Wacken 2008 Pre Report-RLSMETAL
What can be said about Wacken that hasn’t already been said? Wacken is not only a festival, it is a phenomenon. It is the place all self respecting metalheads wish to visit at least once in their lives. It is the Metal Mecca. This being said, certain people simply have no idea of its existence. This is part of what makes Wacken special, but also what makes Metal culture in general feel special.
Wacken caters to ALL your metal needs. Eat steak burgers, drink Mead from a Viking horn strapped to your hip and bang your head all day with your fellow man to crunchy riffs, raging solos and blasting bass drums. This is what metal is all about and this is the experience Wacken promises. Wacken has acquired a legendary status amongst metalheads, which is part of why giant acts in the scene want to go there. Inactive bands have even been known to re-unite just for one last glorious gig at Wacken.
Wacken Open Air (shortened W:O:A) started back in 1990 as a small festival headlining only some small local german metal acts. Since then it has grown to be THE biggest Metal festival in the entire world. Last year a total of 60,000 metalheads visited the metal mecca with an additional 12,000 staff members. On the 31st of July this year, over 60,000 metalheads from all across the globe will invade the tiny village of Wacken, drink large quantities of beer from 1 liter jugs, enjoy some of the best metal music in the world and have the best time of their lives. W:O:A 2008 has already been sold out for months, so if you haven’t got your hands on a ticket yet, you’re out of luck.
W:O:A has spectacular acts every single year. You’ll never see a lack of great bands, both major and underground. To me, this year hosts some of the most exciting bands so far. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the annual billing. The founders of Melodic Death Metal are arriving: Carcass and At The Gates. Two bands that have been split up for years but re-united in 2007, a dream of mine come true. Carcass primarily play Goregrind but played a huge role in early Melodeath with their 1993 “Heartwork” album. At The Gates are widely known as the fathers of the Gothenburg sound along with other bands such as Dark Tranquility and In Flames. Their 1995 album “Slaughter of the Soul” is considered by many to be one of the best albums in Metal, not to forget their earlier masterpieces “The Red in the Sky is Ours”, “With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness” and “Terminal Spirit Disease”.
Other exciting acts include Tobias Sammet’s incredible power metal side project Avantasia, Thrash Metallers Kreator and Exodus, Folk metal from Finnish Ensiferum, war inspired Sabaton, progressive death metal Swedes Opeth, Black Metal acts such as Watain, Gorgoroth, Nifelheim and many, many more. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention Iron Maiden?
By now, all Metalheads have recognized that Wacken is not just another summer festival. Show a fellow headbanger your Wacken wristband and you are sure to see a reaction. It’s the musical experiences you share with your friends in Wacken that make it the place it is, but it’s the small things that make it special. Whether it be screaming “Wacken!!!!” at the top of your lungs and getting equal responses from 15 or 20 other metalheads you’ve never talked to in your life, or singing last year’s immensely popular “Spider Pig” anthem (naturally taken from The Simpsons Movie, that song got rather annoying after a while, but remains a fond memory).
If you weren’t able to get tickets for this year’s party, catch the RLSLOG Wacken 2008 report in early August and make sure you get some tickets for the 20th Anniversary 2009.
Check out the Festival Maps and the Running Order
Bands 2008:
3 inches of blood
Alestorm
As i lay dying
At the gates
Autumn
Avantasia
Axel rudi pell
Axxis
Before the dawn
Carcass
Children of bodom
Corvus corax
Crematory
Cynic
Destructor
Dream of an opium eater
Enemy of the sun
Ensiferum
Evocation
Excrementory grindfuckers
Exodus
Girugämesh
Gorerotted
Gorgoroth
Grave
Hatebreed
Headhunter
Iron maiden
Kamelot
Killswitch engage
Kreator
Krypteria
Leaves eyes
Lord belial
Lordi
Machine men
Massacre
Mercenary
Nashville pussy
Negura Bunget
Nifelheim
Nightwish
Obituary
Opeth
Powerwolf
Primordial
Psychopunch
Sabaton
Saltatio mortis
Soilwork
Sonata arctica
Stam1na
Sturm und drang
Stone Gods
Sweet Savage
The bones
The haunted
Torture Squad
Van canto
Warbringer
Watain
Comments(38)
we rock dude..
wacken is awesome howeva ur post is incorrect in terms of numbers there are other festivals with higher attendance numbers. respect to wacken still
Why do you post a picture of a dirty hamburger if you can post pictures of the wonderful Wiki-burgers too!?
