LIVE REPORT WACKEN OA 2019

I'm Joan Pabon, originally from Venezuela and living in Hamburg, Germany, since February 2018. Since my favorite genres are Power, Heavy and Symphonic Metal, the main bands I was interested in were Demons & Wizards, Myrath, Battle Beast, Sabaton, Hammerfall, Within Temptation, Saxon, Rage, Gloryhammer and see what new bands I could discover.

My journey through Wacken Open Air 2019 I started my journey on Wednesday morning, July 31st. Took the subway from my home in Hamburg to the Main train station. Ticket cost of the train to Itzehoe was around € 25. At the train station I could see already a lot of Metalheads gathering around the platform so you can see that this is an event that people definitely notice! Trip to Itzehoe was approximately one hour and a half. Something important people should know is that trains to Itzehoe leave every hour so don't stress out if you don't buy the ticket in advance. Also, the main train station is approximately 30 minutes from the airport so it's totally fine if you don't bring too mich luggage. Once in Itzehoe, I looked for the Wacken signs and I found the queue for the bus (which was already packed with people). The bus ticket is not included in the Wacken ticket price but it's two ways. I paid the € 10 and started queuing. It took me approximately 40 minutes to get in the bus but I had already started to meet people from Mexico, Colombia and Brazil! In the camping I got to meet people from India and Singapur right next to me. I also met some new Venezuelans! There was not much rain but there was risk of electrical storm the first two days so concerts were "paused" for several hours. This year they opened a Supermarket inside Wacken so that was super cool and convenient! Prices were same as in the city so it was acceptable. They even had tents, grill equipment, almost everything for camping.

Press area and press kit! The press area was really nice, you could pay for a locker to leave your stuff there and the program for the day concerning conferences was written on a board every day. There were several screens so you could see the bands playing at the main stages. They didn't accept cash, only a special card that you had to buy for € 5 and add the money, but the system was convenient (as long as you didn't lose the card). Important: in Germany it's always better to have cash.

​Bands at Wacken open air I got the chance to see most of the bands I wanted to see and discovered some interesting acts such as Lagerstein (Australia), Bloodywood (India) and a German band called Subway to Sally. I got to see 9 stages but Wacken is so big that it's honestly difficult to be able to see all that it offers. The stages I saw were:

Main stages: Harder and Faster. They are the biggest ones in the infield.

Medium stage: Louder. To the right, also in the infield.

Bullhead City Circus: there were two stages inside, W.E.T. and Headbanger.

Wackinger Plaza.

Wasteland.

History: this is where the Wacken Metal Battle took place.

Biergarten.

Favorite band The most impressive: Sabaton when they were playing on both main stages at the same time, one with the old members and another one with the current line-up.

My favorites: Demons & Wizards because I love Hansi's voice and Myrath: their magical show had fire, levitation and a belly dancer. It was incredible!

Best fire show: nowadays it's all about the fire for big stages and Parkway Drive (although not my cup of tea) was the one that impressed me the most.

New band for me: Subway to Sally.

Any tips for 2020? ​ Let's see what the Wacken organization brings but it's always impressive and well organized! I hope they also have a Supermarket next year, that was super convenient and cheap this year! If you want to camp in a nice location, come earlier! You can camp from Monday on. If you have money, you can look for the Mosh Hotel or Hotels in the area and rent a car but the best is to live the experience of camping and sharing with Metalheads from all over the world. Other festivals may have "bigger" bands, but only Wacken offers opportunities to so many bands from all over the world and, from my perspective, smaller bands are the ones that need it the most. I met people from Japan, France, Singapur... you name it! And when you are at Wacken there is no race, nationality or religion, you feel connected with everyone, singing the songs with them and all thanks to METAL! Partager

www.wacken.com