heavy metal
Highlight at the Wacken Festival: playing Iron Maiden
Festival visitors celebrate the musicians in front of a stage. photo
© Axel Heimken/dpa
The metal festival is heading for another highlight: first the US band Megadeth is to play in Wacken and shortly afterwards the British group Iron Maiden. Will the weather get better towards the end?
halftime at the heavy metalFestival in the mud of Wacken: after days of rain and mud, metal fans in Schleswig-Holstein can look forward to musical highlights.
On the two big main stages in the evening, first the US band Megadeth and shortly afterwards the British group Iron Maiden around their frontman Bruce Dickinson want to heat up the tens of thousands of metalheads.
With 61,000 people celebrating on the site, more fans than previously known. Festival co-founder Thomas Jensen gave this number to the German Press Agency. The police had previously reported an estimated 50,000 people.
Fewer police operations this year
After a chaotic start with entry stops for thousands of metal fans due to very poor space conditions on the muddy festival site, the program on Thursday continued without major changes despite the freak weather.
The police rarely had to intervene on the premises. There are significantly fewer operations than in previous years, said a police spokeswoman yesterday. For the most part, it is about “police support for people in helpless situations or dispute resolution”.
Weather forecast somewhat more positive
However, many of the originally expected 85,000 festival visitors were previously denied access. Those who were not allowed in should get their money back.
The festival is scheduled to end on Sunday night. Around 2 a.m., the last of around 200 concerts originally planned should be played on nine stages.
After a lot of rain, the weather forecast for metal fans is a little more positive: “The gaps in the clouds are getting bigger and a handful of hours of sunshine are expected,” said a meteorologist from the German Weather Service of the German Press Agency. The rain will probably come back by the last day of the festival on Sunday at the latest.