Wacken

Wacken 2015 – the review

During the past years, the fact that Wacken sells out is more of like a tradition and with Savatage and Judas Priest on the bill, one can only expect another sold out edition. Thousands of metal fans from every corner of the world come to at Wacken to have fun and celebrate the metal way, for whole four days.

Wednesday

Unfortunatelly the weather was far from good, the rain transformed the whole festival into a huge mud pit. I’m still not entirely sure whether 2015 was the worst year rain wise or if it was 2005. However, the weather goods were out drinking…

Swedish rockers Europe did hell of a show and their set was with classic.

Probably the fact that they played in the Bullhead City Tent was one of the best things that happened this year at Wacken. A few thousand people came to hide from the rain and listen to good music already on Wednesday. Actually so many people came that already during the second song they stopped the crowd access because the tent was already filled.

Thursday

Photo: Alfred Nitsch

It took us a while to get to the main festival area, by then the rain had just stopped for a few hours and then we finally got to see Rob Zombie. Rob Zombie is the definition of Hollywood and he didn’t disappoint. To some known as a movie director/producer, to others as the ex-singer of White Zombie (thus his name!), he manged to get the frozen people finally start moving and for 40 minutes we actually managed to forget about the weather. His set was a mix of Rob Zombie hits combined with a few White Zombie songs and even a weird cover of Metalica’s Enter the Sandman. I would probably prefer to see him under different circumstances, less rain and probably during the night. However, he delivered all the way and it was the perfect start of the evening.

Photo: Frank Schwichtenberg (Schwicht de Burgh Photography)

Like many others, I have been personally dreaming about this reunion for many many years. Savatage’s show was not only a reunion, it was the most perfect an outstanding show I have probably witnessed. Even though dancers don’t really fit in when it comes to heavy metal, I must agree that everything was so well planned and rehearsed that it felt almost too good to be true. To my knowledge, Savatage is the only band that has played on both stages at the same time and that says a lot.

Photo: Andreas Lawen

Setlistwise, they began with Gutter Ballet, leaving almost everybody with a wide open mouth after the first few minutes. Who could have imagined that they would sound better than they ever did after such a long break?

Everything was simply just perfect and they played pretty much all their important songs. They went off the stage, but not before they ended their set with probably one of their best songs ever “Chance”. On our way back to the camping, I saw more than a few people over forty years that had simply been left in the tears after the concert. Hopefully we won’t have to wait that long before Savatage gets back on stage again.

Friday

We started the day in the same manner as we ended it the previous night – with melodic heavy metal and this time was Brazil’s turn with their national heroes also known as Angra. I had never seem them live so I didn’t really know what to expect. They didn’t disappoint at all and the sound was really good, especially considering the fact that it was rather windy. Obviously they ended their set with no other song than Carry On.

This was probably Opeth’s 4^th visit in Wacken during the past 10 years and even though Åkerfeldt doesn’t really look like a metal guy anymore, but rather like a hippie, his growling is as deep as it used to be. They started their set with songs off their psychedelic album and as I was ready to leave they suddenly shifted back into the music that made Opeth famous. They ended gloriously with their masterpiece Deliverance.

It was then time to move to the Party Stage to watch Jeff Waters & Co. Even though he is a great musician and King of the Kill is one of my favourite albums ever, I still have a hard time listening to all their classic songs with Jeff on vocals. Unfortunately, Jeff has already said that he is tired about all line-up changes and hunting down new vocalists, which will probably mean that he will hold on to the singing duties for a good while… Sun and Annihilator is always a good mix, and beyond the fact that some songs sounded a bit dull due of the above mentioned reason, the Canadians did a really good gig (but not as good as the one just 2 years earlier). A big bonus for the fans present at their gig was to see Mike Mangini go up on stage totally unprepared and play Set the World on Fire. Apparently, it was the first time in 20 years…

At The Gates brought their typical Swedish death-metal riffing, this time promoting their latest At War With Reality. Unfortunately, their time has gone and for every day that goes by they feel more and more like a band that is in the game just for the prize. At the gates should have stopped after their legendary show at Wacken in 2008. The same can be said about Queensrÿche, another band that didn’t know when to say stop. After all the drama with their ex-singer Jeoff Tate, they decided they should continue, slowly drowning in mediocrity that lacks any real depth.

Watching Dream Theater straight after having seen a dull version of what used to be the forefathers of progressive metal made the whole experience a bit weird. It was the first time I saw them with Mike Mangini and I only realised it towards the end of the gig. He is such a great musician that it’s near impossible to distinguish the fact that Portnoy is not in the Dream Theater boat anymore… All in all, a really good gig, a lesson Queensrÿche should learn from their once upon a time fans.

