Review: Nikki Hallam
Tens of thousands of metal heads make the trek to Wacken Open Air Festival every year and when you ask any seasoned fan what keeps them coming back, chances are you’ll hear the same answer; “It feels like coming home”. Co-founder Thomas Jensen once described Wacken as a giant garden party with 85,000 friends. It sounds ridiculous, until your feet sink into the dirt of the Holy Ground and you realise he might be onto something. It’s the people of Wacken who give the festival its magic, making even first-timers feel like they’ve been coming for years.
For most, the party always starts long before the festival gates open, after so much planning, when that first ice-cold Weizenbier hits your lips in Hamburg, its bliss. This year was no exception, although add in lost luggage, some Deutsche Bahn chaos and the journey became almost as memorable as the festival itself.
Celebrating an anniversary of 35 years since its modest debut in 1990, Wacken has somehow transformed a cow-pat-covered field in Schleswig-Holstein, Northern Germany into a place of crusade for metalheads from across the globe. With another outrageously packed lineup in 2026, deciding who to watch was almost impossible. Many mighty bands were hitting the stages this year, Def Leppard, Lamb of God, Judas Priest, Municipal Waste, Sabaton and Emperor just to name a few. Seeing even a third of the bands performing was going to take military planning and a decent pair of running shoes. The festival’s iconic “Rain or Shine” slogan finally leaned towards the latter this year. With blue skies overhead and dust clouds replacing the usual mud baths, perhaps “Mud or Dust” is now the more accurate tagline. Either way, we weren’t complaining, we’d happily take dusty boots over soggy socks.
Monday at Wacken has always been less about the music and more about the ritual. It’s a day for unpacking, building camps, cracking open the first beers and sharing long-overdue hugs with friends you haven’t seen since last summer. As the sun began to dip, it was time to explore the festival grounds, starting with the ever-expanding Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland. No longer just a themed corner of the site, it’s become a destination in its own right, a sprawling labyrinth packed with food stalls, bars, two stages and enough hidden spots to keep you wandering for hours.
One attraction that never fails to draw a crowd is the infamous cage fighting in the wasteland. A giant rusted sign that had earlier invited brave souls to “JOIN NOW” had already been flipped to read, “CLOSED- Come die another time!” Festival-goers volunteer, sign a waiver, get costumed up and step into the ring, where the Wasteland Warriors oversee the Mad Max-inspired mayhem. Egged on by a bloodthirsty crowd, each winner stays on to face the next challenger, creating one of the festival’s most bizarre spectacles.
Tuesday belongs to the Rendsburger Wacken Fans campsite, where the infamous blue trailer once again became the centre of one of Wacken’s biggest pre-festival traditional celebrations. Drawing a few thousand revellers over the course of the afternoon into evening, cementing its reputation as one of the liveliest fields of the Holy Ground before a single headline act had even taken to the stage. Among those stopping by were Heavysaurus frontman Mr. Heavysaurus, Erzengel and Wacken co-founders Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen, who even pulled a few pints, proving that even festival royalty knows where the best parties are.
Behind the bar, we kept the beer taps flowing with an eye-watering 1,400 litres of beer slung before the day was done. There were fiercely competitive rounds of Funky Ball, foosball, a few questionable displays of strength in the weightlifting contests and not to mention a wild metal disco party, loud enough to remind everyone that the real festival was only just getting started. However, nothing could have prepared us for returning to camp to find an impromptu barber shop in full swing. The sight of this was amusing enough, but discovering they’d all committed to matching Lemmy-style moustaches was even better. Judging by the grins on their faces, they had all decided this was absolutely essential festival attire and you’d have thought they’d just invented facial hair.
Wednesday morning began with the now-traditional Spa Day. Don’t expect cucumber water and luxury robes though, our version consisted of refreshing face masks that make us look like something out of the silence of the lambs. Complete with ambient spa music echoing around the campsite and espresso martinis in hand we relaxed while the rest of Wacken slowly came back to life. Then it was time to head over to the Telekom Wacken Cup. Bringing together musicians, content creators and football teams, the annual tournament is yet another reminder that Wacken isn’t your average festival. After all, how many heavy metal festivals can honestly say they have their own football pitch?
A word of advice- when a friendly German lady offers you a homemade chocolate chip cookie, it might be worth asking a few questions before wolfing it down. As it turned out, this wasn’t your average bake. Let’s just say an unexpected space cookie sent us on a very different Wacken adventure for the next 12 hours, making Wednesday’s bands feel, well… wonderfully ethereal. Thankfully, the day’s lineup couldn’t have been better suited to the occasion.
