My Wacken Open Air - World Famous Heavy Metal Festival

Those who regularly read my blog might be surprised to read about such an event and to tell the truth - I'm not a hard core heavy metal fan. In my teenage years I loved the rock of the 70s - and some of theses bands are still around and they do play at Wacken, although not all of them in the same year. This year Saxon were there.

That would not have got me to the tiny village of Wacken, especially as the tickets usually are sold out within 24 hours - a year before the event! My visit was not just for fun, but to work as crew for Dunkelschön and there wasn't much time for myself on the two days we spent there. Still - it was an unforgetable adventure and I'm full of gratitude that I could have been there. You need to go there to understand - at least I can give you some facts.

During the past 25 years W:O:A has grown from a 1-stage on a field festival to a huge event with 75000 visitors, most of them staying in the camp sites, with 8 stages and more than 130 bands playing on 4 days!

The blue fields are all camp grounds!

We already arrived on Wednesday, although the real festival starts on Thursday. Dunkelschön played on Wednesday and Thursday on the Wackinger Stage in the Wacken Village, which is a kind of medieval market beside the "Infield", where the loud bands play on the two largest main stages.

Beside the Artist catering was a huge tent where an International band contest took place. The bands playing there had won band contests in their countries and got the performance at Wacken as prize. They had to sleep in one of the camp sites - but it was the adventure of their lifes! I didn't see any of them, but there's a film about Wacken at the cinemas where I learned all the things I missed when I was there. 

The band contest tent by night.

One of my jobs was checking in at the hotel, in a town 50 km away. Have you ever checked in 10 persons before check in time? Although I only needed the keys without going into the rooms it almost took 1 hour - thanks to the very friendly staff. Otherwise I would have lost more time, while I was rather impatient to get to the festival ground.

The bands staying at the hotel got an artist shuttle from the festival and back - so they could celebrate and enjoy their time.

First I had to get there and as I was "only" crew, my car hat to stay far from the stages and I got some nice impressions of the camp sites on my way.

 While I had got my wristband at the artist check in, the 75000 visitors had to queue to change their tickets for wrist bands.

Finally I found my way to the backstage - thanks to very friendly securities! Never before have I met securities who were relaxed and helpful!

With the band I went to the artist catering which was a little Wacken paradies with almost everything with Wacken printed or shaped on it.

Every artist got a warm meal a day and as much coffee, cold drinks (without alcohol) and ice cream as we had time to drink/eat. In the evenings there were also sandwiches and wraps to eat. Actually I was too excited to eat much, but had several ice creams.

Next the band got their instruments behind the stage and then got dressed in one of the tents you see above. While the stage got hidden by a Wacken curtain, Dunkelschön got ready on stage.

As there were no merchandise stalls, I had time to watch my friends from the crowd and it was great to see the metal heads rocking to medieval rock music. 

After the concert I had sold CDs in front of the stage out of a chest.

Backstage I met many bands I know from other medieval festivals or concerts, like Pampatut, Fiddler's Green, Mr. Hurley & die Pulveraffen, Saor Patrol, Faun and Vogelschrey.

It was midnight by the time we were taken to the hotel and all too tired to have a party at the bar. Festivals are exhausting!

After a common breakfast we had a band meeting before the shuttle took us back to "HolyWacken". Although stage time was later than on Wednesday, the band was even more busy. First they had a "Meet & Greet" for their fans - beside Saxon giving autographs to their fans. 

This was followed by several interviews in the press tent while the first bands were playing on the large stages.

There was just enough time for some food and back to routine: instruments behind the stage - onto the stage and POWER! The village was packed with people, although there were bands playing at other stages as well. There was also one of the top German TV stations (ZDF) ready to record Dunkelschön's performance.

This time I also had my appearance on stage - to take a remembrance photo of the band with the audience. Wow - that was special!

The setting sun gave the stage a wonderful glow and the light show was much more effective - just perfect for a fantastic show!