It was then time for yet another Swedish band – In Flames having reached something of a special guest status in Wacken and for that reason they return almost every second year. Their fantastic stage show combined with a state of the art lights show carried their music away into the night and reached out to the 75 000 metalheads who were watching their gig. Brilliant!

Running Wild ended the day for us, although I could have lived without having to see Rolf making a fool of himself, stating last gig ever only to announce a few years later that he’s returning with a new studio album. Fortunately, it’s one year left until the album will come out so that give’s Rolf enough time to make it right, this one last time. The set included no more than 5 brand new songs, which in my eyes is a total no-go. I was probably not the only person of the same opinion, since you could clearly see people giving up and retreating back to the camping. By the time Rolf played his second encore, I would estimate that only half of the crowd was left. Some people really don’t know when to retire and that is sad.

Saturday

Khold and Kataklysm kicked in the last day of Wacken and the sun finally returned as well. Unfortunately, these two bands overlapped meaning that we had to choose and it considering that fact that Kataklysm were not at their first visit in Wacken, we went to see the Norwegians. I had high expectations and the Norwegians delivered, though the sound was quite weird. They did their best under these circumstances. They would have probably sounded better in the Bullhead City tent.

Rock meets classic sounded like a good concept and we were really looking forward to see all those famous singers backed up by an orchestra. Dee Snider seemed to really enjoy himself and for some reason it looked like he was the Boss on stage. Unfortunately, even though the songs chosen made a really good set, sometimes it gave me the feeling of late karaoke on Sunday night. I really enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean part though…

Bloodbath has been playing pretty much every major European festival this year which makes me wonder, how do they really do sale-wise? Especially if we are to compare them with Obituary who got downgraded to the Wet Stage for a reason unknown to me. The major change in the Swedish death metal camp, is that they’re not only Swedes anymore now that they fronted by Nick Holmes from Paradise lost. Nick did a pretty good job, but that still doesn’t explain why they got such a good slot on the main stage. Obviously they have a good deal with the management agency.

Until this day, the grand success that Sabaton achieved is a pure mystery to me. I can still remember seeing them like 10 years ago on the Party Stage, making a few thousand Germans scream of joy when they announced the song that lyrically is about how Germany got its ass kicked in the second world war. Might have to do with this political correctness that has been poisoning Europe for a good while now. Still, it seems that their primitive riffs have earned a good reputation among Germans and Sabaton seem to be surprised themselves by the huge amount of people that they dragged to the main stage to watch them. I still like to think most of the people were actually there waiting for the highlight of the festival – Judas Priest.

The Priest returned to Wacken with a new album – Redeemer of Souls. It is seldom that such an old band can come with a really good album, especially if we are to compare them to their younger “brothers”, Saxon and Running Wild. I thought I would miss KK Downing more, but in this late time I have to agree to the band that they found the perfect replacement in Faulkner’s person.

The setlist didn’t disappoint a second and all the hits were there, as well as the best songs from the new album. The victory was complete when they ended their concert with Living after Midnight as the clock showed 00:00.

Mud-apocalypse is a synonym to WOA 2015, and despite the fact that it was literally the worst festival weather I’ve ever experienced, I’ve never seen so many merry people under so bad conditions. After all, it was either being depressed or getting drunk and continue to party. Not even the rain managed to damage this festival’s reputation, at least judging by the fact that WOA 2016 is already sold out, just a few days after the people just managed to escape from the mud pit.

WOA 2015 – SOLD OUT

We barely got home from this year’s Wacken Open Air and the festival releases the unbelievable statement that the 2015 WOA IS SOLD OUT!

What could have made the metal fans go on such a crazy shopping spree: the reunion of Savatage, the exclusive European show of Trans -Siberian Orchestra, Running Wild, In Flames, In Extremo, U.D.O. – special Orchestra show, Sabaton, Amorphis – Special “Tales From The Thousand Lakes” Show, Death Angel, Powerwolf, Ensiferum, Kataklysm, Cannibal Corpse, Sepultura, Thyrfing or all of them put together. With so many band names released in one go I am sure the organizers were planning for total annihilation.

Hope you managed to get your tickets but if not keep an eye on all chances you may get to grab one!

Here is the W:O:A statement:

For the 10th time in a row Wacken is sold out! The deconstruction of the W:O:A festival site has just begun and the last Metalheads have left the Holy Ground less than 24 hours ago. Never had we expected that the amazing rush from the last year could be overcome that easy but you did it! 

When the pre-sale started, the amount of visitors was four times higher than in 2014 and after the 10.000 X-Mas Tickets were sold out within a very short time, we proceeded with the sale of the regular3-DAY-ALL-IN Tickets but the rush was unstoppable and after 12 hours it was over. 

