Wacken Open Air, the biggest Metal festival in the world, will celebrate its 30th edition in 2019!
Wacken XXX will take place between 01-03 August, and it took less than 5 days to get the 75.000 tickets completely sold out! At the time, the bands confirmed in the bill included some pretty amazing shows - Sabaton playing his 20th Anniversary show, Demons & Wizards playing there their only German Festival of 2019, Powerwolf, Within Temptation, Meshuggah, Avatar, Krokus, Parkway Drive, Airbourne, among a few others, totalling only 12 of the more than a houndred bands that will make this one hell of a party!
Meanwhile, all the lucky festival attenders have been receinving some great news, with confirmations likely to please the most demanding metal fans. Anthrax, Body Count feat. Ice-T, Cradle of Filth, D-A-D, Diary of Dreams, Hellhammer performed by Tom Warrior's Triumph of Death, Life of Agony, Opeth, Queensrÿche, Rage feat. Lingua Mortis Orchestra, Saxon, Skyclad, Slayer (with a final German Festival show), Testament, The BoxxHoss, The Sisters of Mercy, UFO, Uriah Heep are some of the biggest names that will step on those 8 stages, an enormous constelation of well-established stars and lots of amazing new values that are quickly ascending and getting a lot of attention.
As usual, Wacken is not only about the music - even if this time they've outdone themselves with such a stellar billing - and all the other attractions will be there to make sure that all the 75.000 metalheads will have the time of their lives!
The Wackinger Village is a must see, providing one of the best medieval experiences around, with its huge medieval market and food/drink area, right next to the Wackinger Stage. Close by, you can find the Wasteland, a post-apocalyptic area that also include its own Wasteland Stage.
There's also the Bullhead City Circus, of course, the gigantic tent that is home of the W.E.T Stage and the Headbangers Stage. Here is were the Wacken Metal Battles will take place, along with some very interesting show, including the brutal "A Night to Dismember".
The Beergarden will also include its Beergarden Stage, where one can expect a lot of partying - and a lot of beer! And, speaking of beer, once again it will reach all the drinking booths thanks to the 7Km-long pipeline installed beneath the ground! How crazy is that?!?
The metalmarket will the place where you will be able to buy that special edition you've been looking for, or all kind of souvenirs, tshirts, coats, hats, and even a pair of rain-boots, if rain and mud appears - and if you're fast enough to get them before they are soldout!
Everyone should also save a little time to explore the small Wacken village outside of the festival area. The local population (less that 2000 inhabitants) will be very happy to welcome all the metalheads, with lots of improvised areas where everyone will be able to rest, drink and have a nice chat for a while. There's also a W:O:A Outletstore on the main road, with lots of goodies. And, if you feel like it and the weather allows it, you can even go to the local public swimming pool for some quality time and a nice relaxation.
The camping area is enormous and will accomodate all the campers, with bathrooms distributed in order to serve all the areas. If can bring you car and camp next to it. If you don't want all the fuss, check out the festival's website, there will be tents already set up and ready to user available for rent. They also have rentable lockers available if you'd like to store some of your most important personnal belongings.
Last but not least, as usual every year, everyone attending will receive a Full:Metal:Bag with some small helpful items - a rain poncho, dust mask, foldable water bottle, sticker, patches, and some other gimmicks - and this time around the bag will be made entirely out of recycled materials. This is a very environmental friendly festival, all the cups are reusable, so you won't be seeing a ton of plastic lying on the floor. There will be free frinkable water available everywhere, so make a good use of that foldable water bootle and make sure you keep yourselves hydrated and enjoy the most of this Holy Metal Land!
If you were lucky enough to get you hands on those tickets, we can promise you that you'll have the best festival of your life! Rain or Shine! See you in Wacken!!!
Here are some of the bands that will be playing at Wacken Open Air 2019: