Our annual travels to Wacken Open Air always bring some fond memories, fantastic discoveries and new friends. The 2018 edition of the festival might have just been the best one yet.
Wacken 2018 marks the 15th time I have personally travelled to the festival, and the 5th I have travelled to in a professional capacity. Over the last few years there has been a couple things that are absolutely guaranteed with the festival experience – great music, new friends, a lot of beer, and torrential rain.
The weather has not been on the festivals side the past few years, with the rain reaching levels that a metal meteorologist would describe as an artillery barrage for the thrash fan, and paradise for a funeral doom fan. In all honestly, the weather rarely makes any difference in the festival experience – veterans of Wacken know how to make the best out of any situation, but this year the heavy metal pilgrims were faced with a complete anomaly…sunshine! We’d be lying if we said that it didn’t bring that little bit extra joy to an already marvellous festival.
Not only did the sun grace the festival the entire time, Wacken’s band line-up was chock full of fantastic acts, big and small, and that feat can not be overlooked in comparison to the others. From Behemoth to Alien Weaponry, Nightwish to Feuerschwanz, Wacken 2018 was sublime and one to remember. Let’s go through the days and explain just why…
Wednesday
Those who have followed our Wacken adventures over the years will know that the Wednesday is traditionally our party day at the festival. While activities have not officially opened, the heavy metal celebrations are already in full swing.
The excitement of arriving at Wacken, whether it’s a first time or one of many, is shared by all festival goers. That energy is fuelled by copious amounts of beer and folk metal sounding from the cosy stages of the Wackinger Village. It’s an experience that one could only describe as what we think it would have been like at an ancient pagan festival.
Bands such as the medieval rogues of Vogelfrey feed into the party atmosphere, with Toxic Holocaust & Evil Invaders electrifying the atmosphere with their brands of thrash. The entertainment is in full swing and does nothing but define the opening to the biggest metal party of the year, let’s not forget non-musical acts such as the freakishly talented Hellzapoppin giving us that element of weirdness we need to direct drunken amazedness at. Seriously, watching a midget swallow a long balloon at 2am after a few beers is a sight to behold.
The party goes well into the early hours of the dawn…and it’s the day to have a lie-in – the festival schedulers have generously considered their guests and not starting the official festivities until the late afternoon. All things considered, the late party doesn’t really stop us from getting up early and starting all again. Especially with the sun out!
Thursday
As we mentioned, the official festival doesn’t actually start until Thursday afternoon. But we’re all here, and so eloquently greeted by the warm sunshine, we are up and ready to go early despite the heavy metal debauchery that had taken place the night before.
It’s straight back to the Wackinger village for a breakfast beer and a giant hunk of meat on a stick. I am well aware of how much I have raved about the house specialty of the Zyklopenspeiss (Cyclopes Skewer), the giant stick of pork marinated in secret sauce, in recent years. It’s just that good, I will take the opportunity to do so again.
We stick around the village for the afternoon to indulge in Wacken’s extracurricular activities such as viewing the bastion of the Wasteland Warriors, sampling medieval German cuisine, throwing axes and beating the everloving shit out of each other with sacks full of hay, all in the heat and sunshine for the first time in recent memory. With fun like this who needs the music?
Well we are the best in our genre after all! And to kick the proceedings off in traditional fashion are Skyline, a covers band that includes festival founder Thomas Jensen on bass. It’s not the most astounding of acts you’d see at a festival, but it’s tradition and they certainly cut the opening ribbon in style.
The late afternoon transitions into evening with beauty and the beast-like sentiment. The monstrous Behemoth grind the dusky winds to a fury, before industrial favourites Oomph revert them to a frantic industrial pulse, then soothed by the symphonic beauty of Exit Eden and Visions of Atlantis. A perfect journey through so many genres of metal, and the epitome of what Wacken Open Air stands for.
The end of the musical activities for the evening comes around – and have decided to watch Feuerschwanz over Judas Priest. I can feel you all hating on me, but the amount of times I have seen the Priest compared with the opportunities I have to see these fun-loving folksters lead to that decision. No regrets, it was an incomprehensible party and a half! Cue Day 3.