The Wacken Metal battle has been supporting underground independent bands, on a global scale since 2004. This year 31 international bands competed and performed at Wacken and for the first time, fans could vote for their favourite act as well as the judging panel to determine a winner. While it was announced that FORCE from Chile were crowned winners this year, it was great to see the newer generation of metal give it their all on the Bullhead stages. We managed to catch pagan folk act Noiduin competing from Finland perform on the Headbangers stage. Clad in elaborate stage attire, rooted in ancient Finnish tradition, they bring mythological stories to life with every detail of the performance adding to the illusion. Shamanic vocals, pounding war drums and handcrafted instruments combine to create a rich, organic sound that feels both ancient and timeless. I would absolutely love to watch them on a bigger stage next time.
Stumbling over to the louder stage for what would prove to be one of the most emotional sets of the day. Dutch progressive rock pioneers The Gathering were reunited with former vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen, marking one of the band’s most anticipated performances in years. For many fans, it was their first chance to see Anneke back on stage with the band in almost two decades, making the moment feel genuinely special. Anneke’s captivating stage presence shone throughout, but it was the opening notes of Eleanor that truly moved the crowd. Goosebumps were unavoidable, tissues quietly appeared and by the end of the set, thousands were clapping, with their hands held high in appreciation of a moment that will undoubtedly go down as one of Wednesday’s highlights for many.
For once, exploring the medieval Wackinger Village didn’t require sacrificing a pair of boots to the mud gods. The dry weather meant many of its attractions, often unreachable in the muddier years, were finally easier to explore. There were Birchenball tournaments, gladiator style pillow fighting and dance workshops. This year there were full-armor knight fights, sword-fighting workshops and even a blacksmith where you could make your own necklace. The food in the village is the stuff of medieval dreams, the handmade breads stuffed with all types of cheese and even an entire ox on a spit roast. The Met-bier is always a must and don’t even get us started on the variety of meats on sticks.
A boozy slushy in hand and temperatures rising, we stopped for a quick look at Electric Callboy’s DJ side project, Electric Bassboy, on the Faster Stage. For a moment, we genuinely wondered if we’d wandered into an entirely different festival. A few bemused punters seemed to agree, shaking their heads and questioning whether this really belonged at Wacken at all. The packed infield, however, told a rather different story, with thousands of metalheads more than ready to trade their horns for a dance party. And what a party it was! Beach balls bounced across heads, LED penis images flashed across the backdrop, smoke guns were raised and thankfully, there was plenty of bass. It was about as far removed from traditional Wacken as you could get, but judging by the size of the crowd, the majority didn’t seem particularly bothered.
The infield once again packed out for German chaos merchants Hämatom. Renowned for their outrageous live shows and surprise guest appearances, it was little wonder the crowd stretched as far as the eye could see. Judging by the sea of metalheads filling the field, we clearly weren’t the only ones who had this set circled. There seemed to be some sort of haunted psychiatric hospital theme unfolding on stage, although with my limited German, a fair bit was left to the imagination. As the band launched into Gaga, little people dressed in Blue nurse attire dragged vocalist Torsten “Nord” Scharf on stage strapped into a straightjacket while repeatedly whacking him with batons. Somehow, that was one of the more normal moments of the set.
Things only escalated from there. Thomas “Domml” Wöhrl of Troglauer joined the band for Wir haben Dorf, which somehow morphed into Rednex‘s Cotton Eye Joe. Watching tens of thousands of metalheads linking arms and line dancing certainly wasn’t exactly on my Wacken 2026 bingo card, but here we were. Just when we thought the fever dream had peaked, Deadpool sporting a Hello Kitty backpack, appeared on vocals, only to reveal himself as Saltatio Mortis frontman Alea der Bescheidene. The crowd erupted. Alea had spent the entire day roaming Wacken incognito as Deadpool, causing havoc in mosh pits, popping up at random stages and posing for photos with unsuspecting fans who had no idea who was behind the mask. Halfway through the set we genuinely stopped trying to work out whether Hämatom were this mad or whether the space cookie was still calling the shots.
They pulled out every trick imaginable: inflatable unicorns, bubble guns, Firework helmets, multiple backdrop changes and drummer Süd playing on his poo emoji-crowdsurfing drums of course. Oh, and the psych ward nurses? They were still running riot, enthusiastically beating up anyone who came within baton range.
Hämatom don’t really do ‘subtle’ and thankfully they never will. They signed off to the chants of Es Regnet Bier, beneath a shower of fireworks and flames, delivering exactly the kind of bonkers performance we needed for Wednesday night’s Faster stage slot. With the infield finally emptying and the Holy Ground falling (slightly) quieter, we headed back to camp wondering if Thursday could possibly be any stranger.
Knowing Wacken, the answer was almost certainly yes.
https://www.wacken.com/en/tickets-shop/ticket-overview-2027/
