It’s impossible to truly understand what Wacken is if you’ve never been there. So says Amon Amarth frontman Johan Hegg in one of the daily ‘Bullhead’ newspapers the festival print and distribute onsite, and we can’t help but agree.
There are other European metal megafests – Download, Graspop, Hellfest – but none have quite the same history, atmosphere or willingness to have put niche bands front and centre that organisers Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner are utterly dedicated to. Despite running a week-long festival that draws 85,000 denim-and-leather clad metalheads to northwestern Germany, now on edition number 33, both men are buzzing around backstage, absolutely evangelical about the importance of the continuing enterprise – and constantly vindicated by the roars of “WACKEN!” from a frenzied fanbase that echo non-stop.
Because Wacken isn’t just about the bands. It’s about the experience. With events having spilled well beyond the boundaries of the festival grounds and its nine stages, fringe events this year include performances in the local church, and the laying first blocks of a new rock and metal walk of fame, with Scorpions, Doro and Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna laying their handprints in fresh cement.
The ‘Metal Market’ remains unparalleled, full of oddities you’d struggle to find anywhere else. There is official festival merch for the ‘metal’ swimming pool that sits at the other side of town. Art installations are everywhere. A troupe of Mad Max-alike ‘Wasteland Warriors’ have their own compound. The first bands for next year’s UFO-themed edition are announced via a spectacular drone show. It’s an event with more to do and see than you could possibly manage even if you hang around for the full seven days of programmed entertainment. Wacken has always felt like a heaven for metalheads, but it’s now grown into something utterly awesome.
With battle jackets on, beer in hand and precious little sleep, we present the highlights from heavy metal’s ‘Holy Ground’ in 2024...