⚔️🤘 Wacken Open Air 2027 – The Holy Ground Calls Metalheads Back To Germany

📅 Dates: Wednesday 28 – Saturday 31 July 2027
📍 Location: Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
🇩🇪 Country: Germany
🎂 Edition: 36th Wacken Open Air
🤘 Festival Type: Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Death Metal, Thrash, Metalcore, Doom, Black Metal, Hard Rock & Everything Heavy
🔥 2027 Line-Up: First major wave announced
🎸 Major Names: Five Finger Death Punch, Electric Callboy, Helloween, Knocked Loose, Halestorm, Heaven Shall Burn, Children Of Bodom, Avatar, Jinjer & many more
⛺ Camping: Extensive on-site camping available
🚐 Campervans & Caravans: Welcome within designated camping areas
🚗 Vehicle Access: Access Pass required when entering W:O:A camping areas by vehicle
🎟️ Louder Ticket: €364 + €2 ticket fee
🧑 Younger Ticket: €279 + €2 ticket fee for metalheads aged up to 25
✨ The Pit Ticket: Premium Wacken experience available
♿ Accessible Camping: Wheels Of Steel area
📱 Official App: Wacken Open Air
💳 Payment System: Cashless payment traditionally operates across the festival

There are metal festivals.

There are enormous metal festivals.

And then there is Wacken.

From Wednesday 28 to Saturday 31 July 2027, tens of thousands of metalheads from across the world will once again descend upon a tiny village in northern Germany for the 36th edition of Wacken Open Air.

For four days, peaceful farmland becomes one of the loudest places on Earth.

Giant stages rise from the fields.

Flags from dozens of countries appear across the campsites.

Battle jackets become the unofficial national dress.

Beer flows.

Mud is always a possibility.

And somewhere beneath an enormous metal bull’s skull, thousands of people collectively realise:

They’re finally back on the Holy Ground.

Wacken isn’t simply another festival destination.

For the global metal community?

It’s a pilgrimage.

🔥 Wacken Open Air 2027 Line-Up

And Wacken isn’t wasting any time with the 2027 bill.

The first major announcement has already landed, bringing together heavyweight names from almost every corner of the metal universe.

Confirmed artists currently include:

Five Finger Death Punch

Electric Callboy

Helloween

Halestorm

Knocked Loose

Heaven Shall Burn

Children Of Bodom

Avatar

Jinjer

Dark Tranquillity

Cavalera Conspiracy

DragonForce

HammerFall

Feuerschwanz

Beast In Black

Dethklok

Edguy

Imminence

Napalm Death

Overkill

Metal Church

U.D.O.

John 5

John Bush – Celebrating The Songs Of Anthrax

Kanonenfieber

Make Them Suffer

Malevolence

Sylosis

Shadow Of Intent

Carnifex

Crypta

Belphegor

Gaerea

Creeper

The Browning

The New Roses

Tailgunner

Tyketto

Witch Club Satan

Hiraes

Blue Medusa

Seven Blood

Victorious

Mittel Alta

Heaven’s Gate

Towards The Sinister

plus additional special performances and considerably more still to be announced.

And that’s only the beginning.

This is Wacken.

That poster is going to get a lot bigger.

💀 Five Finger Death Punch Return To The Holy Ground

One of the biggest names announced for 2027 is Five Finger Death Punch.

The American metal heavyweights return to Wacken bringing decades of arena-sized riffs, huge choruses and the sort of catalogue specifically engineered for gigantic festival crowds.

Songs built for tens of thousands of fists in the air?

Wacken knows exactly what it’s doing here.

Expect:

🔥 Huge production

🤘 Massive crowd participation

💀 Crushing riffs

🎤 Enormous choruses

and a field absolutely packed with metalheads.

⚡ Electric Callboy Bring The Party

Then there’s Electric Callboy.

Trying to describe an Electric Callboy festival performance to somebody who’s never seen them is difficult.

