Wacken Open Air 2014 Review

After missing a year of Wacken, I once again travelled to Northern Germany to attend the 25^th anniversary of the festival.

After the first band announcement it was quickly decided that a ticket would be bought, and it had to be a swift purchase as the festival sold out in 2 days.
In September, Wacken announced that they had the headliner locked in. Fast forward to December, and with it, the Wacken advent calendar, where they announce a couple of bands each day. A lot of these are filler/smaller bands to build up the undercard with a few big names thrown in. After the headliner talk in September it was widely expected that the Christmas Eve band would be the Night to Remember band (main headliner), when that box revealed Megadeth, a lot of people reacted negatively to them being the main band of the festival, myself being one of them. But Wacken quickly squashed that notion and we were left to wait for the big announcement.
As we headed into June 2014, there was a lot of animosity towards the organisers who had still not revealed the main headline act that was supposedly booked 9 months previous. Yes, it had been almost a year (and we were now less than 2 months before the festival) since we had been told to get excited about the super act they had lined up. And in that time being told “We’ll announce soon”, “You’re gonna love it”, “Just you wait, it’s coming”. This just wasn’t good enough, and had flights not been booked and paid for, I would have sold my ticket. On the way back from Download 2014, during a social media check, Wacken finally disclosed that the Night to Remember headliner would be Accept.
Now, Accept are not a bad band, and are pretty damn huge in their homeland of Germany. But really?! They’re the main band of the 25^th anniversary festival? 25 years of the biggest metal festival in the world and Accept are the flagship? That just seems like a major kick to the balls (proverbially in ladies cases) of the fans that helped sell out the festival in record time. I’m not going to blabber on about this announcement, but Wacken really did get a lot of peoples’ backs up with what was a lack-lustre line-up and a weak headline act. Couple that with the fact that we were left in the dark for months on end and it left a very bitter taste and no excitement whatsoever about attending the festival. 

Wednesday

So, all packed and ready to go, at 3:30am. It has to be said that whoever invented a time like that in the morning had a serious chip on their shoulder! I do have to say one thing about Heathrow Terminal 5, which looking at my 2012 review I did mention there, is that there are 3 departure gate areas. This time we were leaving from Area C, which according to signs takes about 20 minutes to get to. This is fine when they announce which gate you need earlier that 40 minutes before you’re flight. So, after taking a tube train to the gate, we boarded the flight and then I promptly fell asleep (it was early! Too early!), so I’m afraid can’t mention too much about the flight.

Arriving in/negotiating travel in a foreign country is so much easier when you’ve been there before. Swiftly getting to Hamburg central train station, I stumbled into a snag, there were no advertised trains to Itzehoe. And not even a train to Elmshorn, where you usually have to change to finish the journey. After sidling over to an information desk, I was told to head to Hamburg-Altona and take a train from there. This seemed straight forward enough and as it turns out, it is so much easier than going from central station as Altona provides direct trains to Itzehoe. No messing around lugging bags around when changing trains, much more fun! Even now, I still wasn’t feeling in the festival spirit.
Arriving at the holy Wacken ground provided me with a new experience this year. Before, when you stepped off the bus, you’d have your ticket scanned and be given your wristband before passing security and entering the campground. Last year they changed that, you now have your ticket looked at (and a small part ripped off) and then you’re into the campsite, with security guards just glancing at bags.
After setting up the tents, I strolled off to get my wristband. Fortunately, Mike had attended last year’s festival and knew where he was going. Then we found the queues! I feel it must’ve been at least an hour-long wait in the baking sun, with dust being kicked up from the ground (something that would be a staple of the weekend). I’m really unsure about the new area for wristbands, I have never waited long at the previous area by the entrance to the campsite and it seemed to run smoother there. Especially as one bus would arrive at a time carrying maybe 50 people, said people would get wristbands and be on-site before the next load appeared. Now, you have people taking time setting up tents, gazebos, having beers etc. and then converging on the wristband exchange booths in one huge group. Wacken have also changed the tickets, in that they now state your name on them which is checked against your ID. Even though that was one reason that the queue moved slower, I think that is a fantastic idea as it stops touting and people being ripped off for ticket prices……What? They’ve got rid of that for 2015? And now there are already tickets for triple the face value on eBay? Oh.

