Features
Germany: Wacken Sells Out, Weather Affects Others
Wacken Open Air 2017 In Numbers
Courtesy Wacken Open Air – Wacken Open Air 2017
Wacken Open Air, one of the world’s most beloved metal festivals, took place for the 28th time Aug. 3-5, selling out 75,000 tickets for a 12th consecutive sellout.
Stageco has been supplying the stages for all of those 12 editions.
In 2017, it took 75 trailer trucks or 1,000 tons of stage material, 10 trailer trucks of sound technique and 33 trailer trucks of light technique.
Besides the festivalgoers, some 4,500 staff, 1,200 securities, 400 police men, 250 firefighters, 900 paramedics, 560 cleaning people, 19 spiritual guidance experts, 85 stage hands as well as more than 150 bands comprising around 1,600 people “remain the most important protagonists on the festival ground,” according to promoter ICS.
This all takes place the little German town of Wacken, which counts 1,800 souls as its population. Speaking of the festival ground: the event takes place on 280 hectares with an infield of 43,000 square meters. It took 10 kilometers of fiber-optic cable to connect the whole festival area.
One hundred food and gastronomy booths as well as 300 non-food booths had set up shop on site.
The newly introduced, 1-kilometer long beer pipeline can fill up to 25,000 cups per hour. The entire underground system of pipelines including beer, power, water and wastewater is around 10 kilometers long.
In the sanitary department, some 1,000 mobile and 410 water toilets, 300 urinals, nine accessible WC containers, 448 shower and five accessible shower containers were available.
For the few Wacken attendees who elect to drink water every now and again, 40 drinking water stations had been installed.
Thomas Jensen, one of the festival founders, said: “For us the functionality and sustainability of this project are most important. The Holy Wacken Land deserves only the best.”
Wacken’s 2017 lineup included Megadeth, Volbeat, Accept, Alice Cooper and many others.
Weather Impedes German Festivals
Jonas Hofmann – Chiemsee Summer 2017
in Germany
German festivals Chiemsee Summer, Highfield and Echelon had to be interrupted following severe weather conditions Aug. 18.
The storms came suddenly and heavily. Organizers and festivalgoers didn’t have much time to react. Revelers were directed to the nearest safe havens: cars and indoor stages, if available.
At Chiemsee Summer, which took place Aug. 16-19 in Übersee, many tents were destroyed. Organizers guided visitors to emergency shelters in town. The festival’s main structures were damaged so heavily that the entire Saturday had to be scrapped – which meant headliners Clueso and Scooter couldn’t perform.
Clueso couldn’t play his Friday slot at Highfield Festival, Aug. 17-19 in Bad Aibling, either, because the program had to be interrupted. It rained so much that masses of water undermined the stage barriers. Gigs by Bosse, Alligatoah, Billy Talent and 257ers had to be cancelled as well.
FKP Scorpio promotes both Chiemsee Summer (in partnership with CRP Konzertagentur) and Highfield (in partnership with Semmel Concerts). Only last year the company had to suspend its twin festivals Hurricane and Southside thanks to severe weather. Just as in 2016, the team kept festivalgoers informed about changes in weather and program updates via its Camp FM radio station.
At Chiemsee Summer, 50 people were medically treated; some were simply scared and in need of psychological support. Ten had to be taken to hospital.
A few people were injured at Highfield Festival too, though none seriously. Echelon festival, Aug. 18-19, takes place on an old U.S. army base. An old hangar is used as an indoor stage, and revelers found shelter there or in their cars.
The Bavarian Red Cross supplied beds for those who lost their tents in the storm.
Ten people were slightly injured. Many who had space in their cars or, in case they lived nearby, their homes, offered shelter to fellow festivalgoers.
Some bands even offered space in their Nightliners.
Both FKP Scorpio as well as Echelon promoter Airport Aibling GmbH praised the manner in which guests, staff and security personnel conducted themselves during exceptional situations.
In the south of Bavaria alone, where Chiemsee Summer and Echelon take place, police had to conduct more than 1,000 operations, as freeways had to be temporarily closed, trees collapsed onto train tracks and houses were unroofed by hurricane-like winds, according to merkur.de.