it also hosts food and beverage stalls.


Camping grounds

As Wacken Open Air only sells 3-day tickets, the majority of visitors spend the entire festival on-site. As a result, most of the more than 240 hectares of the festival site are designated camping areas. Camping opens on Monday and has been included in the ticket price since 2017. However, in the years before, an extra fee was charged for arrival before Wednesday. The campsite is equipped with showers, flushing toilets,
portable toilet A portable or mobile toilet (colloquial terms: thunderbox, portaloo, porta-john or porta-potty) is any type of toilet that can be moved around, some by one person, some by mechanical equipment such as a truck and crane. Most types do not require ...
s,
drinking fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...
s, small supermarkets, food stalls and information boards, and is continuously patrolled by the police, fire brigade and security services. A refuse collection service collects refuse bags on the premises. Since the large crowds lead to a bottleneck situation in terms of mobile service, some providers now set up portable
base station Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service." The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless com ...
s for
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
,
UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
, and LTE+ during the festival.


Medical services

A festival of this size needs capable medical services, which here are called the Wacken Rescue Squad. Every year, hundreds of helpers from various relief organisations from all over Germany arrive before the festival to prepare the medical camp and care for people in need during the event. The medical service is managed by the local DRK association in
Kaltenkirchen (nicknamed ''Kaki''; nds, Koldenkarken or ''Kolenkarken'') is a town located 35 km north of Hamburg in Germany. It is part of the Segeberg district, in Schleswig-Holstein. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. History First mentioned in the 1 ...
. The visiting and local relief organisations provide vehicles and material during the course of the festival. These include ambulances and radios for communication in particular. Due to the road conditions, quads and foot patrols are often used in Wacken, especially in the vicinity of the medical centre. In addition to the medical service, which counts approx. 270 people at peak times, the rescue service cooperation Schleswig-Holstein has more than ten emergency vehicles (ambulances and mobile intensive care units) on site while coordinating the overall
emergency management Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...
. In 2013, around 3,300 people received medical care from approximately 500 medics.


Crime and accidents

Despite the size of the festival, no serious security problems have been encountered so far. Disputes among visitors are rare, and in 2011, a total of 20 reports of bodily injury was filed. The main problem consists of several hundred reported thefts each year. In 2011, police were able to arrest three gangs of thieves. In comparison to other events of this scale, the festival is classified by police as secure. So far there have been four deaths and some serious injuries: * In 2005, a heavily intoxicated 37-year-old crashed into an ambulance moving at walking pace and succumbed to his head injuries in the hospital. To support his family, organisers held a fundraising event; W:O:A 2006 honoured the deceased with a minute's silence. * In 2011, a rioting fan was overwhelmed by security guards in the village and died of cardiovascular arrest. * In 2012, a 22-year-old festival visitor went to sleep near a
generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...
and breathed in its
carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...
fumes. He could not be revived. * In 2013, a 52-year-old visitor from Poland died of natural causes in his tent. That same year, a fan was seriously injured when the cartridge of his camping stove exploded for unknown reasons. * In 2016, two men were injured when one of them set fire to illegal
firecracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental t ...
s and the other tried to stop him. Reports that one of the men's ears had been torn off turned out to be false. * In 2017, a 16-year-old was seriously injured while trying to refill a
camping stove A portable stove is a cooking stove specially designed to be portable and lightweight, used in camping, picnicking, backpacking, or other use in remote locations where an easily transportable means of cooking or heating is needed. Portable stoves ...
with
denatured alcohol Denatured alcohol (also called methylated spirits in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom; wood spirit; and denatured rectified spirit) is ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous, bad-tasting, foul ...
.


Commitment


Metal Battle

W:O:A Metal Battle is an international band contest first held in 2004. During Metal Battle, newcomer bands compete against each other in national qualifiers and finals; the winner of each country then competes against the other finalists in the grand final at Wacken Open Air. An international jury selects the competition's best bands. In earlier years, winners of the competition were offered a record deal, whereas nowadays, the five best bands receive cash or material prizes.