The plan was to make our way into the tent stages to watch a few bands for the remainder of the day, but the heat and early wake-up had begun to take their toll, so the decision was made to head back to the tents and chill for a while.
A few hours later and I headed back towards the arena and into the Bullhead City Circus tent to catch a few acts to begin the festival. On the way in, I heard a little bit of Dunkelschon on one of the small outdoor stages, I just can’t remember anything about them.
As I mentioned to Mike at this point, I still wasn’t feeling excited or having that festival feeling. Even though I was set up, had my wristband and had heard some live music!

Red Helen – 5 – These guys were the Metal Battle (international battle of the bands) winners from South Africa. I only made it into the tent to catch their last 2 songs but they sounded pretty good.

Bembers – N/A – There are times when you make a mistake at a festival. And there are times when you accidentally watch a comedian at a German festival who does his set in German, who’d have thought it! So I haven’t rated Bembers as I have no idea what he said (my German is very limited). Although I think at one point he called President Obama a pussy, just don’t quote me on that! The crowd seemed to enjoy it and I imagine had I known what the hell was happening I may have too.

Ax ‘N’ Sex – 4 – A hard, sleaze rock group formed in 1989, who played the very first Wacken festival in 1990 (and subsequently the second fest as well). They returned for the 25^th anniversary and I have to say, bored the hell out of me. It wasn’t that they’re bad, it’s just…sometimes bands need to realise it’s ok to grow old gracefully and not continue lumbering around a stage trying to send people to sleep or entertain them, whichever they were attempting.

John Diva & The Rockets Of Love – 10 – The final act to watch on the Wednesday was a cover band. I had decided to watch about half hour of the set before retiring to bed, this ended up changing to watching the whole set and wishing it would continue! They were absolutely superb and thoroughly got me into the festival spirit, finally. Colossal hits from Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and a host of other classic rock bands were blasted from the stage and slung right back with just as much fervour by the huge crowd that had been enticed by the roaring guitars.
During the set I thought, if this was me, I’d come on stage wearing a Germany shirt in honour of their World Cup win. After a short interval John Diva did adorn a German flag waistcoat and congratulated the country for the achievement.
As a sidenote, there really isn’t anything at Hamburg airport or the train stations, nor anywhere on the route to Wacken that seemed to suggest they won. I was expecting billboards, banners and all other manner of triumphant media.
To get back on point, John Diva was so much fun and a great way to really open the festival for me. Not quite the same as seeing the legendary acts he covered live, but damn sure close to it!

Thursday

Waking up to hear rain hitting your tent is a fear that festival goers live with and as such, happened on the Thursday morning. Not too heavy, but enough to make you question the attire to choose for the day. Subsequently the pondering didn't need to happen as the clouds moved on and the heat ratcheted up. The in-field doesn’t open until the afternoon but I was planning on spending much of the day in the tent (which is situated outside of the main arena) anyway.

Key: Stages – True Metal (Main 1) – TM; Black (Main 2) – B; Party – P; Bullhead City Circus Tent stages (W.E.T and Headbanger) – T
Metal battle winners – MB *country* (All MB bands were on the tent stages)
All ratings out of 10.

