Another Wacken Great Success

What’s generally regarded as the world’s biggest dedicated heavy metal festival sold out for the third time in a row, and each year the Wacken Open Air site in Germany has grown a little.

Holger Hübner from Dorpsted-based International Concert Services reports this year’s June 3-5 event, which sold out a week in advance, attracted 62,000 to see a heavy mob including Motorhead, Ministry, Michael Schenker Group, Scorpions, Amon Amarth, Celtic Frost, Children of Bodom, and Primal Fear.

The only times it hasn’t sold out in the last six years (2002 and 2005) were both a result of some really nasty weather.

On the first occasion, the festival site – about 50 miles northwest of Hamburg – was reduced to such a mud bath that the toilets were filthy because the vehicle that empties and cleans them was stuck axle-deep in mud.

A few acts were delayed en route, some having come as close as the flooded A23 near Hamburg. The gaps in the schedule were filled by the hold-ups caused by the storms.

It was the 13th time the event had been held, and Hübner put it down to bad luck.

In 2005, more torrential rain kept the crowds down again, but the festival still sold more than double what it had after switching from a smaller site nearby in 2001.

– John Gammon