Wacken Foundation

The
Wacken Foundation Wacken may refer to: * Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, a municipality in Germany * Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacke ...
was founded in 2009 by the festival's organisers and serves as a
charitable foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable act ...
. Its objective is to support young bands from the Heavy Metal genre. Sponsorship is granted to specific projects such as the production of a CD or the realisation of a tour. In addition, the Wacken Foundation provides information about its projects at many
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an festivals each summer. Since the 2017/2018 season, the Wacken Foundation's lettering can be found on the jerseys of German 3rd league club
FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Formed in 1903 and initially associated with the Carl Zeiss AG factory, they were one of the strongest clubs in East Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, winning the DDR-Obe ...
. This was facilitated by jersey sponsors
Heaven Shall Burn Heaven Shall Burn are a German extreme metal band from Saalfeld, formed in 1995. The band consists of vocalist Marcus Bischoff, guitarists Maik Weichert and Alexander Dietz, bassist Eric Bischoff and drummer Christian Bass. They are currently si ...
, whose
logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...
has been moved to the jersey's sleeve for this cause. Part of the proceeds from the jersey's sale is donated to the foundation.


Wacken Music Camp

2014 saw Wacken Music Camp take place for the first time. One week after the festival ended, young people from all over Germany were invited to write and play their own songs under the guidance of professional musicians. They were accommodated in the so-called Kuhle, the site of the first Wacken Open Air.


Blood donations

The organisers regularly call for
blood donation A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for blood transfusion, transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called Blood fractionation, fractionation (separation of whole blood com ...
s with the whole festival team. Blood is donated at the Itzehoe Clinic and the entire wing is decorated in W:O:A style, while Heavy Metal is blasted through the speakers.


DKMS typing campaign

Since W:O:A 2014, visitors and musicians have been encouraged to have their
bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid tissue found within the spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It is composed of hematopoietic ce ...
typed for donation by the German Bone Marrow Donor Database. In 2014, 2,700 visitors took this opportunity.


Stark gegen Krebs – Strong against cancer

The festival works with the organisers of the so-called Wattolümpiade ("mudflat Olympics") in
Brunsbüttel Brunsbüttel () is a town in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany that lies at the mouth of the Elbe river, near the North Sea. It is the location of the western entrance to the Kiel Canal. History The earliest re ...
to promote the slogan Stark gegen Krebs ("Strong against cancer"). The festival's team helps out with logistics for the event.


Network

In addition to the festival itself, there are numerous other events planned and carried out by the organisers. A wide range of
merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...
has also been developed over the years. In addition to T-shirts and a comprehensive range of CDs and DVDs, the festival also has accompanying
print media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information e ...
. The ''W:O:A History Book'' contains the open-air's history up until 2005. The book Die Wahrheit über Wacken ("The truth about Wacken", Oidium Verlag 2005, new edition published at Verlag Andreas Reiffer 2011) provides a more humorous account of the festival. It was written by satirist Till Burgwächter in collaboration with comic artist Jan Oidium and is also available as an audio book comprising three CDs. The publication of a Metal cookbook shows how far merchandising has come. However, the mounting range of merchandising has led to growing criticism, as some consider it to be purely profit-oriented. The increasing coverage of the festival, especially in the wake of the documentary
Full Metal Village ''Full Metal Village'' is a 2006 documentary film about the lives of the residents of a small village in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken, in a series of interviews and visual tableaux as it prepares for the annual Wacken Open Ai ...
, is perceived by the traditional Metal scene as "selling out". In 2005, Wacken Premium
Pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewe ...
was offered as the festival's "own" beer for the first time. It was produced in the Bavarian
brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
Maximiliansbrauerei in
Chieming Chieming is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. Etymology The name ''Chieming'', ''Chiemsee'' and the name of the area ''Chiemgau Chiemgau () is the common name of a geographic area in Upper Bavaria. It refers t ...
. At W:O:A 2006 and 2007, the beer was available as well, this time produced in 0.5-litre bottles by the Flensburger brewery. The large number of glass shards later forced the organisers to switch to 0.5-litre cans. As a
motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...
, the phrase "See you in Wacken - Rain or Shine" has established itself alongside "Faster, Harder, Louder". Additionally, the festival features the sentence "Louder Than Hell" in its advertising.


Full Metal Cruise

Cruises with Heavy Metal bands on board under the name
Full Metal Cruise Full may refer to: * People with the surname Full, including: ** Mr. Full (given name unknown), acting Governor of German Cameroon, 1913 to 1914 * A property in the mathematical field of topology; see Full set * A property of functors in the mathe ...
have been organised within Europe since 2013.