Dismorial – MB Caucasian Republic - 6 – The best way to wake up at a festival? How about some death metal barraging off the stage? That’ll do it. Good start to the day and a decent band from a region that I have never heard of until today!
Trouble Agency – MB Belgium – 7 – Next up we had these Belgian thrash metallers who produced a great sound, very clearly influenced by Metallica. Including the lead singer looking and sounding like a young James Hetfield.
Convivium – MB Sweden – 6 – Some melodic metal from the forests of Sweden. Decent enough set and they finished in the top 5 of the metal battle competition at Wacken.
Agni Kai – MB FYR Macedonia – 5 – This heavy metal band has developed aspects of the djent genre with the introduction of a new guitarist to the fold. They weren’t bad…They just weren’t overly good either.
Room Of The Mad Robots – MB Hungary - 4 – These guys really missed a trick not playing in robot costumes. In fact, if they did, it might make them sound better. Did not enjoy this set at all.
Hellhound – MB Japan – 4 – Hoping for a better set after the previous dross, I was left disappointed again. The only word they seemed to know was “metal” and so every song just consisted of that being sung over and over (and over and over etc). Not too bad at a metal festival, but it would’ve been nice to have heard some other words. Plus the lead vocalist constantly and unnecessarily wailed in a high pitch (ala Cradle of Filth) that left me thinking about walking out of the tent until the next band were on. It’s a shame really as they sounded like they could be a great live band.
Revolution Within – MB Portugal – 8 – This was more like it! A great mix of thrash and metalcore. Pulsating guitars, unforgiving drums and vocals that left no ear untouched. I really enjoyed this set and wish it could’ve lasted longer than 20 minutes.
Evocation – MB China – 4 – After the pick-me-up delivered by Revolution Within, this was a bump back to earth with some force. Advertised as black death metal it had already raised my eyebrow as to “would this be good or bad?” and, as it turned out, it was bad. I lost focus so many times watching this band all I can remember is that they threw confetti from the stage when they came on. And even then, that may have been a different band! Someone remembered them as they got into the top 5 of the battle.
Juodvarnis – MB Lithuania – 3 – Another boring set and my mood was really beginning to dampen by this time. Even the vocalist didn’t seem too bothered about the big stage that they had reached, even having a lie down during one of the songs! Admittedly he continued singing but still!

And now for something a little different: wrestling. The Bullhead City Wrestling team put on a decent show, even if it was a bit silly with the amount of no sell moves that were delivered. It was just a bit of fun that broke up the, mostly bad, music that had been on offer throughout the day. The compere/ring announcer got the most laughs of the day with his constant babbling. Again, with a lot of the talk being in German I wasn’t sure why some wrestlers got booed and some cheered but nevermind.

After that it was back to the metal battle.

Cosmogon – MB Luxembourg – 5 – Slightly better than many of the previous bands but nothing to really shout about. Some straight up metal that was pleasant to listen to.
Earth Divide – MB Faroe Islands – 4 – If I thought the music post-wrestling was going to be better, then these prog metallers certainly put paid to that notion. Metal battle bands get 20 minute slots each and I was bored with this band after about 2 of those 20!
[In Mute] – MB Spain – 10 – By far the best metal battle band I saw and deservedly they won the battle of Wacken. Seeing a female vocalist in a band described as melodic death metal led to the assumption of some clean vocals backed up by growling. This was not the case as Steffi, said female lead, roared at the crowd through the set with deeper vocals than even I could manage. Backed up by a very tight sounding band, they definitely have a new fan in me.
Huldre – MB Denmark – 5 – In hindsight, I would’ve left the tent after In Mute had I known what would follow them. But seeing as it was a folk metal band from the bogs of Denmark and a flyer stating that a Huldre show is not to be missed, I stuck around. Only to be left bitterly disappointed. Boring vocals and mopey music, the only decent thing about the set was seeing a hurdy-gurdy being played. As for the “stage show” of some trees, was there really any need?! They ended 3^rd in the metal battle standings, maybe the judges liked trees?

And so concluded the metal battle of 2014, I knew who my favourites were and as I said, they deservedly won.

Fork – T – 5 – There’s something fun about bands that play acapella to cover songs. Fork is one of these bands and before the festival I listened to a few of their songs and was rather looking forward to seeing them live. I was really let-down in the end. They don’t cover metal songs which, at the biggest metal festival in the world, seems a bit pointless. They even decided to go in the opposite direction and include a mash up of pop songs in the middle of the set, although ‘Cotton-Eye Joe’ and ‘Rasputin’ were nice surprises. But even ‘The Final Countdown’ seemed very lacking. They did seem to know that people weren’t going to like it though as they kept apologising to the extremely small crowd. Take nothing from them as artists, they are extremely good at what they do. I still don’t know how they make some of the instrument sounds with just their voices, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting and I ended up leaving early.

And so, after 7 hours in the tent it was time to enter the main arena for the first time in 2014. And it was to see a band that I saw in 2012.

Hammerfall – B – 8 – They got an 8 in 2012 and they received the same score this year. This would probably have been higher except that I was lazy and sat down watching it on one of the screens. It was a special show playing ‘Glory To The Brave’ in full. This included bringing out ex-members of the band to guest on songs, which was a really great gesture by the band. This was their first set since calling a hiatus in August 2012, playing 2 more festivals after that years’ Wacken set. The reason the hiatus was called was so that they could “play for another 15 years”, based on this showing that is entirely possible. They also played a song from the upcoming new album which sounded really good. A decent showing from the veteran power metallers.

Beyond The Black – T – 7 – Not being content with 7 hours in the tent, I headed back. Although, to be fair, I needed any reason possible to miss Steel Panther on the main stage, seriously…why are they getting such good bookings?! Anyway, stumbled across this band whom I was a little concerned about on first glance, seeing a woman sitting behind an acoustic guitar, participating in what can only be described as a crooning duet with a guy. This changed very quickly when leaving the acoustic guitar, the band threw out a heavy riff and the vocals took on a much deeper tone.  Still, they were a good enough watch and again, they weren’t Steel Panther so that’s a huge plus for them.

Letz-Zep – T – 8 – Pretty much what it says in the name, a Led Zeppelin tribute band. Having not seen the Zep or any of their tribute bands in the past, I had nothing to compare this set too. However, they sounded very good and the vocals and guitar solos were close enough to being Led Zep for me. They drew a very sizeable crowd and it just became a mass sing-a-long which was great fun. 

Saxon – B – 9 – I knew that getting a good spot in the arena for Saxon would be near impossible so ended up taking a seat in the movie field where they had the set on the big screen. Based on what I saw Saxon really should’ve been the headliner, they were fantastic. I have never seen a bad set from the veteran metallers and hope they can carry on playing for a while yet. They had extra musicians with them at Wacken including a violin quartet and the different sound of the strings added something extra to all the classics that this set contained. Closing out with ‘Princess Of The Night’ and ‘Denim & Leather’ finished a fantastic set. After seeing the stage show and visuals they had brought I wondered if it would upstage the next band, and it really did.

There were large inflatable balls being knocked about by the crowd as we waited for the headliners to take to the stage. I did wonder if this was a distraction away from the disappointment of the main band they had announced.

Accept – TM – 5 – I still feel that this was the worst choice of Night To Remember headliner Wacken could field, especially being the 25^th anniversary. I don’t want to take anything away from Accept who are a decent band and sounded on form, but it just seemed to be too big of a spot for them to fill (whilst not having Udo in the band). This was my fourth time at Wacken and I have seen it headlined by Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne & Volbeat, so I apologise in finding Accept a complete waste of the highest slot at Wacken. Whether a band had pulled out and they were a late filler? I don’t know, such was the 9 month silence from the festival over the matter that when Accept were announced, I was less than enthused. For me, it turned into a Night To Forget, had they pushed Saxon into the top slot and had Accept sub-headlining, that would’ve worked well. But for me, they had the lesser band highest and they were out-done, musically and stage show(ally) by Saxon. It was billed as a ‘Restless And Wild’ best of show, I’m not sure why as only 5 out of 18 songs were from the album that is 32 years old (maybe that’s a lucky number in Wacken?) I ended up leaving after 4 or 5 songs and headed back to the tent for an early night. 

Friday

Another hot day and another day I would be mostly inside the tent. I, like many others, felt this years’ line-up was rather poor. However, you just have to make the most of what you’re given. This meant I would get the chance to see a lot of new bands instead of ones I had seen earlier in the month.