Metalcore.

Electronic music.

Techno.

Breakdowns.

Comedy.

Massive production.

Ridiculous outfits.

Thousands of people bouncing.

Absolute chaos.

Their rise through the European festival circuit has been extraordinary, and by 2027 they’re firmly established as one of Germany’s biggest modern heavy-music exports.

On home soil?

At Wacken?

This could be one of the weekend’s most outrageous crowds.

🎃 Helloween Bring German Power Metal Royalty

Few bands belong at Wacken quite as naturally as Helloween.

The Hamburg legends helped define European power metal through records including Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I and Part II.

Their influence runs through generations of melodic and power-metal bands.

Big vocals.

Twin-guitar heroics.

Massive choruses.

Classic German metal.

Put that combination in front of a giant Wacken crowd and you’ve got festival magic waiting to happen.

👊 Knocked Loose Bring Hardcore Violence

Then things get considerably less melodic.

Knocked Loose are coming to Wacken.

One of the most explosive heavy bands of the modern era, the Kentucky hardcore outfit have crossed from underground hardcore clubs into gigantic international festival appearances without sacrificing the sense that everything could completely explode at any moment.

Breakdowns.

Chaos.

Crowd movement.

Absolute aggression.

Wacken pits?

Prepare yourselves.

And pick people up.

Always.

🔥 Heaven Shall Burn

German extreme-metal giants Heaven Shall Burn are another perfect Wacken booking.

Their combination of melodic death metal, metalcore and politically charged heaviness has made them one of Germany’s most important modern metal acts.

Wacken.

German crowd.

Heaven Shall Burn.

You can already hear it.

🖤 Children Of Bodom Legacy Returns

One of the most emotionally significant 2027 announcements surrounds Children Of Bodom.

The music and legacy of the late Alexi Laiho will return to the stage in a special performance featuring Samy Elbanna of Lost Society.

Children Of Bodom left a massive mark on melodic death metal, combining extreme-metal aggression with ridiculous musicianship, keyboards, power-metal melody and Laiho’s instantly recognisable guitar playing.

For a generation of metal fans, songs like Downfall, Needled 24/7, Hate Me! and Are You Dead Yet? became essential listening.

Hearing that music celebrated on the Holy Ground is going to be something special.

🔥 Cavalera Conspiracy

There aren’t many names in metal carrying heavier historical weight than Max and Iggor Cavalera.

Through Sepultura, the brothers helped create some of the most influential extreme-metal records ever made.

Their later work under Cavalera Conspiracy and related projects has continued that legacy.

Expect crushing Brazilian metal.

Tribal rhythms.

Thrash.

Death metal.

And riffs capable of rearranging internal organs.

Lovely.

🤘 John Bush Celebrates Anthrax

Another particularly interesting Wacken 2027 set comes from:

John Bush – Celebrating The Songs Of Anthrax

Bush fronted Anthrax through a fascinating era of the band’s history, appearing on albums including Sound Of White Noise, Stomp 442, Volume 8 and We’ve Come For You All.

His powerful voice gave Anthrax a different character during the 1990s and early 2000s.

For fans of that era?

This could be one of the festival’s must-see special performances.

Not simply another tour stop.

Something built specifically around celebrating a particular chapter of metal history.

🌑 Primordial Celebrate To The Nameless Dead

Irish metal institution Primordial are also set to mark twenty years of their celebrated album:

To The Nameless Dead

with a special full-album performance.

That record has become one of the defining releases in Primordial’s catalogue, combining black metal, folk influences, epic heavy metal and an enormous emotional atmosphere.

At Wacken?

Surrounded by thousands of metal fans?

That’s going to hit hard.

🌑 Towards The Sinister

Another fascinating project comes from Towards The Sinister.

Featuring musicians connected to the early era of My Dying Bride, the project dives back into the roots of British death-doom.

Slow.

Dark.

Heavy.