Hamburg Metal Dayz

The indoor festival
Hamburg Metal Dayz (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
takes place at the same time as the
Reeperbahn The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nickn ...
-Festival and is considered a get-together for the scene. In addition to concerts, there are panels with musicians, managers, and other Metal experts, as well as workshops and a question and answer session with the W:O:A organisers.


Wacken Roadshow

For the Wacken Roadshow, several bands tour Europe under the banner of Wacken Open Air. These concerts are meant to complement the warm-up parties organised in many places.


Metal Monday

In the summer of 1990, Metal Monday took place for the first time at Knust in
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
. For five years, regional, national and international Metal bands like De la Cruz, 5th Avenue, and King Køng played at Knust every Monday. After a break of almost 20 years, Metal Monday was revived by the Wacken Open Air organisers in 2014 in cooperation with the Knust, Seaside Touring, All Access, and Hamburg Konzerte. Metal, Rock, and Folkrock bands now perform once a month, following the motto "three bands - small entrance fee". In addition to regional bands, international newcomers are always invited.


Zum Wackinger

The former country-style restaurant ''Zur Post'' in Wacken, built in 1919, has been the hub of the village and the surrounding communities for decades. It was here that bartenders Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner conceived the idea for today's Wacken Open Air. Today, it is used to accommodate staff and to serve other business purposes. A series of events called "Zum Wackinger" sees artists from music, comedy, and entertainment perform regularly. Since 2016, a two-day medieval feast with jugglers and bards takes place here.


Metal Church

The Evangelical Lutheran Village Church in Wacken belongs to the
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Northern Germany Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...
. For Wacken Open Air and Wacken Winter Nights, it is turned into the ''Metal Church''. During said festivals, the ''Metal Service'' is held here and bands from the Folk and Medieval scene perform in the church.


Wacken Winter Nights

Wacken Winter Nights (WWN), a three-day Folk and Medieval open-air festival, took place for the first time in February 2017 at temperatures of -2 to -6 degrees Celsius in Wacken. With over 3,500 attendees, the festival's first edition sold out several weeks in advance. Most of them spent the nights on the camping site. A second edition took place from 23 to 25 February 2018. Due to the construction on the previous year's campground, the overnight accommodations were relocated to the area that is also used for the regular Open Air. The walking distance, therefore, increased to about 15 minutes. With 4,000 visitors, the 2018 event also sold out. For the third event in 2019, the festival grounds were expanded considerably and 5,000 visitors attended. The fourth WWNs are planned for the 14th to 16 February 2020.


StrongmanRun

The Fisherman's Friend StrongmanRun visited the Metal festival grounds of Wacken for the first time in April 2016. With their Wacken debut, the StrongmanRun season formally kicked off. About 3,000 participants, some in colourful costumes, took part in the run on the 20 km track with 40 obstacles. In 2017, the StrongmanRun took place on the festival grounds.


Wacken Rocks

Several open-air festivals called Wacken Rocks were held in the past to transport the Wacken atmosphere to other places.


Full Metal Mountain

During the winters of 2016, 2017 and 2018, an annual ski trip to Nassfeld, Austria was organised for Metal fans under the name ''Full Metal Mountain''. Numerous bands and artists were present. For 2019, the festival was cancelled entirely.


Full Metal Holiday

Planning and preparation are underway for a holiday trip to
Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...
with the title ''Full Metal Holiday - Destination Mallorca'', which will offer Metal concerts on the beach from 12 to 19 October 2020. The event was originally planned for 2017 and said to head to Ibiza, then rescheduled for 2018 and changed to Mallorca.


W:O:A in numbers

The following chart shows the development of prices and visitor numbers of past festivals as published by the organisers. Prices refer to a 3-day ticket (incl. parking and camping) in pre-sale (without additional fees). The price for the 4-day 2023 edition (299.00 EUR) has been adjusted accordingly.