Chthonic – B – 8 – Starting the day in the bright sunshine being treated to some metal from Taiwan. These were really enjoyable and employed a video screen into their backdrop, which surprised me for an opening band. But the artwork and lyrics posted on the screen really enhanced the show. A fantastic start to Friday and it was cool to see the band include an orchestra in the latter part of their set.

Nailed To Obscurity – T – 7 – Heading into the tent for a stint of 5 hours and first up were death metallers, Nailed To Obscurity. Finding new bands is a great part of the festival experience for me, and finding new bands that I like is even better. Heavy riffs interlaced across varying depths of vocals make this band one to watch out for.

For The Imperium – T – 7 – Now, what to say about this band? Well, they were very good and they’re from Finland. What kind of music do they play? Well, it’s….sort of….like…..well…if you mix black metal with death metal and throw in some metalcore, you’d still not be close. At the end of the day they are a great band with a great sound, whatever it is!

Neopera – T – 9 – Now, readers of previous blogs on here will know that I am a huge fan of operatic/symphonic metal. This band, much like Amaranthe, include 1 female & 1 male clean vocalists and 1 male screamer. Unlike Amaranthe, the clean vocals are very operatic (I guess with opera in the name that’s kind of obvious huh?) and they are fantastic. I really enjoyed this set and it would probably have got full marks if it had been longer, although Mike will completely disagree with that. Music that flies backwards and forwards between classical pieces and growling that wouldn’t be amiss on a DevilDriver album, leaves you no time to breathe in a whirlwind of melody and riffs.

Collibus – T – 8 – Some female fronted metal from here in the UK and a band I had missed on a couple of occasions this year. I’m glad that I did finally manage to see them as they are great. Having only just released their debut album this year, this band has a strong foothold in the metal world already.

COP-UK – T – 5 – Not bad musicians, although I did find myself getting bored the longer the set went on. But my major gripe with them is that they really seemed to be emulating Steel Panther. That joke is wearing thin with Panther, let alone another band doing it. The lead singer asked “who has Yorkshire in them? And who wants some Yorkshire in them”, I can’t even say they drew a smile from me.

Torment – T – 8 – Very good thrash band or ‘Thrash n Roll’ as they call it, who were playing a 30^th anniversary show. And I really enjoyed it, the guitars, drums and volatile vocals kept my attention. And that was before the lead singer started swinging a chainsaw around, and then proceeded to cut up a guitar and throw the pieces into the crowd. Not entirely sure how safe that was but still. I don’t know if they do this at all their gigs, but it seems like something that would push up their outgoing costs significantly. Nevermind, it looked cool and they were a good band to watch before heading back out into the heat.

Heaven Shall Burn – TM – 9 – These guys are brilliant live. One of those bands that, watching live is just an absolute pleasure. I was expecting this set to be leaning towards their new album released last year, but it was a complete mix from all of their records, which is ace as every one of their albums contains some ace songs. Natives of Germany meant that the in-between song chat was lost on me but that didn’t take anything away from the set.

Children Of Bodom – B – 8 – Having somehow not seen this band since 2008, I had forgotten how bloody good they are. Throughout a hits-packed set, lead singer Alexi Laiho delivered some very entertaining banter. The band threw in a partial cover of a pop song, which reminded me of the ‘Umbrella’ cover they played at Wacken 2008. CoB are seriously great live and hopefully it won’t be another 6 years until I see them again!

Apocalyptica – TM – 5 – I saw Apocalyptica at a small venue in Portsmouth when it was just the 4 guys playing. At Wacken they brought a whole orchestra with them. Now, being a band of cellists you would think that this would make a lot of sense. Unfortunately it didn’t come across as a success. I was looking forward to the set but found myself very bored and uninterested from a very early stage, not even their cover of Metallicas ‘Fight Fire With Fire’ could help. This was a shame, as they are absolutely fantastic musicians, it just seemed to amount to too much with the added instruments.