Do they have cheeseburgers, mr.lahey?
Any cam copy of The Love Guru yet???
This is where rlslog has the edge over other similar (and lame) sites.
Breaker breaker
Sick lineup!!!
why do you constantly delete comments that arent even offensive?
barbers would make so much profit over there
by the way, OPETH!!!!!
i’m really looking forward to this :p
@9. teabag,
your comment made my day
Carcass will be the best band
I will be there for the 3 rd time now. 06 will still remain the best for me , but next year will be the biggest one yet.
@ 14.
and those freaks will kill all the fans with innovative yet brutal ways as they do in all their concerts
are there any women at wacken?
Maybe next year a tornado can hit white trash heaven. FAILFest.
I’ve wacken ma d!ck so hard, I think it might be broke :O.
yes there are women lol
http://www.centurymedia.com/temp/revolvercover/REV0707coverV4.jpg
http://www.openair-online.de/wacken-2007-1/target53.html
Don’t worry Randy, I’m gonna get you one of those store bought cheeseburgers.
There’s still plenty of tickets available to buy on eBay:
http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=wacken+ticket
i cant take it,
gimme a tikit and a plane.
its no fair i cant go.
no money, gotta work, its in another country.
Reeged, dont forget to post some links when the live footage is released.
coz i got a few from it last year
i cant take it,
gimme a tikit and a plane.
its no fair i cant go.
no money, gotta work, its in another country.
Reeged, dont forget to post some links when the live footage is released.
coz i got a few from it last year (In Flames i think)
Avantasia
Axel rudi pell
Children of bodom
Iron maiden
Kamelot
Kreator
Nightwish
Opeth
Sabaton
Soilwork
Sonata arctica
Awesome, wish I could be there.
this years wacken looks alright bands looking forward to are
At the gates
Carcass
Cynic
Exodus
Grave
Massacre
Obituary
\m/ \m/
Hell yeah, Alestorm and Avantasia.
and of course Iron Maiden!
Am I the only one that thinks that most Metal music Sucks ass..
seriously it reminds me of the 80’s …..
Men with long hair , wearing spandex , shouting and playing power chords on their guitars.
WOW metal music . WOW WOW WOW. diddnt like it 20 years ago , It sounded old and fusty even back then.
I could not go to the wacken this summer and your pre-report makes me really nostalgic. But I think I’ll try to get instead the summer breeze fest (and finally seeing one of my favourite band : ensiferum). I have already seen Carcass and At The Gates at the Hellfest Open Air (such a great fest , by the way), so I will not miss much bands there. But, as you say up here, the most awesome at the wacken open air is the mood…and I gonna miss that…:(
Yes im going to WACKEN and its goin to be awesome!!!
you should check out “full metal village” which is a movie about wacken openair. sadly it’s in german.
It surely is one hell of a lineup this year!
I’m glad that Carcass are making the trip to Australia, for all the poor folk who’d love to go to Wacken, but can’t.
Wacken has been overrated ever since that movie by Sam Dunn.
Don’t misunderstand me, it’s not a bad festival. But seriously. Graspop Metal Meeting, Summerbreeze, Rock Hard, Metalcamp, Magic Circle and so many more – there are dozens, maybe hundreds of metal festivals in and around Germany that don’t sell out half a year in advance and that don’t classify poppy bands like Stam1na or Sturm und Drang as metal.
Equilibrium Sagas (2008) http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H483DMIB
Is this the p2p rls or Equilibrium-Sagas-DE-2008-AMRC?
p2p release (320kbps)
Sagas is the best folk metal album to be released in the last couple of years
I JUST RETURNED FROM WACKEN OPEN AIR 2008…
… and it was F***ING GREAT!!!
IRON MAIDEN were just awesome!!!!!!