2023-08-05 20:14:45
For tens of thousands of metalheads, their annual get-together in Wacken is coming to an end. Even before the last concerts at the festival end, there is an appeal from the police.
wake up
When the weather was better, tens of thousands of metal fans celebrated on the last day of the heavy metal festival in Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein. After rain at the beginning seemed on Saturday afternoon. But there was still a lot of mud in front of the main stages. It was only in the morning that there had been another heavy shower.
More than 60,000 metal fans can celebrate for the last time on Sunday night in front of the festival’s nine stages. Then, among others, Saltatio Mortis, Heaven Shall Burn and Two Steps From Hell want to be on stage. At around 2:00 a.m. early Sunday morning, the speakers on the stages in Wacken are said to be silent.
Police: appeal to fans
Before the departure on Sunday, the police appealed to the fans to keep an eye on the departure information from the organizers. “All participants should remain on the camping site with their vehicles until they leave and not park their vehicles outside the site so that they can supposedly leave faster later.” This should prevent parking on the rescue routes in the village and the surrounding streets.
Metalheads should also make sure they are driving sober and not under the influence of drugs. “On the day of departure, the police will carry out priority traffic checks.”
Vehicles should be cleared of the coarsest mud and dirt beforehand in order to prevent dirt on the road and damage to your own car. “The traffic routing of the departure route to the motorway is set up in such a way that the vehicles cover a slightly longer distance on the country road so that the vehicles can drive cleanly.”
There was already a musical highlight on Friday evening with the performance of Iron Maiden. Tens of thousands of metalheads, as the metal fans call themselves, celebrated the British band. Again and again fans let themselves be carried away by the crowd over the heads of the people while “crowdsurfing”. Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson thanked the organizers. A lot of people had canceled, he said, considering the unpredictable weather with lots of rain and mud on the site. “Wacken, you made it.” (Wacken, you did it.”)
Festival has been sold out for a year
This year, the Open Air started under chaotic conditions after a lot of rain on arrival. Due to the space conditions, the organizers had imposed an admission stop on Wednesday for safety reasons. 85,000 fans were originally expected, the festival had been sold out for a year.
The stop had caused frustration and anger among those who had been rejected in the past few days. These fans should get the ticket price refunded, and a right of first refusal for the coming year is also being discussed. Festival co-founder Thomas Jensen told the German Press Agency about the financial consequences, “the economic situation cannot yet be finally assessed”.
According to him, the festival was even close to cancellation. “But at the time the admission was stopped, there were already over 40,000 guests on the camping ground and an estimated 20,000 more in the surrounding area on the streets, camping privately or standing on the side of the road in the constant rain, so that a cancellation with the departure of these guests was closely coordinated with the authorities, was not an option in the end,” said Jensen. (dpa)
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