Hamatom – T – 8 – Leaving Apocalyptica slightly earlier than planned, I managed to get into the tent (only just, mind, since it was almost packed to capacity) and caught the last few songs from Hamatom. Great tunes and an enigmatic frontman led to a very enjoyable watch. Not entirely sure why the band play wearing a variety of masks, but each to their own. The entire crowd were enamoured throughout, constantly chanting the bands’ name and all holding their middle fingers in the air on instruction by the lead singer for the final song.

The Vintage Caravan – T – 10 – One thing that was helpful about a lack-lustre line-up is that I was able to see plenty of new bands and discover some gems like these Icelandic rockers. As their name may suggest, they play psychedelic blues infused rock and it is incredible. I sat down for the first part of the set but was soon on my feet clapping and nodding along to the floating beats and mesmerising riffs that the band made look easy.

Hell – T – 10 – I can’t say extreme metal is one of my favourites but I seriously enjoyed Hell. Brutal without being just a wall of noise (*cough* Mayhem *cough*) and a frontman who just wouldn’t stand still. This included whipping himself, faith-healing members of the crowd and dodging the ample pyrotechnics they forced into the tent. The rest of the band played with a fervour that really could have come from the fiery depths below! The only issue I had at this point was that my feet and legs were really beginning to ache.

Nightmare –T – 8 – French death/thrash/power (mixed bag of tricks these guys have) metal was up next and they were very good. They pulled a very decent sized crowd seeing as they were clashing with Slayer, which surprised me a bit. But the band did deserve it, punchy songs with enough pace to keep your head bouncing. Unfortunately, the tiredness that had begun setting in during Hell was starting to pick up pace and sapping my energy which meant I lost focus of the set occasionally. Nothing to do with the band, just my slowly aging body!

A Pale Horse Named Death – T – 7 – Gothic-doom metal straight out of Brooklyn… Literally! The band had just flown in in time for the set.  They were very enjoyable, it’s a bit of a shame they didn’t get a bigger crowd as this seemed to annoy the band and they kept pandering for cheers and it seemed rather forced. But, musically, I can’t falter them; catchy, sludgy songs that felt right at place in the late night slot they had been given.

By the time they were finishing, I was totally finished myself. I wasn’t even sure if my legs would carry me back to the tent! They did though, via King Diamond on the main stage, and had I not been dead on my feet I would’ve like to have caught some of his stuff.

Saturday

And so it came to the last music day of this year’s Wacken festival. Before the festival, weather forecasts were saying that the Saturday would bring thundery showers. Turns out the forecast was wrong - shocker isn’t it? And the glorious sunshine was baking the ground before I had set foot out of the tent.

Now, for the final time in 2014, I entered the arena (without being searched, not the greatest move by security) and took up place at a stage I hadn’t been to all weekend! A fact only realised during the set.

Prong – P – 8 – A band I had been looking forward to seeing since they were announced and they were brilliant. Clashing with Arch Enemy wasn’t the best but as I am seeing Arch Enemy later this year it seemed to make sense to see Prong. Good decision that was, fantastic hardcore metal to begin the last day. They drew a very sizeable crowd, which, being up against Arch Enemy, was a big surprise. It certainly didn’t daunt the band though as they powered through their set. Lead singer Tommy Victor called for hands to be raised and he was answered with a sea of fists for ‘Whose Fist Is This Anyway?’, following this up with ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’ was awesome. 

Sodom – TM – 5 – Saw them at Wacken 2011 when they scored an 8, this time, not so much. I feel that they suffered from some sound issues but still, this wasn’t good. In fact, one of the only things that helped their score was the fact they played ‘Surfin’ Bird’. 

Behemoth – B – 6 – I am not a massive fan of death metal but I did enjoy the majority of Behemoth, feeling just a tad bored at times. But my main issue with this set is that it really should’ve been played at night, or at least dusk. The whole underground death metal schtick that the band portrays was really lost in the bright sunshine Wacken was enjoying. Burning upside down crosses which were barely visible, as was lead singer Nergals’ ornamental microphone stand. So it was a shame that the imagery was lost but a decent showing from the band all the same.

