Although most of the 75’000 die hard metal fans have already been at the holy Wacken land a while, today is the official start of festivities!

The night between Wednesday and Thursday was indeed a tough one to handle. The rain and wind did not let up, and pretty much soaked everything, including the ground that I would arguably say created the muddiest Wacken on record. The weather was numbed with beer and mead though, seemingly making the lot of us invincible!

As Thursday arrived the weather finally started to let up leaving the sea of mud behind, but everyone was loving it. It only creates rich stories and experiences, and only enriches the title of the Thursday festivities, ‘A Night To Remember’. It certainly was.

Ye Banished Privateers

Most of Thursday’s big performances were to take place in the evening, leaving a perfect opportunity to enjoy a couple litres of beer and a Zyklopenspeiss (pork belly with a special sauce on a stick, I seriously cannot recommend these enough!!) in the Wackinger Village.

And why not check out one of those unknown acts that always seem to entertain me on the Wackinger Stage? The band playing was Sweden’s Ye Banished Privateers – a band not metal per se, but certainly fits the part!

They play pirate inspired folk music, and the stage was loaded with members playing accordions and a huge variety of stringed instruments, accompanied by a pirate choir that more often than not broke out into jigs. All dressed in full pirate attire, it was a show that was definitely entertaining, and more proof that this stage never fails to provide something interesting.

Steve ‘n’ Seagulls

If you didn’t think Wacken had enough stages, well there are more! That’s right, even the beer garden has its own epic stage to provide metal even in your down time. And in this years rotation, the band that definitely stole the show was Internet bluegrass sensation Steve ‘n’ Seagulls.

This band has already gained immense popularity filming their bluegrass covers of metal classics such as ‘Thunderstruck‘ and ‘Run to the Hills‘. The band are so creative, and it was so well received by the audience.

Have you ever seen metalheads smack their legs and break into hillbilly inspired song and dance? Well Steve ‘n’ Seagulls made metalheads do just that. It was brilliant.

Skyline

As the main stage grounds open Thursday afternoon, fans flood in to witness the traditional opening group of Skyline – the longest running band at Wacken Open Air playing at the very first festival in 1990. The band consists of a ‘supergroup’ of the festival promoters including founder Thomas Jensen on bass, and play classic metal covers.

While Skyline are nothing super impressive, it’s just tradition and always worth a view to open the festival. Occasionally there will be a guest such as Doro Pesch who always seems to make an appearance at Wacken in some way or form.

So at Oktoberfest the mayor taps the first beer to open festivities, at Wacken Skyline jam the first tune.

In Extremo

I have seen In Extremo a few times, and I can argue that they are one of the best live acts out there. Perhaps it is the passion of the German fans, but there is never a dull moment in the entire show. In 2015 things are no different. The flair of the folk metallers on stage is ever present, and completely owns the massive stage of the festival. It’s their consistent performance that keeps getting this band back to the festival every two years, and they always bring something new to the table be it musically or visually.

The band kick off with ‘Frei Zu Sein‘ working the crowd into an instant frenzy. Pipes and acoustics blare through the huge PA system, which always amazes me given how difficult it can be to hook up the traditional instruments to a normal set up let alone a festival site one.

Tracks like ‘Vollmond‘ are particularly impressive in both the sound and the huge crowd response. I am not overly familiar with the entire discography of In Extremo, as I’ve always enjoyed them a lot more live than on record, but of course all folk metal fans would have tracks like ‘Spielmannsfluch‘ in their library somewhere, and it is great to see this stuff played live. A good set length and great fun all around, even though the stage banter between songs flew completely over my shoulder.

Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie is another man I have seen perform multiple times of the last 15 years. Though he goes back so many years, age really has not slowed him down one bit – he is still one of the best live performers out there. I’ve never particularly been a fan of his music, but every single time I have witnessed his live show he and his band simply deliver.

It’s always interesting to see a massive band have a first performance at Wacken, as despite the fact they have toured arenas around the world nothing quite prepares some of these acts for the sheer magnitude of Wacken. A festival ground packed with 75’000 metal fans and one of the most accommodating stages in the world for an epic performance. While Rob Zombie’s performance doesn’t demand a whole lot, it’s just more energy than anything, the size of the stage really helps him put on a grandiose spectacle tonight.

The classics of ‘Dragula‘ and ‘More Human Than Human‘ always impress. The visuals of film and light show in sync are phenomenal, and what has really added to the show in recent years is the addition of John 5 on guitars – one of the most technical gifted guitarists I think I have ever seen, yet no one knows it given the back catalogue of bands he has been associated with.

By the end of the show the ground was packed to the core with Mr. Zombie leaving some serious impressions on those that were simply curious. But the ground might be packing out for another reason…the reunion of Savatage is coming…

Savatage & Trans-Siberian Orchestra

So this was to be the ‘Night to Remember’, and you couldn’t have really put it any other way. A reunion of one of the progressive metal icons, Savatage, and a first for Wacken – two bands playing simultaneously across the two adjacent stages. That’s simply huge, and a massive comeback for the band that laid down their instruments 12 years ago, and of course a big honour for the epic Trans-Siberian Orchestra to share a show with such legends.

Much to the excitement of the entire festival, Savatage go at it alone for the first few songs starting out with ‘Gutter Ballet‘. Seeing a band come back after such a long time really does send chills down your spine – people say that time passes quickly but in the case of Savatage it does seem like they have been away for an eternity.

Savatage sought perfection on their comeback, and that’s exactly what they got. The light show across two stages was worthy of a look from the Keplar telescope, and the clean sound resonated perfectly throughout the festival. The band of course went through their classics as they powered out their solo set, including ‘Jesus Saves‘, ‘Dead Winter Dead‘ and the legendary fan favourite, ‘Hall of the Mountain King‘.

It was then that Trans-Siberian Orchestra brought their magnificent presence on to the adjacent stage, and something that was quite the spectacle. I have always thought in my 10 years of Wacken if someone would ever be able to pull off playing across two stages, but constantly wrote it off believing it would be too logistically difficult. But these two bands performed across the stages like it had been done before. Simply mind blowing.

The second set included mainly songs from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra including the memorable ‘Carmina Burnana‘, ‘Mozart and Memories‘ and the virally popular ‘Christmas Eve‘. The set did include a couple more Savatage songs including the ballad of ‘Believe‘ that was magnificently performed by the two bands. The whole occasion was simply jaw-dropping, and by the time the final notes of ‘Requiem‘ petered out, it was certainly up there with the most memorable ‘Nights to Remember’ at Wacken.