Documentaries and reception  

Since 1999, various
documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
about W:O:A have been made. The first documentary, Metalheads - The Official Documentary, was produced in 1999 on the occasion of the festival's 10th anniversary and was released on VHS by
Rock Hard "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...
in 2000. The film team lived on the festival grounds for ten days prior to the actual start of the festival and documented the work of construction workers, farmers such as Uwe Trede, villagers, fans and organisers. Although the film shows excerpts from performances by some of the bands and interviews with the artists, it is more of a behind-the-scenes documentary. The film was produced with the simplest means, including a professional
Hi8 The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats. These are the original Video8 (analog recording) format and its improved successor Hi8 (analog video and analog audio but with provision for digital audio), as well as ...
and a
Mini-DV DV refers to a family of codecs and videotape, tape formats used for storing digital video, launched in 1995 by a consortium of camcorder, video camera manufacturers led by Sony and Panasonic. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DV was strongly ...
camera and a team of three, and was regarded by the organisers as a trial run on the subject of film. According to the organisers, a total of 10,000 copies were made and sold. The film ''Nordland'' was shot for the 15th edition of W:O:A, but was only used for internal promotion. Both films were made by Thomas Greiner. The documentary Metal - A Headbanger's Journey by
Sam Dunn Sam Dunn (born 20 March 1974) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, musician, and anthropologist, best known for his series of documentaries on heavy metal music. He co-owns Toronto-based production company Banger Films with Scot McFadyen. Du ...
(2005) features Wacken Open Air. The festival is described as a
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
of Heavy Metal. The film
Full Metal Village ''Full Metal Village'' is a 2006 documentary film about the lives of the residents of a small village in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken, in a series of interviews and visual tableaux as it prepares for the annual Wacken Open Ai ...
by director
Cho Sung-Hyung Cho Sung-hyung (born June 26, 1966) is a German film maker, director, editor and professor living and working in Germany with South Korean roots. She got German citizenship in 2016 for her documentary ''My Brothers and Sisters in the North''. Bi ...
, made in 2005 and 2006, portrays the people of Wacken dealing with the festival. In 2006, she was awarded the main award of the Hessischer Filmpreis and the Schleswig-Holstein Filmpreis for best documentary. Full Metal Village was the first documentary ever to win the
Max Ophüls Maximillian Oppenheimer (; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls (; ), was a German-French film director who worked in Germany (1931–1933), France (1933–1940 and 1950–1957), and the United States (1947–1950). He made near ...
Award for young filmmakers in 2007. WDR-
Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...
profiled the festival in 2006, 2007, and 2009 with two-hour documentaries. Broadcaster DMAX also sent a camera team and produced a one-hour documentary on the construction of W:O:A in 2007.
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
television filmed the 30-minute feature ''Ein Dorf und 100.000 Rockfans'' about Wacken Open Air 2008. The aforementioned projects are almost identical in content; they invite visitors, organisers, and the citizens of Wacken to comment on the festival and generally present it in a positive way. However, there has been criticism of the fact that the Wacken Firefighters have been featured too prominently. The three Rockpalast documentaries focus on interviews with the musicians and the performances of the bands. Another perspective is offered by the low-budget production ''Metaller die auf Brüste starren'' ("The Metalheads Who Stare At Breasts", title based on
The Men Who Stare At Goats ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004) is a non-fiction work by Jon Ronson concerning the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal. The title refers to attempts to kill goats by staring ...
), which five festival attendees shot during their stay at Wacken. "Offener Kanal Bad Offenbach" is listed as its official producer. The film shows the festival from the filmmakers’ (subjective) point of view and comments on the events in the style of
New Journalism New Journalism is a style of news writing and journalism, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, that uses literary techniques unconventional at the time. It is characterized by a subjective perspective, a literary style reminiscent of long-form non- ...
. In contrast to other documentaries, this one focuses on the fans. Whether it's a documentary in the true sense of the word or whether the film is just entertainment remains controversial. The filmmakers themselves avoid this question and classify their work as a "trash documentary". The film premiered on 5 May 2011. Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister
Peter Harry Carstensen Peter Harry Carstensen (born 12 March 1947) is a German politician, in the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. From 2005 to 2012 he was Minister President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, serving as ...
( CDU) commented on the opening of W:O:A 2009: "I don't come here to listen to the music, but I do identify with the festival". Selected concerts of Wacken Open Air 2014 were broadcast live in an online stream. Furthermore, the cooperation between
Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wit ...
and
Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
made some performances available as
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
. To mark its 30th anniversary, the
Norddeutsche Rundschau Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag ("Schleswig-Holstein Newspaper publisher"), sh:z, is a newspaper group based in Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein. With 22 daily newspapers, the group is the largest daily publisher in the state. sh:z's publicat ...
published a special edition that offered insights into the organisation of the Wacken Open Air. In addition, there will be a special exhibition at the Prinzesshof Kreismuseum in Itzehoe to mark the anniversary.


