Arguably the most metal place on earth, the small northern German village of Wacken becomes the place where over 70,000 metalheads converge for a few days of the year to celebrate the best music around. It’s the place of which every fan of this music really needs to go at least once in their lives. For me, luckily, the 2010 edition was my second. I lost my Wacken virginity last year, and what an amazing time it was. Getting to see Running Wild’s last show, what would be the last live performance of Dio (with Heaven and Hell) that this writer would ever witness, to bands that rarely – if ever – hit these shores such as Axel Rudi Pell, Rage, Endstille, Heaven Shall Burn, Pain, Saxon, Tracedawn, and so on. It was a wonderful experience overall and getting to repeat it – especially in a year with a very strong billing – was an opportunity I couldn’t pass on.
Now, for those who haven’t been to the fest before, Wacken happens in four days. One of which is the pre-fest day, and the other three being the main festival days where most of the bands play. I’m going to be going over every day in installments, as it would be an arduously long read if I crammed it all together. I’m also going to go over not only the band performances, but a lot of the other aspects of the festival as well, as to give a full viewpoint of all that was experienced this year.
Day 1 - Chugging Fanta Like No Tomorrow
After the long day of flights – Pittsburgh to lovely Newark to Hamburg – we gathered ourselves up and got to the pickup point for the bus that takes you straight from the Hamburg airport to the festival grounds. It really is quite easy to get to the very remote location of Wacken, as the bus services to and from are top notch.
I traveled with two others to the fest (my fiancé and our friend Matt), and we met another Wacken traveler post-flight whom turned out to be quite the cool guy, who we would also hang out with quite frequently at the fest. We also ran into two people from Pittsburgh that we knew (my fiancé went to school with them) that were going on the bus to the fest. I hadn’t seen them since a Testament show in Pittsburgh a while back, so it was very awesome being able to enjoy the fest with them as well.
That is one of the best things about Wacken – the people that you meet. The two years that I’ve gone to Wacken, I’ve had the privilege meeting some astounding people who have quickly become some of the best friends around. You will meet people from all over the world, and chances are, befriend a good number of them. Wacken truly does bring people together.
It was about a one-and-a-half hour bus ride to the festival, so catching a quick nap during said journey was much needed, as sleep was hard to come by on the flight over. When we arrived, we quickly got our wristbands (which are your be all and end all for entering any part of the festival) and then immediately began finding a location to camp. Unfortunately for us, we were forced to move just after our group got their tents set up, due to the area supposedly reserved for an emergency pathway. It was never marked off as such, and the big irony is that by the next day, that exact area was littered with tents. Organization of where you can and cannot set up camp is paramount, and we would run into further disorganization later.
Band-wise, there usually isn’t a lot going on during the pre-fest day. However, this year they moved the bulk of the Metal Battle bands to this day. This was a smart move, as these bands got more exclusivity than previous years, when they all had to go up against many popular established acts. The Metal Battle is – you guessed it – a battle of the bands competition of sorts where 20+ countries get a representative per, and the winner gets a year on a label, equipment, and a bunch of other stuff. It’s a pretty cool competition, however, that wasn’t checked out all that much, due to getting set up and diving into one of the other great facets of Wacken – the metal market.
Ah, the wonderful metal market. Imagine rows upon rows of tents as far as you can see, each of them with a different vendor with various metal-related goodies. A good portion of what is found contain items that you simply won’t find in North America. Rare patches, shirts you’ll never see elsewhere, and everything in between. Some of the bargain bin stuff is to die for, as well. For example, a gem of a Legion of the Damned shirt was dug up at the first stand ventured to for 5 € (euros), which translates to roughly $6.50. Certainly can’t complain about that. A ton of great deals on hard to find shirts were to be had, especially. In fact, all but a few of my shirts were between the 3-5 € range. The pre-fest day is also the best time to thoroughly sift though the metal market. When the main fest starts, you more than likely will barely have any time to even think about going to the metal market, with so many bands playing constantly. Getting this portion of shopping out of the way early is always wise. If an official festival shirt is desired, grabbing one on the pre-fest day is also a savvy move. If you don’t, good luck acquiring one, as they sell out fast. Also, a list of the merch haul of yours truly will pop up at the end of the review.
That about wraps day one, which is uneventful music-wise, sans for the majority of the Metal Battle taking place this year. The majority consisted of setting up camp, getting some supplies like water and whatnot, and a whole lot of merch shopping. Which brings up a useful tidbit for those planning on going to Wacken from North America – in Germany, carbonated water is commonplace. If you want regular water, they call it still water over there. The best thing to do is to say that you don’t want fizzy water. Carbonated water tastes like salt water to me and is quite disgusting, so be wary. Also, in the main festival ground, if you buy a cup of water, it will definitely be carbonated. Be sure to try the orange Fanta instead. It’s literally the best orange soda you’ll ever have, and you more than likely will be craving it when you get back. Our orange soda in the US is complete trash compared to their version of Fanta. So by all means, chug as much Fanta over there as you can handle.
Be sure to check out Day 2, which is the day that has the “Night to Remember,” which featured Iron Maiden, along with some other classic acts.
