Wacken Open Air 2023: all you need to know

In less than a week, a small town in Northern Germany will be flooded by masses of Metalheads and Vikings who will join the iconic Wacken Open Air festival, and METAL MADTV will be there to experience it and share it with all of you!

Source: https://www.wacken.com/en/media/wallpaper/

The weather has been quite unstable in the Hamburg area and Schleswig-Holstein for the last weeks, so the probabilities of rain this year are extremely high. But this doesn't discourage fans and supporters from all over the world who have probably finished packing by now and are getting ready for the biggest Metal convention of the year. After all, Wacken's motto is "rain or shine", so come mud or dust, the loyal fandom of the festival will be thrilled to enjoy the new 4-day setup of Metal concerts and side acts, which this year takes inspiration from the Viking era!

Line up

Iron Maiden dominates the poster, followed by other big acts such as Helloween, Heaven Shall Burn, Megadeth, Kreator, Hammerfall and Doro. As always, the most interesting thing about the line up are all those medium and small bands that will play between August 2nd and 5th.

Additionally, the famous Wacken Metal Battle will bring 30 new bands from all over the world to compete against each other and choose the ultimate winner that will get to play on next year's edition in one of the main stages.

Logistics

Tickets are sold out since last year, but last-minute opportunities are always possible thanks to their ticket market platform.

If you come by plane, you will probably arrive in Hamburg, the biggest city with an airport close to the venue. From there, you need to get to Itzehoe (closest city to the festival) or straight to Wacken if you rent a car. For the trip to Itzehoe, there are a wide variety of options such as tour buses and the German railroad company (Deutsche Bahn). Trains depart from Hamburg Central station approximately every hour.

Wacken organization offers a shuttle service from the train station at Itzehoe to the entrance of the festival area which must be bought separately.

Cash or no cash? That is the question. In general, Germany is a very cash-loving country, so it's always good to have Euros for any additional expenses, or if you want to buy something in the village area. Once you do the check-in and get your armband, it'll include a chip which allows you to pay inside the festival area. Make sure you register your tickets in the ticket center before arrival, in case you don't have roaming on your phone, since WiFi connection may be scarce. If it works the same way as last year's system, there should be plenty of stations to top up your credit, and international cards should be no problem. All information about cashless payment can be found here.

Last but not least, we highly recommend to download the W:O:A app so you can check the bands you want to see and automatically get your schedule for the day, which will make your life easy. More info can be found in Wacken's webpage.

METAL MADTV goes to Valhalla!

W:O:A 2023 will be covered by Stefanie and Joan! If you want to check last year's report, you can find it here.

See you at WACKEN, Metalheads! Rain or shine!