Devin Townsend Project – TM – 8 – After seeing a fair amount of Devin’s set at Sonisphere in July, I was really looking forward to seeing the entirety at Wacken. And I wasn’t disappointed - he was brilliant. His backdrop was a videoscreen showing off his Ziltoid puppet creation playing various instruments, as well as some groovy colour images which would’ve been interesting to the festival goers who were ‘under the influence’. Getting thousands of metalheads to participate in a group hug was a superb sight. Then having to tell the crowd to “chat amongst yourselves” whilst the band discussed what song to play when realising they still had 15 minutes on stage, rather than  it being the end of the set, was comical, but seemed very apt for the jovial style that Devin provides live. 

Emporer – B – 7 – This black metal band re- re-united this year and were playing Wacken with their debut album ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’ in full for its’ 20^th anniversary. Had I listened to the album more often I may have enjoyed them more. But I really did like what I heard from Emporer who, like Behemoth, seemed to suffer for playing during the day, and a particularly bright & sunny day at that. Heavy, black metal being screeched into sunlight doesn’t quite have the same nightmarish feeling as it does in a night-time dark and mood filled set. And seeing as this was originally announced as their first live performance since 2008 (subsequently they played a few other fests and gigs before Wacken), I’m very surprised they weren’t put on later. However, they were good and I was planning on leaving the set early anyway.

The Ocean – T – 8 – The Bullhead City Circus Tent had largely been my home at this year’s festival, but on the last day this was the only visit. And it was to see a band I have wanted to watch for a while and finally the chance arose. The Ocean play prog metal with elements of metalcore thrown in for good measure and it blends perfectly. I’m pretty sure they were the only band playing in the tent that used a videoscreen backdrop which was cool to see. A very enjoyable set from a great band who are even better live.

Amon Amarth – TM – 10 – Heading back into the arena to catch these Viking death metallers and having to pick my jaw up off the floor with how good they were! (I don’t know if my jaw did actually hit the floor, it was so dusty in the air it was too difficult to tell.) They were absolutely immense and by far the best I have seen them play. The stage show included a longboat with 2 smoke-filled dragon heads at either end, and enough pyro to burn down a large village! It has to be said, for a death metal vocalist, John Hegg had a constant smile painted on his face throughout the set. But then again, it looked like 99% of Wacken attendees were in front of the stage and loving every second of it so you can understand the cheeky grin. 

Megadeth – B – 9 – I have seen Megadeth twice before, both times indoors, and they’ve been really good. Some bands don’t transfer well onto outdoor stages, but my first time seeing Megadeth outside? Outstanding! There did seem to be some sound issues at the beginning and I did think ‘uh-oh, this is going to be terrible’, but those fears were soon laid to rest as the band settled into their familiar thrash sounds, pounding them from the stage like a herd of galloping stallions. Furious riffs complimented Dave Mustaine’s unique vocals throughout the hit-filled set. At the end of every Megadeth show, Dave Mustaine always leaves with his signature “you’ve been great, we’ve been Megadeth” slogan. It really seemed that after the thanks, bows and waves from the band they were going to just walk off. But then Mustaine bounded back to the mic to give the crowd what they were waiting for. In truth he could easily have said “We’ve been Megadeth and we’ve been fecking awesome!” and it would’ve rung true.

And so, we arrived at the final band I would be seeing at Wacken 2014 (the decision had been made to miss Kreator due to my feet trying to fall off). 

