Wacken 2022 was Insane!

Every knows that Wacken Open Air is the most influential metal festival worldwide. The 2022 edition was no exception and it delivered a complete and powerful experience that every metalhead should live at least once in its lifetime.

This 2022 we had the opportunity to attend for the first time and try to experience everything that WOA offers. I say 'try' because it is impossible to enjoy every detail of the festival in one edition! So many concerts, activities, food stands, and parties that you would need to multiply yourself to be everywhere at once.

Lets talk about the facts:

Weather
We have heard and read that WOA has historically presented both amazing sunny days, as well as cold and rain. For this edition we prepared ourselves with some rain boots and a good quality tent. We had very good luck and had perfect days through the festival! The nights could be a bit cold but nothing that cause any real trouble if you had a blanket or sleeping bag. Did not even had the need to use the brand new rain boots that we had bought.

Facilities
I had been to many festivals before and can confidently say that Wacken has one of the best available facilities! The toilets and showers, that are usually a problem with big festivals, were always extremely clean. People rarely had to wait to use the facilities as they had placed enough for the demand.

Food
I like metal music, but food is also my passion. As it was my first time attending Wacken Open Air, I didn't knew what to expect with the food. Being a big festival, I assumed there was going to be a diverse offering but didn't had any high expectation on the taste or quality. We got surprised and actually found the food to be very good! One of the most popular offering is the 'Zyklopen' that are pork meat grilled in skewers. Absolutely delicious! We went through many different food stands and were very satisfied. You could find from traditional Bratwurst to meat stews, and of course the festival regular fries, burgers and other fast food options.

Ambience
Despite everyone having a lot of fun, the festival always felt as a very safe place. You could always see couples, families with kids, dressed up people and of course some crazy metal party people drinking around. Most stages had enough space to be seen close, inside the mosh of people, or relaxed a few meters out of the multitude. Everyone, including the staff always were on a good mood and trying to help. We might be biased because we went right after COVID season so maybe people were more likely to give each other space but it was a great feeling as you could get to the middle of the multitude (not without a struggle of course) and out of it to get a drink or visit another stage.

Concerts
After all this we get to the main and most important part of the festival... the music! Despite having to move a bit the lineup due to COVID, the headliners were great. The acts on the secondary stages were also delivering powerful and energetic performances.

We personally got to see SOEN, Iron Maidens, Tobias Semmet's Avantasia, Stratovarius, Skyforger, Haggard, Arch Enemy, Danko Jones, Butcher Babies, Tarja, Epica, Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Slipknot and Powerwolf.

The only relatively minor inconvenience was that for some reason, some performances were extremely loud. With earplugs you could solve the issue but it was strange how just randomly 3 or 4 scattered bands were so loud that it was almost impossible to be close to them while not wearing ear protection.

About the headliners, my favorite was Slipknot. I had seen them live before and even though they are not my favorite band out of all the lineup, their live show is maniac and impressive. There was a literal sea of people watching them and I was able to get a good spot close to the stage. It was one of the best concerts of my life.