ALL 75.000 TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT – THANX FOR YOUR SUPPORT, METALHEADS! YOU ARE AMAZING!!! 

For those who haven´t bought a ticket yet there are the following option: 
Due to the masses of orders we assume that there will be several doublings and reversals for example due to missing payments after the deadline for paying is over. As soon as these reversed orders are filtered we will bring this small ticket contingent back on sale with a waiting list. This waiting list will be online soon and we will inform you in time when it will happen. Currently it is NOT POSSIBLE to enlist on the waiting list – neither via phone nor online. 

Fifteen bands for the billing have been already announced including several special and exclusive shows as well as high-class acts. As every year we have made every effort to provide a terrific billing! 
Together we will turn the 26th Anniversay of Wacken Open Air into the biggest metal party on earth! 

We will also offer various online features– so have a look at www.wacken.com or follow us on our official facebook account www.facebook.com/WackenOpenAir.official 

Although there are 12 months left until the festival starts and we are still busy with the deconstruction, the arrangements of course are already running. We can´t wait until next August. The tickets will be shipped (depending on the payment receipt) as soon as possible! 

Important!!!: Tickets you hitherto ordered at Metaltix will be certainly delivered if you received an order acceptance! Our colleagues at Metaltix are working hard to process all orders in time.
Please be aware that due to the enormous demand on tickets the processing of orders will take it´s time. So please be a bit patient and only call in urgent cases. This will also ensure that Metaltix can keep on processing all orders in time. Thanks for your understanding! 

Fans and loyalty were always the heart of the festival! 

Chronicle Wacken Open Air 2013

Even though the official start of Wacken is always on Thursday,  the party already starts on Wednesday with a couple of folk-metalbands. Fejd, with their quirky mix of traditional folk and metal elements, played as the first band, and immediately created a great atmosphere. Compared to the response they got a couple of years ago during their first visit to Wacken, this time it was much better. The people seemed to have really listened to the band’s latest release. The sound was not the best, the bass was way too loud in the mix but luckily the traditional instruments could be heard quite well. The setlist was a good mix between old and new songs and overall everybody looked like they enjoyed the gig.

Thursday:

Annihilator wrecked the Black stage on Thursday.  Jeff Waters and his boys went on stage blasting with “Smear Campaign” and “King of the Kill”. This created an instant headbanging pit, mostly to the joy of the band members, since flying metalheads are not always appreciated, especially when you get a boot in your head. Annihilator tried to spoil the crowd with a new track from their currently unreleased album. The response for that particular song wasn’t especially great, but luckily  the next song in the setlist was the old time classic “I Am in Command”. One could almost read the joy of being back on the Wacken stage in the eyes of Jeff Waters, who took care of all the small “chats” with the crowd, in between the set. They ended their gig with “Alison Hell” leaving us to hope that maybe it won’t take another 10 years before we’ll get to see Annihilator back at Wacken again.

The German folk metal band Faun was probably one of the most positive surprises this year. They seemed to have been the right band at the right time. They played at sunset, just two hours before the big headliner-Rammstein. Although their lyrics are mostly in German, this didn’t stop people from all over the world to stop by and check them out. Really good live-band which will hopefully play again at the festival.

We went on to check out our Norwegian friends from Ragnarok who were spreading darkness on the wet stage. Unfortunately for them, the overlap with Rammstein wasn’t exactly to their advantage. The band did a good job though, presenting songs from their latest release “Malediction” and old classics like “Blackdoor Miracle”. Since we really wanted to check out Rammstein we left after only four songs, leaving a couple of thousands true black metal fans to headbang to the Norwegians’ music.

Rammstein – totally blew away everything in their way! Literally! They proved to be the band of the festival, if not even THE BEST live act Wacken ever had on its stages. We’ve always wondered how it would be to see Rammstein in Germany. A lot of people were skeptical to this line-up addition when Rammstein was announced during the last day of Wacken 2012. Rammstein is a phenomenon and in order to understand it you have to experience it. We were expecting that playing in their own country would make them more chatty towards the crowd during the breaks as when we saw them in Stockholm a few years ago, the only thing that the singer said to the crowd was “Thank you, good night!”.  He wasn’t really much talkative this time either, but what a show they put on! The set included more or less all their hits like “Sehnsucht”, “Asche zu Asche”, “Feuer frei!, “Mein Teil”, “Ohne dich”, “Du riechst so gut”, “Benzin”, “Links 2-3-4”, “Du hast”, “Ich will” and the show finished with “Mein Herz brennt”, “Sonne” and “Pussy”. It was a real struggle to walk from the Wet Stage where Ragnarok played to the main stage where Rammstein already started “burning” the stage. But it was totally worth it!