Awards

At an awards ceremony on 11 March 2008, W:O:A received the
Live Entertainment Award Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music * Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of album ...
(LEA) for best festival of 2007.


Media


Documentaries

German television has produced numerous Wacken Open-Air documentaries in recent years. The following list is therefore not complete: * ''Metalheads'', documentary on the 10th anniversary of Wacken Open Air (director: Thomas Greiner) * ''Nordland'', documentary on the 15th anniversary of Wacken Open Air (director: Thomas Greiner (author)) *
Full Metal Village ''Full Metal Village'' is a 2006 documentary film about the lives of the residents of a small village in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken, in a series of interviews and visual tableaux as it prepares for the annual Wacken Open Ai ...
, 2006 (Director:
Cho Sung-Hyung Cho Sung-hyung (born June 26, 1966) is a German film maker, director, editor and professor living and working in Germany with South Korean roots. She got German citizenship in 2016 for her documentary ''My Brothers and Sisters in the North''. Bi ...
) * ''Ein Dorf im Ausnahmezustand - A village in a state of emergency / Three days of Wacken - Bauernschlau und Heavy-Metal'', 2006 (film by Petra Petersen, NDR) *
Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...
( WDR), Festival Wacken-Open-Air, 2006, 2007 and 2009, each approx. 2 h documentary, can be downloaded free of charge in the media library of the public broadcaster (as of February 2016) * ''Wahnsinn Wacken'', 2007 ( DMAX) approx. 1 h documentary * ''Ein Dorf und 100.000 Rockfans'', 2008 (ZDF) * ''Metaller die auf Brüste starren'', 2010 * ''Road To Wacken - The Movie'', 2011 * ''Heavy Metal auf der Wiese'', 2011 (NDR) (Director: Manfred Studer) * ''Heavy Metal trifft Karniggels - Detlev Buck goes Wacken'', 2012 (NDR) (Director: Nils Utzig) * ''Heiter, harder, louder'', 2013 (NDR) (Director: Nils Utzig) * ''Alles auf Schwarz – Wacken!!! Sarnau und Hübner bei den Metalheads'', 2013 (NDR) (Director: Nils Utzig) * ''Wacken 3D'', 2014 (Director: Norbert Heitker) - also in 2D. * ''25 Years Louder Than Hell - The W:O:A Documentary'', Jun 2015, DVD and Blu-ray, 3 Eps. 45 min, 1 h 5 min, 42 min, original sound: German, English, and Spanish with subtitles in German, English. * ''Road To Wacken'', 2016 (DMAX) - two-part documentary (45 min each) about the band
Blind Guardian Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in 1984 in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres.788] * ''Der Wacken-Wahnsinn, Wie geht das?'' NDR Television, August 2018


Official Wacken Open Air videos and DVDs

The organisers of Wacken Open Air have been releasing an official live DVD every year since 2003: * ''Metal Overdrive: Wacken Overdrive,'' 2003 * ''Armageddon Over Wacken 2003,'' 2003 * ''Armageddon Over Wacken 2004,'' 2004 * ''Armageddon Over Wacken 2005,'' 2005 * ''Wacken 2006 – Live at W:O:A,'' 2006 * ''Wacken 2007: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2007 * ''Wacken 2008: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2008 * ''Wacken 2009: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2009 * ''Wacken 2010: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2010 * ''Wacken 2011: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2011 * ''Wacken 2012: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2012 * ''Wacken 2013: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2014 * ''Wacken – Der Film,'' 2014 * ''25 Years of Wacken: Snapshots, Sraps, Thoughts & Sounds,'' 2015 * ''Wacken 2014: Live at Wacken Open Air,'' 2015 * ''Live At Wacken 2015 – 26 Years Louder Than Hell,'' 2016 * ''Live at Wacken 2016 – 27 Years Louder Than Hell,'' 2017 * ''Live at Wacken 2017 – 28 Years Louder Than Hell,'' 2018 * ''Live at Wacken 2018 - 29 Years Louder Than Hell,'' 2019 * ''Live at Wacken 2019 - 30 Years Birthday Harder Louder than hell,'' 2019