This time people were queueing up to buy CDs. Never before have I been this busy after a concert - it reminded me a little bit of my first job in a record shop - at Xmas time. 

This evening we had a party in the backstage tent until the shuttle took us back to the hotel.

Thank you Wacken for a fantastic time!

If you want to see more of my wacken photos click here

There are countless videos at YouTube, but this is my favorite. It shows many impressions of this year's festival. Enjoy!

Tickets for 2015 are already sold out - but if you're interested in this festival

Have a look at their HP 

Mousy

Last week I saw a tiny mouse in our storage cellar! No, I didn't jump onto the table or cry in fear. I saw her and that was lucky. Usually the door to this room is open - now I closed it fast. Then I watched the little animal climbing everywhere and decided to take all food in paper bags into the next room. My husband put some peanuts into a live trap and we waited. 2 days later he saw the mouse inside the trap early in the morning, but when I went down to look, the trap was empty again! She's still a baby mouse and tiny!!!!

Although I had to be very carefully every time I had to get something out of the store room (freezer, fridge, tins, jars), we were patient with mousy. My husband wanted to feed her poison, but my daughter and I refused to kill.

Yesterday our daughter noticed, that mousy went in and out of the trap several times and we decided to get a different one. Luckily today our animal friendly child found mousy inside the trap and took her outside. She had no chance to take her into nature, as the little animal climbed straight out of the trap again. It found a cosy hideaway beside our terrace door where our daughter made some photos in remebrance.

Now we hope that our neighbour's cat won't come for a visit until our little friend has enjoyed it's freedom.

 

Medieval Times on the Road

Medieval festivals are very popular all over Germany. Many towns have small or large festivals regulary, although not always every year. Some try to show medieval life, others try to offer lots of things to buy. Some book famous bands, others rather take cheap newcomers.

More than 20 years ago someone started to organise a medieval festival in different German towns. Not authentic medieval, but a medieval fantasy festival, where visitors are also welcome in costumes of fantasy films or books.

I visited my first MPS in 2008 in Bückeburg, not too far from us. Some years ago I also visited it in two other places. Usually most stalls selling medieval things are the same, some are different. There are always 3 or more stages with bands and artists, more or less the same. Whereever one visits a MPS one can be sure that it's impossible to see and hear everything. It's just too much but always fun and the entrance fee is more than fair. Although there are countless offers for food and drink, one is allowed to bring ones own to have an inexpensive day. There's also free drinking water all over the place.

This year my friends of Dunkelschön played for the first time at one MPS near the Dutch border. It took place on an unused air field with plenty of space, but far from cosy as many other MPS premises in parks. As Bückeburg is close I went there some weeks later and now you can see the difference for yourself in my photoalbum at Flickr.

Photos of my MPS visits

There were some different bands and many friends I usually only see at Facebook, so I enjoyed both events. 

Homepage of the travelling Medival Festival

Everything happens at the right time....

Whenever my husband had to push or cycle my old bicycle he complained that I should get a new one. As the bike is still running smoothly as during the past 17 years, I refused to let it go. No bicycle my husband showed me in the WWW seemed any better than my faithful "donkey".

In June I slept in a small town I had never heard of before. As I arrived early for my check in, I decided to go for a walk. There was an interesting building belonging to a fun park, and an old and a new windmill.

But what really caught my eye while passing by, where some bicycles, that reminded me of my first bicycle that got stolen many years ago. Out of curiosity I went into the shop and learned that those bikes are Dutch bicycles, just like my favorite one. Suddenly I felt the longing for a new bicycle - but there was no way to get it into our car to get it home. Nevertheless I was offered a ride on one of the bikes and loved it!

Back home I started looking for a bicycle shop selling Dutch bikes. It took many phone calls and a day trip by train to find my new bicycle - and mind you, I'm very happy with it and love cycling even more than before. My old bike now enjoys transporting visitors and then runs peacefully beside the new one.