Friday

Naglfar, the Swedish black metal band took over the stage when the temperature inside the Wet Stage tent felt like over 40 degrees. This didn’t stop the sweaty black metal thirsty crowd who gave them an even warmer welcome. During their 40 minutes set, the band played songs from all their albums end the gig with “A Swarm of Plagues” and of course “Harvest”. All in all, a really well played gig, maybe a bit too early though, judging by the attendance of the crowd.

The one and only, always late when starting a gig, Ihsahn took over the stage in the afternoon. His first comment was a big thanks to the Wacken crew who apparently always delayed him for some reason. Thus his set was cut down to only 30 minutes. If the first two, even three albums the artist released could have basically been released as Emperor as well, the forth album is probably his weakest. He played two songs from the latest issue “Eremita” but also older songs much appreciated like “Unhealer” and “The Barren Lands”. The shortend setlist combined with the burning sun resulted in the fact that a lot of people started leaving right after the second song. Emperor was announced to play next year, so we’re really looking forward to that gig. Hopefully it will be at least as good as it was back in 2006!

I’ve seen Motörhead canceling a gig just minutes before entering the stage, back in 2005 at With Full Force. Lemmy had to be flown by helicopter to the hospital. Didn’t have the slightest idea that I’d get to see a similar scenario again. It look like the frontman had bitten off a bit more than he could chew, after having apparently refused to cancel the gig due to health issues. The crowd was in for a powerful but short gig, because Lemmy almost collapsed on the stage, cutting thus the set down to less than 30 minutes. This created a lot of confusion among the fans and rumors about Lemmy’s condition started directly. The band released a statement one day later, explaining that their frontman had to go through a recovery process but that he will be back in action as soon as his health would permit him. Hopefully, 2013 was not Lemmy’s last year in Wacken!

Saturday

The first band we saw during the last day of the festival was Fear Factory, a band I’ve been following since the release of their album Archetype. I was though rather disappointed by their show, because it felt like the singer Burton C. Bell wasn’t really up to the task, and offered a weak performance.

After their weird cancellation back in 2009 Anthrax are finally back in Wacken, after their gig in 2004 with John Bush. This time with Belladonna on vocals, Anthrax prove that they can still play good shows and they make the crowd go crazy. The set contained no less than five songs of their well-known album Among The Living. It was weird though, that three songs of their setlist were covers… They have so many hits, why play other bands’ songs?

Though Candlemass sounds these days more or less like Krux, that’s not really a negative thing to say. Mats Levén is one of Sweden’s best metal singers, and regardless of which bands he plays in, he fits in like a glove! Unfortunatelly for the band, they played at the same time as Alice Cooper and the sound from the main stage was coming in waves at times, a scenario similar to the Watain (and on the main stage Ministry) gig. Apart from that, the band played a couple of songs from their latest release but the set included some of their hits as well. All in all, well played gig, maybe a bit too late considering that this was the 3rd day the of the festival (or rather said the 4th) and doom metal is not the best when you’re tired.

After watching the doomy show of Candlemass, it was up to Nightwish to take over the stage. They started the show  with some older hits: “Dark Chest of Wonders”, “I Wish I had an Angel” and “She Is My Sin”. Even though their Swedish vocalist was a good addition to the line-up when Tarja left the band, it felt that the new dutch singer Floor Jansen (ex. Afterforever) should have take Tarja’s place already a few years ago. This made the crowed really enjoy the set and the new vocalist . She was properly introduced and was received with lots of cheers. A positive surprise, for a band that seemed to have drowned in its past.

I was very excited about seeing Amorphis without knowing that they would start the show acoustically. The first part of the show was unplugged and it was a disaster from the very first second. After the unplugged part was over, they started the normal show but the connection with the crowd (that hadn’t already left) was weak. Bands like these should probably keep their special acoustic shows for gigs in their hometowns. Playing an unplugged set at a festival of the size of Wacken is doomed to turn out bad!

Wacken is considered the most important heavy metal celebration in the world, and every year thousands of people from all the corners of the world come to Northern Germany during the first weekend of August. If you consider yourself a metalhead, then you really have to pay a visit to the ”Wacken Holy Land”. I can still remember the joy when we entered Wacken for the first time, 11 years ago – ”Freu dich du bist in Wacken”. Their line-up for 2014 is already getting promising and considering how fast it usually sells out then you should really hurry to buy your ticket unless you want to watch your favorite bands on youtube!

See you next year: RAIN OR SHINE!