The largest heavy metal festival in the world, Wacken Open Air, is preparing for its 33rd edition. The festival’s 30th anniversary was followed by a two-year pause because of the global Covid-19 crisis. The 2022 edition again gathered many world-famous performers like Dirk Schneider, Pain, Doro, Judas Priest, etc. The weather conditions in 2023 almost sunk the Wacken Village under water and mud and tried to ruin the festival. It was impossible for the cars to reach the festival’s area, and many visitors became stuck in the mud and were warned to get back to their cities because of safety reasons. Many concerts were streamed live from the festival area via the internet worldwide to compensate for the difficult situation, caused by the heavy rain and the deep mud. Thanks to the strong efforts of the staff and the strong desire of the bands to perform, the festival didn’t stop.

“Rain or Shine”, this year the organizers are preparing to showcase bands like Amon Amarth, Accept, Behemoth, Avantasia, KK’s Priest, Cradle of Filth, Dokken, Feuerschwanz, In Extremo, Liv Kristine, Primal Fear, Rage, Mr. Big, Korn, Anneke van Giersbergen, Blackbriar, Uli Jon Roth, Watain, Van Canto, and many more stars. The main headliners for the 33rd edition will be Scorpions.

The organizers are providing other activities to support the festival. In 2018, they started the initiative “Loud against cancer,” which collects donations for cancer patients. In January, the Wacken Foundation had a project called “Wacken:Music:Camp PRO” for 18 to 25-year-olds, who wrote songs and lyrics and recorded them under the professional guidance of heavy metal musicians and producers.

A Rock ‘n’ Roll Photography Workshop with the photographer and filmmaker Pep Bonet, in collaboration with the Wacken Foundation, will give a chance to six photographers to take photos of the concerts and the festival’s life.

This year, there will be a new official festival magazine – The Bullhead.

You can find more info about the festival on http://www.wacken.com