Miserable.

Basically perfect.

Because sometimes festival joy involves standing in a field listening to music that sounds like civilisation ending.

Metal makes sense like that.

🖤 Dark Tranquillity

Gothenburg melodic-death-metal legends Dark Tranquillity also return to the Holy Ground.

Alongside bands like In Flames and At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity helped establish the melodic death-metal sound that would influence huge sections of modern metal.

Melody.

Aggression.

Atmosphere.

Riffs.

Decades of material.

Never a bad combination.

🐉 DragonForce

Want guitar solos?

No.

More guitar solos.

Still more.

Faster.

Ridiculous.

Excellent.

DragonForce return with the turbo-charged power-metal madness that has made them festival favourites around the world.

If there is an officially recognised maximum number of guitar notes permitted during one festival set?

DragonForce have ignored it.

As they should.

⚔️ HammerFall

Swedish power-metal veterans HammerFall bring another blast of traditional heavy-metal glory.

Battle-ready choruses.

Massive riffs.

Metal imagery turned up to eleven.

Songs designed for thousands of people raising fists simultaneously.

At some festivals that might feel excessive.

At Wacken?

That’s Tuesday morning.

🎭 Avatar

Sweden’s Avatar bring their theatrical modern-metal spectacle back to Germany.

Johannes Eckerström and company have built a reputation for combining extremely tight musicianship with one of the most recognisable visual presentations in modern metal.

Heavy.

Strange.

Theatrical.

Catchy.

Slightly unsettling.

Very Wacken.

🇺🇦 Jinjer

Ukrainian progressive-metal force Jinjer are another major addition.

Built around Tatiana Shmayluk’s extraordinary vocal range and the band’s technically demanding mixture of groove, progressive metal and metalcore, Jinjer have grown into one of modern metal’s most recognisable names.

If you’ve somehow never seen them live?

Fix that.

💀 Napalm Death

One of Birmingham’s greatest contributions to extreme music returns.

Napalm Death remain living proof that age does absolutely nothing to reduce musical aggression.

Grindcore pioneers.

Political fury.

Short songs.

Long history.

Completely uncompromising.

They helped shape extreme music.

And decades later?

They still sound furious.

🔥 Overkill

New Jersey thrash veterans Overkill bring another dose of old-school speed and attitude.

While the famous Big Four dominate conversations about American thrash history, Overkill have spent decades proving there was a lot more happening in the scene.

Huge catalogue.

Instantly recognisable vocals.

Bass tone capable of starting arguments.

Thrash metal exactly as it should be.

⚡ Metal Church

American heavy-metal veterans Metal Church also join the 2027 bill.

Another name carrying decades of history into Wacken, they’ll bring classic US metal to a festival audience that knows exactly what they’re about.

This is one of Wacken’s great strengths.

A brand-new modern metal band can play the same festival as musicians whose careers stretch back forty years.

Different generations.

Same Holy Ground.

🎸 John 5

Guitar obsessive?

Go watch John 5.

The virtuoso guitarist has played with artists including Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Mötley Crüe while developing a substantial solo career built around technical brilliance and an obvious inability to treat the guitar like a normal instrument.

Country picking.

Metal shredding.

Industrial riffs.

Bluegrass.

Rock.

Sometimes within approximately thirty seconds.

Completely ridiculous.

Brilliant.

🎬 Dethklok

Yes.

Dethklok.

The fictional metal band from Metalocalypse that somehow became a very real touring metal band capable of playing enormous festivals.

It makes perfect sense.

Especially at Wacken.

Expect brutal melodic death metal paired with visuals and humour from the animated universe.

One of the stranger bands on the poster?

Absolutely.

One of the ones we’d circle?

Also absolutely.

🇬🇧 Creeper Fly The British Flag

Britain gets some strong representation too.

Southampton’s Creeper bring their theatrical mixture of punk, goth, rock and gigantic choruses to the Holy Ground.

