Metal Mecca 10 pictures from the Wacken Festival
The metalheads are leaving the north. 83,400 tickets were sold for the Wacken Open Air festival this year. Superstars of the scene are also expected in 2023.
03.07.2024, 08:46
dpa/phi
The 31st edition of the heavy metal festival in Wacken in northern Germany came to an end on Sunday night. According to the organizers, 83,400 fans celebrated at the Wacken Open Air (W:O:A). On Sunday, the return journey was in full swing.
Metal greats such as Judas Priest, Slipknot and Powerwolf played in Wacken this time. More than 200 bands performed on nine stages. "The Wacken Open Air is back - finally! We've missed the festival just as much as the fans," explained organizers Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen.
The Cologne dialect band Höhner performed in Wacken on Saturday. "It's absolutely insane what happened here today," singer Patrick Lück told the German Press Agency.
The police spoke of a peaceful festival in the town located around 75 kilometers northwest of Hamburg. There were crimes in the low double-digit range, said a spokeswoman. "That's very calm for 80,000 people." The number of crimes dealt with by the police had fallen by 60 percent.
A record-breaking incident occurred in the air on Saturday morning. Hamburg musician Johannes "Johnny" Ritter played an air guitar solo 327 meters above the festival grounds in the basket of a hot air balloon - the highest in the world to date, according to the organizers. A record judge from the Record Institute for Germany (RID) officially confirmed this. The RID markets itself as the German-language equivalent of the Guinness Book of Records.
Iron Maiden have already been announced for next year's festival (August 2 to 5, 2023). The fans acknowledged this on Saturday evening with great applause. This will be the British band's fourth time on stage in Wacken. The trash metal band Megadeth from the USA, the Irish-American folk-punk group Dropkick Murphys and Jinjer from Ukraine will also be there.