Avantasia – TM – 10 – The number one reason I bought a ticket for this years’ festival was the announcement of this band and from the millisecond the curtain dropped that decision was truly vindicated. Avantasia were just stunning, and lead vocalist Tobias Sammet was on mega form. Tobi has got to be one of, if not the, best frontmen ever. His on-stage banter (when in English) is marvellous; I imagine it is in German as well, I just don’t know what he’s saying. Part of this included running across to the adjoining Black stage and asking the fans waiting for Kreator if they are enjoying the “gay metal” of Avantasia, before addressing the Avantasia fans with “nevermind them, let’s carry on with the real music of the evening”. This was all in jest as he admits that Millie Petrozza (Kreator vocalist) is like his brother and he loves Kreator. I can’t complain about the setlist which included songs from last years’ new album. Every song was faultlessly delivered through the singers and the musicians and I think I lost my voice about halfway through the 2 hour slot. The plethora of singers that have been wrapped into the Avantasia family were all fantastic. I wish I could remember more German from school as it looked like Tobi and Michael Kiske shared a great joke before the song ‘Avantasia’. Tobias had said that this could be the last show, or at least the last for many years, from Avantasia and they said good-bye in fantastic fashion. As with Black Sabbath, if that is the last live showing, I am hugely satisfied that I was there to witness it.

Once back at the tent and heading to sleep I was able to hear both Kreator (thrash metal) and Van Canto (acapella group), a very strange mix, from the arena. I was able to catch Van Canto performing a Nightwish song with Tarja Turunen (original Nightwish singer) which was pretty awesome.

Sunday

Being woken up at 6am is always fun…..oh wait, no it’s not. However, with the plan to leave the campsite early, it didn’t overly matter. It was an easy enough trip to the airport, I got straight onto a shuttle bus at the festival gates, amid a few festival goers whose early rising caught up with them straight away. Arriving at Itzehoe, a very nice German couple asked if we’d like to club together with them and get a Group Save ticket, essentially saving 5€ on the journey. After getting off the train at Hamburg Altona and taking a short walk to the underground (S-Bahn), we arrived at the platform without noticing any ticket machines. No-one else had stopped either so I was left slightly confused. Nevertheless, a train was boarded and we were on the final leg of the journey to the airport. If stopped, we had planned on playing the ignorant tourist card. But, as the train carried us further into Hamburg the guilt chip began to kick in and we ended up jumping off at Hauptbahnhof to grab a ticket. I have never been ticket checked on the S-Bahn (and subsequently not this year either!) but it still felt fraudulent to be riding around Germany for free.

Getting to the airport almost 9 hours early may seem excessive but after a short wait for the shower, which was free this year after Wacken and the airport made an agreement, was utterly glorious. What wasn’t fun was the cleaner I met before the shower became available, she spoke German and Spanish with no English, whereas I was the total opposite. Once inside the heaven of hot water she then proceeded to constantly knock on the door and, I assume, inform me there was a queue. A queue? Seriously? 75,000 people (albeit not all going through the airport) have been in a dusty field for the best part of a week, of course there will be high demand for the shower! Anyway, after I was sufficiently clean again, I spent the rest of the day walking around the airport, there isn’t a lot to do but it beats sitting in a dusty field!
I do have to mention the arrival at Heathrow, where you usually get held up at some point or other. It was excellent this year, customs was a breeze with the new chipped passport and my bag arrived on the belt about 3 minutes after I got there!

And so my Wacken 2014 adventure had come to its conclusion and I have to say, it was brilliant. As stated at the beginning of the review, I was not impressed with the lineup and there was a high possibility that I wouldn’t have gone had I not booked the flights so early in the year. But it turned out to be a great weekend and I’m glad I went. I discovered some new bands, saw some of my favourites and was able to miss some crap, sorry but I just don’t like Steel Panther..or Five Finger Death Punch…or Bring Me The Horizon..or….well, you get the point.
It just goes to show that even with a mediocre line-up in the case of big name bands you can still make a good time for yourself. Spending a lot of time in the tent did me no harm and I got to see a large number of bands when looking at the larger bands playing left me feeling let down.
And if, as said, it turns out to be the final live Avantasia set then I am ridiculously happy that I was there.
When Wacken announced their first set of acts for next year I did get the usual tug at the back of my brain that I would want to go. However, I have said that 2015 will be used for other activities and I will stick to that….maybe. But Wacken 2015 sold out entirely within 12 hours of going on sale so I won’t have to worry my wallet about that.

Thanks for a fantastic time Wacken Open Air, maybe I will step onto the Holy Land again one day.