They’ve never been interested in simply standing under some lights and playing songs.

Creeper think bigger.

Stories.

Characters.

Visuals.

Drama.

At Wacken, where theatrical metal is almost part of the local ecosystem?

They’ll fit right in.

🇬🇧 Malevolence

Sheffield heavyweights Malevolence bring another British assault.

Their mixture of hardcore, metalcore, groove and classic-metal riffing has helped them develop into one of the UK’s strongest modern heavy bands.

If you’ve followed their rise from sweaty British venues to massive festival stages?

Wacken feels like another major step.

Expect riffs.

Expect pits.

Expect Yorkshire aggression.

🏴 Sylosis

Josh Middleton’s Sylosis provide yet more British metal firepower.

Thrash.

Melodic death metal.

Modern metal.

Technical guitar playing.

And riffs sharp enough to take your eyebrows off.

Britain’s modern metal scene is in seriously good health.

🇬🇧 Tailgunner

Another UK band worth watching is Tailgunner.

The young heavy-metal outfit proudly wear their love of classic traditional metal on their sleeves.

Twin guitars.

Big vocals.

Leather.

Flying Vs.

Absolutely no embarrassment whatsoever about loving old-school heavy metal.

Correct attitude.

Wacken is probably about as close to their natural habitat as it’s possible to get.

🌱 Wacken Metal Battle

The Wacken line-up isn’t just about giant international names.

One of the festival’s most important programmes is the Wacken Metal Battle.

Bands from countries around the world compete through national competitions for the opportunity to represent their scene at Wacken.

For grassroots musicians?

Playing the Holy Ground can be career changing.

The Metal Battle has helped introduce audiences to artists from emerging heavy scenes across Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America and beyond.

Don’t ignore those bands.

Somebody playing early in the day could become your next obsession.

🌍 Metalheads From Around The World

This is one of the truly remarkable things about Wacken.

Look around the campsite.

Germany.

Britain.

Brazil.

Japan.

Australia.

Sweden.

America.

Mexico.

Finland.

India.

South Africa.

Everywhere.

Flags from around the world hang from tents and campervans.

People who might not share a language still somehow manage to discuss Iron Maiden.

Metal provides translation services.

Mostly through pointing at band shirts and shouting:

“GOOD BAND!”

It works.

🏘️ The Village Of Wacken

Here’s the wonderfully ridiculous part.

Wacken itself is tiny.

For most of the year, the Schleswig-Holstein village has a population of roughly a couple of thousand people.

Then Wacken Open Air happens.

Suddenly tens of thousands of metalheads arrive.

The population explodes.

Gardens become temporary businesses.

Local residents sell food and drinks.

Metal signs appear everywhere.

Supermarkets become pilgrimage sites.

And one quiet northern German village temporarily becomes the capital city of heavy metal.

It shouldn’t work.

It absolutely does.

🌾 The Holy Ground

The festival site is affectionately known as:

The Holy Ground

And once you’ve been?

You understand why people call it that.

This is farmland.

Actual fields.

Agricultural land.

Which means conditions depend heavily on the weather.

Dry summer?

Dust.

Rain?

Mud.

Lots of rain?

Legendary Wacken mud.

Entire boots have probably disappeared beneath the Holy Ground never to be seen again.

Prepare properly.

🌧️ Wacken Weather

German summer weather can be unpredictable.

Therefore pack for both:

☀️ Burning sunshine

and

🌧️ Mud apocalypse

Waterproofs.

Suncream.

Layers.

Good boots.

Spare socks.

Maybe several spare socks.

If Wacken gets properly wet, fashionable festival footwear becomes irrelevant extremely quickly.

Nobody cares what your boots look like.

Only whether they’re still attached to your feet.

⛺ Camping At Wacken

Camping is a fundamental part of the Wacken experience.

The enormous W:O:A campground spreads across agricultural land surrounding the festival.