Live albums by various bands

Numerous bands have recorded their performances at Wacken Open Air and released them as audio CDs or DVDs. The following list contains only full live albums and no albums containing only individual live tracks from the festival: * Hypocrisy (band), Hypocrisy – ''Hypocrisy Destroys Wacken'', 1999 *
Rose Tattoo Rose Tattoo are an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice ...
– ''25 to Live'', 2000 *
Tygers of Pan Tang Tygers of Pan Tang are an English heavy metal band who are part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. They formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay, England, and were active until 1987. The band reformed in 1999 and continue to record and perf ...
– ''Live at Wacken'', 2001 *
Grave Digger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), ...
– ''Tunes Of Wacken'', 2002 *
Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with m ...
– ''Live at Wacken: The Reunion'', 2005 *
Bloodbath Bloodbath is a Swedish death metal supergroup from Stockholm, formed in 1998. The band has released six full-length albums, two EPs and two DVDs depicting their performances at Wacken Open Air (in 2005) and Bloodstock Open Air (in 2010). The gro ...
– ''The Wacken Carnage'', 2005 *
Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
– ''Live at Wacken Open Air 2006'' *
Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
– ''Live at Wacken Open Air 2006'' *
Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, ...
– ''The Invaluable Darkness'', 2007 * Rage – ''Live in Wacken 2007'' (bonus DVD for the album Carved in Stone), 2008 *
Mambo Kurt Mambo Kurt (born Rainer Limpinsel; 11 April 1967 in Hagen) is a German comedy and novelty act who performs covers of mainstream and classic rock hits. Mambo has performed at the Wacken Open Air festival and provides music for a German televisio ...
– ''The Orgel Has Landed: Live at Wacken'', 2008 *
Avantasia Avantasia is a German supergroup metal opera project created by Tobias Sammet, vocalist of the band Edguy. It has been characterized as a rock opera, as it features the contributions of various vocalists and musicians and it consists of concept ...
– ''The Flying Opera'', 2008 *
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (German for " The Apocalyptic Riders") is a Weimar, Germany based heavy metal band signed to Nuclear Blast in Europe and The End Records in North America. Musical style The band's original style, featured on th ...
– ''Tobsucht'' ''(Reitermania over Wacken & Party.San)'', 2008 *
Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
– ''Unquestionable Presence: Live at Wacken'', 2009 * Heaven & Hell: ''Neon Nights – Live at Wacken – 30 Years of Heaven & Hell'' (CD & DVD format), 2009 *
Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...
– ''Shovel Headed Tour Machine – Live at Wacken'', 2010 *
Grave Digger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), ...
– ''The Clans Are Still Marching'', 2010 *
Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...
– ''The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh'', 2010 * Rage – ''Live in Wacken 2009'' (bonus DVD for the album Strings to a Web), 2010 *
At the Gates At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Ga ...
– ''Purgatory Unleashed: Live at Wacken'', 2010 * Running Wild – ''The final Jolly Roger'' *
Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...
– ''The Wörld Is Ours Vol. 2: Anyplace Crazy as Anywhere Else'', 2011 *
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
– ''Heavy Metal Thunder – Live – Eagles Over Wacken'', 2012 *
Sacred Reich Sacred Reich is an American thrash metal band based in Phoenix, Arizona, that was formed in 1985. The band split in 2000, but reunited in 2006. Sacred Reich has been credited, along with Testament, Destruction, Death Angel and Dark Angel, for ...
– ''Live At Wacken Open Air'', 2012 * Degradead – ''Live at Wacken And Beyond'', 2012 *
Megaherz Megaherz (English "Mega-heart", a pun on the homophone " megahertz") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Eichenau in 1993. Megaherz has gone through many changes in musical style since their founding. Their early works are a fair ...
– ''Götterdämmerung: Live At Wacken 2012'', 2012 *
Gorgoroth Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. It was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, who is also the only original member remaining, and the band have since released nine studio albums. Gorgoroth are a Satanic band and have ...
– ''Live at Wacken 2008'', 2012 *
God Seed God Seed was a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen, Norway. Former Gorgoroth members Gaahl and King ov Hell adopted the name in March 2009 following the ending of the Gorgoroth name dispute. After performing a few gigs as God Seed, vocalis ...
– ''Live at Wacken'', 2012 *
Atrocity Atrocity or ''Atrocities'' or ''Atrocious'' may refer to: * Atrocity (band), a German metal band * ''Atrocities'' (album), the fourth album by Christian Death * Mass atrocity crimes, international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes agains ...
– ''Die Gottlosen Jahre – Live In Wacken'', 2012 *
Ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...
– ''Enjoy The Quiet: Live at Wacken 2012'', 2013 *
Airbourne Airbourne or Air Borne may refer to: * Air Bourne, a finishing move and the nickname of professional wrestler Evan Bourne * Airbourne (air show), an air show in Eastbourne, United Kingdom * Airbourne (band) Airbourne are an Australian hard r ...
– ''Live at Wacken 2011'', 2013 *
Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...
– ''Showtime Storytime'', 2013 *
Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...
– ''Raise The Dead : Live From Wacken'', 2014 *
Circle II Circle Circle II Circle is an American heavy metal band from Tampa, Florida. The band was formed by former Savatage lead vocalist Zachary Stevens and longtime friend and band manager Dan Campbell in 2001. They play varied genres of metal including tra ...
– ''Live at Wacken (Official Bootleg)'', 2014 *
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...
– ''From the Setting Sun … In Wacken'' (recorded in 2013), 2015 *
Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes o ...
– ''Heroes On Tour'', 2015 *
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
– ''War Of Kings Special Edition, DVD/BluRay 2 Live at Wacken'', 2015 *
Danko Jones Danko Jones is a Canadian hard rock trio from Toronto. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John 'JC' Calabrese (bass), and Rich Knox (drums).Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
– ''Battle Cry'', 2016 * Unisonic – ''Live in Wacken'', 2017 * Hansen & Friends – ''Thank You Wacken live'', 2017 *
Arch Enemy Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, The Agonist, Nevermore, and Eucharist. ...
– ''As The Stages Burn!'' (recorded in 2016), 2017 *
Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...
– ''Down Down & Dirty at Wacken'' (recorded in 2017), 2018 *
Accept Accept may refer to: * Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc. * Accept (band), a German heavy metal band ** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979 * ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970 * ACCEPT (or ...
– ''Symphonic Terror - Live at Wacken 2017'', 2018 *
Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...
– ''Live in Wacken'', 2018 *
Parkway Drive Parkway Drive is an Australian metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales, formed in 2003. As of 2018, Parkway Drive have released six studio albums, one EP, two DVDs, a split album and one book, titled ''Ten Years of Parkway Drive''. The b ...
– ''Viva The Underdogs'', 2020 *
Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes o ...
– ''20th Anniversary Show'' (recorded in 2019), 2021 *
Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...
- ''Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Live at Wacken (2015)'' (recorded in 2015), 2022


