The German festival for extreme music Summer Breeze Open Air 2026 will start after one month. All the tickets were sold out in February. This year the festival will take place from Wednesday, August 12th to Saturday, August 15th in Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. A German heavy metal festival, Summer Breeze Open Air, was founded in 1997 and at first had been held in Abtsgmünd until 2006, when it went to its current location. The festival has about  40,000 – 45,000 attendees annually.

Some of the names for 2004 were Crematory, Hypocrisy, Danzig, Lake of Tears, Saltatio Mortis, Sentenced, Sonata Arctica, Mercenary, Sirenia, Leaves’ Eyes, U.D.O., Primordial, Ensiferum, Xandria, Sodom, Tankard, and others. In 2005 the stages became two, and there perromed Pink Cream 69, Korpiklaani, Draconian, Therion, Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquillity, Opeth, End of Green, Tristania, Pain, Behemoth, Suidakra, Winter Sun, and others. The next years the list of names became longer and longer, and now the stages became four. In 2020 and 2022 the festival was not held due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The variety of metal music genres that can be listened to is vast. From heavy metal to death metal, black metal, symphonic metal, thrash, speed, gothic, and others. This year the headliners will be Helloween, who are on their 40-year anniversary world tour; In Flames; Arch Enemy with their new vocalist Lauren Hart; and Eisbrecher. On August 11th the festival will have a little program on the Campsite Circus Stage. On the first day, August 12th, Airbourne, Hatebreed, Alcest, In Flames, Paradise Lost, Miracle of Sound, Persecutor, Neckbreakker, Green Lung and others will perform.

On the second day, August 13th, the bands will be Alien Ant Farm, Kim Dracula, Eisbrecher, Amorphis, Dartagnan, Trollfest, Fit For An Autopsy, Black Bride, Saor, Rectal Smegma, I Am Your God, Katerfahrt, Aesthetic Perfection, Serpents, Warfield, Mittel Alta, Groza, Mushroomhead and others.

On August 14th it’s getting hotter with Nanowar Of Steel, Das Lumpenpack, Future Palace, Brothers Of Metal, The Butcher Sisters, The Ghost Inside, Lamb Of God, Arch Enemy, Versengold, Skindred, Brainstorm, Deicide, Terror, Deafheaven, Wolves In The Throne Room, Luna Kills, Brymir, Blood Command, Illdisposed, Bizzarekult, Heaven.Exe, Minus Youths, Pridian, Avalanche Effect, and others.

On August 15th the festival will reach its culmination with Kadavar, Wucan, Skeleton Pit, Orbit Culture, Testament, Bloodred Hourglass, Municipal Waste, Tundermother, Decapitated, Alestorm, Soen, Thy Art Is Murder, the headliners Helloween, Paleface Swiss, Haggefugg, Cabal, Manntra, 200 Stab Wounds, Slomosa, Lost In Hollywood, Phantom Corporation, Hæresis, Slomosa, Hopsidyan, Plume and others.

Four days in the heart of Bavaria with your favorite bands. The tickets are sold out, but for young people born between 2007 and 2012, there is a “New Blood” campaign on Festival Thursday, August 13th. The festival organizers give free access to young people to the festival day with Saxon, Kim Dracula, North Lane, Mittel Alta, and other bands. If you were born between 2007 and 2012, you can fill the form here to participate.

Here you can see the running order and plan which bands you want to see.

The Campsite Circus Stage will have a side program for the athletic fans of metal music. There will be Metal Yoga. Hiraes frontlady Britta Görtz will lead a workshop for all that desire to sing, scream and growl. Thomas Ewerhard and Björn Gooßes will have an exhibition since their last year’s exhibition was so successful. Lara Subterranean and Giannis Nakos will also have exibition. Dominik and Bart are coming by with their “Into the Voidcast” and will be chatting live on stage on Thursday about all kinds of music topics. Here is the program:

Metal Yoga: Thursday through Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
Metalza – Metal Workout: Thursday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m.
Harsh Vocals with Britta Görtz: Friday and Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
Artwork Exhibition: every day.
Into the Voidcast: Thursday at 12:00 p.m.

For all the fans that are coming with vehicles there is a fee. You can find the information here.
The information for the fans who are coming with a train or a bus is here.
The camping site information is here.
The festival’s ABC is here.

The festival visitors can go for a walk in Dinkelsbühl in their free time. It is a large district city in Bavaria and a member of the Bavarian Association of Towns. Together with the towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Nördlingen, it is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Focus magazine wrote that the city is “the most beautiful old town in Germany”, and this is now the slogan of the city. The old city of Dinkelsbühl is built around 1130. The town is situated on the Wörnitz River. The old city has an egg-shaped city wall built in 1372 for its defense, which is still recognizable today. The old Dinkelsbühl had no real center but market streets, like Weinmarkt (Wine Market), Brettermarkt (Wood Market), Hafenmarkt (Harbor Market), Brotmarkt (Bread Market), Viehmarkt (Cattle Market), Ledermarkt (Leather Market), Schmalzmarkt (Lard Market), and Schweinemarkt (Pig Market). The Catholic cathedral “St. George” was built in 1499, when the city started to enlarge. The architecture of the old city is almost unchanged until then. In 14th and 15th centuries, the city had an economic boom. There were blacksmith traders, dyers and tanners, and cloth manufacturers and weavers. The Capuchin monastery and the court of the Teutonic Order also were here. The Carmelite monastery was located on the oldest church square near the centrally located Carolingian royal court. The historical part is well preserved, and the new buildings from 19th and 20th centuries are built outside the old city.

You can combine your metal Summer Breeze experience with a cultural immerrse in the history of Dinkelsbühl.

More news and information on www.summer-breeze.de