Traditional camping facilities include:

⛺ Tent camping

🚐 Campervans

🚗 Camping beside vehicles where ground conditions permit

🚿 Showers

🚻 Toilets

🍳 Breakfast tents

💡 Lighting and signposts

🛒 Campsite services

and an enormous temporary metal community.

For many visitors?

The campsite is nearly as important as the arena.

🚗 The Wacken Access Pass

This is important for anyone driving onto the Wacken camping areas.

Every vehicle needs the appropriate Access Pass.

The system manages arrival times and traffic entering the enormous Wacken campground.

Your festival ticket alone doesn’t automatically give your vehicle unrestricted entry whenever you fancy turning up.

If you’re driving?

Sort the Access Pass.

Follow your allocated route and arrival information.

Don’t freestyle it.

Tens of thousands of vehicles are heading towards a tiny German village.

Organisation matters.

🚐 Campervans & Caravans

Wacken is campervan-friendly.

Very campervan-friendly.

Motorhomes, caravans and other live-in vehicles form a huge part of the campground.

Depending on the camping option, additional reservations or services may be available, including pitches with improved facilities or power.

If you’re travelling from Britain by vehicle?

You’ve got yourself a proper European road trip.

Just remember:

Driving home after four days at Wacken is significantly less exciting than driving there.

Rotate drivers.

Sleep properly.

Be sensible.

✨ Special Camping

Wacken also offers several upgraded and specialist camping options.

These include concepts such as:

🏰 Residenz Evil

Upgraded accommodation and camping facilities for festival-goers wanting more comfort.

🏨 Moshtel

A premium accommodation concept for people who like metal but have decided mattresses are rather good.

⛺ Tᴱ.N.T.

Pre-arranged camping options designed to remove some of the hassle of bringing your own setup.

🌳 Bauer Uwes Garten

A dedicated alternative camping experience.

🚐 Camper-Park

Options aimed specifically at campervans and other live-in vehicles.

Availability and pricing vary.

The popular areas can disappear quickly.

♿ Wheels Of Steel

Wacken has put substantial effort into accessibility through its dedicated:

Wheels Of Steel

programme.

The Wheels Of Steel area is designed for metalheads with disabilities or significant mobility requirements.

Facilities include accessible camping arrangements and extensive accessible sanitary provision across the wider campground.

For 2027, eligible festival-goers need a regular Wacken ticket plus suitable documentation to book a Wheels Of Steel plot.

International documentation such as recognised disability cards and equivalent official evidence can be accepted.

That matters for fans travelling from Britain.

Accessibility arrangements should be organised well in advance.

🤘 Wacken For Everyone

One of Wacken’s strongest messages is straightforward:

Everyone has the right to Wacken.

Metal has always attracted people who found community through music.

Different countries.

Different languages.

Different backgrounds.

Different abilities.

One shared obsession.

Heavy music.

That’s what makes Wacken feel bigger than the festival poster.

💳 Cashless Payment

Wacken has increasingly operated through a cashless payment system.

Festival wristbands can be linked with credit which is used to pay at participating bars, traders and food outlets.

Top-ups and refunds are handled through the festival’s official system.

The exact 2027 procedures will be updated closer to the event.

Top tip:

Don’t leave all the financial admin until you’re standing in front of a bar attempting to purchase six beers for the campsite crew.

Sort it beforehand.

🍺 Beer At Wacken

We should probably discuss the obvious.

Wacken and beer have developed something of a relationship over the decades.

There are bars throughout the site.

Campsite drinking is very much part of the social atmosphere.

The village itself embraces the influx of metal fans.

But:

Four days.

Potentially hot weather.

Loads of walking.

Very loud music.

Drink water too.

Your bloodstream shouldn’t be 94% German lager by Thursday afternoon.

Hydrate.

Then continue headbanging.

🍔 Food At Wacken

You’re not surviving solely on sausages.