Further reception

In her crime novels Tod in Wacken and
Der Teufel von Wacken Der or DER may refer to: Places * Darkənd, Azerbaijan * Dearborn (Amtrak station) (station code), in Michigan, US * Der (Sumer), an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq * d'Entrecasteaux Ridge, an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean ...
, author
Heike Denzau Heike may refer to: * Heike (given name), a (not exclusively) feminine given name, derived from the male name Anri (Henry) * Taira clan, sometimes referred to as "Heike" * Heike crab, a species of crab named after the Taira (Heike) clan * Heike ...
places her storylines at Wacken Open Air, describing the location as well as the festival and its visitors.


Further reading

* Till Burgwächter: ''Zwischen Aasbüttel und Vahlenmoor. Die Wahrheit!!! – über Wacken''. Oidium, Berlin 2004, → edition 2011; . *Andreas Schöwe: ''Wacken Roll – Das größte Heavy Metal-Festival der Welt. 2.'', updated and extended edition. Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2012, .


References


External links

*
Official Wacken Radio

Website of ICS (organiser)

Festival history with a list of the bands that have performed
{{Coord, 54, 01, 42, N, 9, 21, 22, E, display=title, region:DE-NI_type:landmark_source:dewiki Heavy metal festivals in Germany Music festivals established in 1990