Friday
In all my years of attending Wacken, never have I seen a day packed with such major acts. Not one moment on this Friday was there time for rest, and required a military-esque strategy to ensure we saw every band we wanted to see. Well fuelled from more breakfast beers and meats, we’re ready to tackle this Epic Friday from the 11:00 start.
The digital harmonies of Amaranthe give way to the morning light giving us the easy start we need before the hard-hitters begin. We have since named this particular Friday, the Wacken Square Dance, given the amount of side-stepping we’ve had to do switching between acts on the Faster and Harder main stages. Thank god for the travelling beer men in the festival crowds who braved the heat to keep us well-nourished and in constant party mode throughout the day.
Major acts progressively ripped through the afternoon, including Amorphis, Dark Tranquility, Korpiklaani, Epica, Nightwish and Children of Bodom who if we didn’t actually know any better, seemed to be competing with each other on who could deliver the most monumental stage show at the festival. Each and every one of them were massive in their own right, intertwining between the pyro-heavy symphonic flares of Nightwish and Epica, the immersive nature of Amorphis to the astounding number of crowdsurfers at COB.
It was almost like Wacken had tried to create some sort of record setting day for themselves, and it didn’t end in the afternoon. Duskfall have way to the likes of In Flames, who always put on lightshow that make Tomorrowland’s engineers look like amateurs. The debut of Ghost at Wacken, and for myself, was one of the highlights of the day. Not really being a fan of the band before, it’s easy to tell why their fan base has been so explosive. The band interpret their shows as ritualistic sermons in a real tongue-in-cheek fashion, and honestly it’s hard to love.
It’s been a sensory overload at Wacken today, and by god if it wasn’t one of the finest moments I’ve had the festival in 15 years. How will tomorrow compare?
Saturday
Well to put it frank, today’s music schedule has not been left on automatic fire, but the experiences are just as explosive.
The final day at the festival, that’s gone by way too quickly once again, focuses on the weird and wonderful elements that the metal world has to offer. We rise to more breakfast beers and meats with a more relaxed demeanour, and a mind full of curiosity in looking to some of the day’s acts.
It’s a morning and afternoon indulging in the flavours and nuances that the Wasteland area has to offer, watching theatrical acts like Monstagon behead their musicians, and the resident Wasteland Warriors revving their custom cars and bikes around before taking issue with each other in a brutal cage fight. One particular highlight was a brilliant Indonesian death metal band named Jasad, bringing Asia-Pacific flavour to the beloved genre.
Two acts I was very curious to see were the rising stars of Alien Weaponry, metal sung in their native Maōri language, and the technically gifted Act of Defiance, both who certainly lived up to the hype.
Elsewhere on the main stages were the weather-defying Wintersun, who brought their frigid melodies to the brutal heat, and of course the fan-favourite Alestorm who took advantage of Wacken patrons’ inner pirate, and shot a 40’000 strong army into a complete frenzy. Let’s not forget the wacky antics of Steel Panther too, who are quickly making a name for themselves at the festival having been in the line-up consistently for a few years now.
And finally, as the evening comes around, and that sad feeling of festival closure comes around, a band that has not been seen in a while brings an fantastically ominous presence to the falling darkness. Hello Dimmu Borgir, it’s been a while eh? We are instantly reminded of why they are the top of their genre, and it appears an 8 year absence hasn’t rusted the band one bit in terms of performance.
We are reminded of the end though, when the last band of the festival In Extremo takes the stage. It always seems that either this band, or Subway to Sally end the festival which is a very traditional reminder of ‘its been good, see you next year’. It would be an aura of sadness if it weren’t for such energetic performances by these bands however. It’s a send off in style with the jumping, screaming, dancing and fist-pumping we’ve all come to know from the top of the folk metal game.
A breathless Wacken come to a close, and I’ll say it again, the one to remember. A ridiculous line-up fused with great friends, food, drink and topped off with that rare brilliant weather. On a personal note, it was the best festival experience of my life. On a professional note, it was one to compete with the very best in music based entertainment. It’s hard to conclude experiences like these without getting overtly sentimental, but know that it is one every metalhead must have. Here’s to another great Wacken!
“See you next year, rain or shine!”