Although you’re in Germany.

You absolutely could make an impressive attempt.

Wacken hosts a huge range of food outlets offering everything from traditional German festival food to vegetarian, vegan and international options.

Expect:

🌭 Sausages

🍔 Burgers

🍕 Pizza

🥙 Street food

🌱 Vegan options

🥗 Vegetarian food

☕ Coffee

🍳 Breakfast

And the glorious 2am meal that tastes better than any restaurant because you’ve been standing in front of metal bands for fourteen hours.

⚔️ Wackinger Village

One of Wacken’s most distinctive areas is the Wackinger Village.

Here the festival goes slightly medieval.

Expect entertainment involving things like:

⚔️ Historical combat

🔥 Fire

🍖 Food

🎶 Folk music

🎭 Performers

🛠️ Crafts

and people wearing considerably more chainmail than you’d normally encounter during a music festival.

Metal and medieval culture?

Turns out they get along extremely well.

Who knew?

Everyone at Wacken.

💀 Wasteland

Then there’s the Wasteland.

Where Wackinger goes medieval, Wasteland heads somewhere considerably more post-apocalyptic.

Industrial vehicles.

Metal structures.

Fire.

Performances.

Mad Max energy.

It’s part stage area, part immersive environment and part reminder that Wacken doesn’t need to make absolutely everything sensible.

Good.

⛪ Metal Church

Yes.

Wacken has a Metal Church.

Because obviously it does.

Special performances inside the village church have become another distinctive part of the wider festival programme.

The performances can range from acoustic music to dramatic metal arrangements and collaborations.

Capacity is naturally far smaller than the main festival stages.

If something special appears on the schedule?

Get there early.

🎪 Faster & Harder

The two gigantic connected Wacken main stages remain central to the festival experience:

🔥 Faster Stage

⚔️ Harder Stage

These are where many of the biggest bands deliver their enormous Wacken performances.

The stages sit beside one another, allowing the festival to switch between major artists without requiring the main crowd to migrate across the entire site.

When one finishes?

The next begins.

Efficient.

Extremely loud.

Perfect.

🐂 The Bullhead

Few festival images are more instantly recognisable to metal fans than the enormous Wacken bull skull.

The flaming horns.

The logo.

The black skyline.

That visual identity has become inseparable from Wacken itself.

When those horns light up?

You’re home.

Well.

Assuming your definition of home includes tens of thousands of metalheads and industrial quantities of distortion.

Ours does.

🎸 Do Not Only Watch The Headliners

Standard Riff Report Festival Rule:

Watch bands you’ve never heard of.

Wacken is enormous.

If you only move between bands whose logos you already recognise?

You’re missing half the point.

Go exploring.

Watch a Metal Battle artist.

Walk into a smaller stage.

Follow a riff.

See something strange.

Discover a band from a country whose metal scene you’ve never explored.

Wacken brings the world together.

Use the opportunity.

🚆 Travelling To Wacken

Wacken sits in northern Germany, around 50 miles north-west of Hamburg.

For international festival-goers, Hamburg is generally the major gateway.

From there, many fans travel towards the festival using trains, official travel partners, buses, coaches or private transport.

Itzehoe is the nearest major railway station traditionally used by festival visitors.

Official shuttle buses then connect the railway network with Wacken during festival week.

Exact 2027 timetables will arrive closer to the event.

✈️ Travelling From The UK

For British metalheads, several routes are possible.

You can:

✈️ Fly into northern Germany

🚆 Continue by train and festival shuttle

🚗 Drive through Europe

🚐 Take a campervan

🚌 Book organised festival travel

🌍 Use an official Wacken international travel partner

For anyone travelling from Wales?

This is not a casual weekend down the motorway.

This is a proper mission.

A metal pilgrimage.

Get the passport.

Sort insurance.

Check European driving requirements if taking a vehicle.

Book travel early.

And make a playlist long enough to survive the journey.

🐉 Wales To Wacken

Now there’s a journey.

Cymru to the Holy Ground. 🐉⚔️

For Welsh metalheads, the easiest choice may depend heavily on whether you’re camping with a tent or travelling in a van.

Flying reduces travel time.

Driving gives you considerably more luggage freedom.

Official travel packages can remove much of the logistical faffing.

Whichever route you choose?

Don’t leave international festival travel until July.

Flights.

Hotels.

Ferries.

Eurotunnel.

Vehicle arrangements.

Everything becomes more expensive when half of Europe’s metal community decides to travel simultaneously.

🎟️ Wacken Open Air 2027 Tickets

Wacken has introduced several ticket phases for 2027.

The earliest categories disappeared extremely quickly.

⚡ Faster Ticket

SOLD OUT

Original price:

€349 + €2 ticket fee

🔥 Harder Ticket

NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Original price:

€349 + €2 ticket fee

🔊 Louder Ticket

CURRENT REGULAR TICKET

Price:

€364 + €2 ticket fee

The Louder Ticket is currently the final standard regular ticket phase.

If you’re definitely going?

This isn’t one we’d recommend endlessly thinking about.

Wacken ticket demand has a habit of becoming rather enthusiastic.

🤘 Younger Ticket

For 2027, Wacken has also created a special discounted ticket aimed at the next generation of metalheads.

🧑 Younger Ticket

€279 + €2 ticket fee

Available in limited quantities for fans aged:

25 or under at the beginning of the festival

That’s a substantial reduction compared with the full standard price.

A very welcome move.

Heavy metal needs the next generation.

And judging by festival crowds?

They’re doing just fine.

👑 The Pit Ticket

Then there’s the opposite end of the spectrum.

Want Wacken with substantially more luxury?

Meet:

The Pit

Full Pit Ticket:

€1,399

Already have a standard Wacken ticket?

Pit Upgrade:

€1,049

Benefits include premium camping, fast check-in, shuttle services, all-inclusive catering, quick infield access, lounge facilities, festival hosts and special backstage experiences.

In other words:

Wacken.

But you’ve apparently won the lottery.

An element of Pit Ticket revenue also supports the Wacken Foundation, helping musicians and metal-related projects.

❤️ Wacken Foundation

The Wacken Foundation supports developing hard-rock and heavy-metal artists.

That connection to emerging music is important.

Wacken might now be one of the largest metal festivals on Earth, but its origins were tiny.

Supporting the next generation helps ensure there are still bands capable of headlining these fields decades from now.

Grassroots music matters.

Even on the biggest stage.

📱 Wacken Open Air App

Download the official W:O:A App before travelling.

Features include:

🎤 Band listings

⭐ Favourite artists

📅 Running order

🗺️ Festival maps

🍔 Food information

📢 Push notifications

🎪 Supporting programme

📍 GPS-enabled site navigation

And once Wacken begins releasing its full running order?

You’ll need it.

There will be clashes.

Many clashes.

Emotionally devastating clashes.

Prepare yourself.

😭 Wacken Clash Management

Four days.

Huge line-up.

Multiple stages.

You know what happens.

Band A starts at 18:00.

Band B starts at 18:10.

Different ends of the site.

Your mate wants Band C.

Someone else hasn’t been seen since lunchtime.

Classic festival mathematics.

Build your schedule.

Mark the absolute must-sees.

Then leave room for spontaneous discoveries.

Trying to complete Wacken like a checklist will kill you.

Enjoy it instead.

♻️ Green Wacken

Wacken has increasingly expanded its environmental programmes.

The festival’s Green Wacken initiatives encourage metalheads to:

♻️ Separate rubbish

⛺ Take camping equipment home

🌱 Protect the festival site

🚮 Use waste facilities

🚗 Consider sustainable travel

Nobody expects a campsite containing tens of thousands of people to look like a botanical garden.

But there’s no excuse for abandoning everything on Sunday.

Your tent isn’t disposable.

Take it home.

🎸 More Than Music

Wacken is famous for its bands.

But there’s considerably more happening across the festival.

Expect things like:

⚔️ Medieval entertainment

🔥 Wasteland performances

🎭 Walkabout entertainment

🛍️ Metal markets

✍️ Meet-and-greets

🎸 Workshops

🏆 Metal Battle

⛪ Metal Church performances

🍺 Festival bars

🤘 Fan-club gatherings

🎮 Competitions

and plenty of things that’ll appear on the final supporting programme closer to the event.

Explore.

🌐 Wacken Open Air Official Website & Social Media

For the latest 2027 line-up announcements, ticket information, travel advice, camping reservations and running-order updates, keep an eye on Wacken’s official channels.

🌐 Official Website:
www.wacken.com

📸 Instagram:
@wackenopenair.official

📘 Facebook:
Wacken Open Air

▶️ YouTube:
WackenTV

🎵 TikTok:
Wacken Open Air

📱 Official App:
Wacken Open Air

🎟️ Official Ticket Centre:
Available directly through Wacken’s website.

📧 General Festival Contact:
headquarter@wacken.com

Wacken’s official channels are particularly worth watching throughout the coming months because the 2027 bill is nowhere near finished.

More bands are coming.

A lot more bands.

📅 Wacken Open Air 2027 At A Glance

⚔️ Wednesday 28 July 2027

Wacken Open Air 2027 officially begins.

The Holy Ground wakes up.

Stages open.

Metalheads from across the planet gather.

And four days of madness begin.

🔥 Thursday 29 July 2027

The festival moves into full gear.

Major artists.

Multiple stages.

Metal Battle.

Camping chaos.

One enormous international heavy-metal community.

🤘 Friday 30 July 2027

Another full day on the Holy Ground.

By now you’ve forgotten what normal life looks like.

This is fine.

💀 Saturday 31 July 2027

The final official festival day.

One last barrage of riffs.

One final enormous Wacken night.

Then everyone collectively refuses to think about packing up.

🤘 Why Wacken Belongs On Every Metalhead’s Bucket List

Some festivals are important because of the bands.

Wacken is important because of what happens when the bands, fans, village and heavy-metal culture all collide.

It started in 1990 as a tiny event attended by around 800 people.

A handful of bands.

One small German village.

No gigantic international reputation.

No flaming skull.

No global pilgrimage.

Just metal fans trying to create something.

More than three decades later, Wacken Open Air has become one of the most famous heavy-metal gatherings anywhere on the planet.

Yet somehow the village is still central to everything.

The farmland is still there.

The local community is still involved.

Fans still travel from every corner of the world.

And thousands of people still experience that moment when they finally reach the entrance and realise:

They’re standing on the Holy Ground.

For metal fans?

That’s special.

So get 28–31 July 2027 into the calendar.

Check the passport.

Sort the ticket.

Book the travel.

Find the tent.

Prepare for every imaginable weather condition.

Get the battle jacket ready.

And start working through that already ridiculous first line-up announcement.

Because Wacken doesn’t do things quietly.

⚔️ Four days.

🇩🇪 Germany.

🔥 The Holy Ground.

💀 Metal from around the world.

⛺ One enormous international campsite.

🤘 One of heavy music’s greatest pilgrimages.

⚔️🤘 WACKEN OPEN AIR 2027 – FASTER. HARDER. LOUDER.

🐉 The Riff Report Festival Calendar

The Riff Report Festival Calendar tracks rock, metal, punk, hardcore, alternative and independent festivals taking place across Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, Europe and beyond.

And if we’re taking the calendar international?

There aren’t many festivals more important to metal than this one.

From a tiny gathering in a German field to one of the most recognised heavy-metal events on the planet, Wacken has become part festival, part community and part pilgrimage.

Wacken Open Air 2027 – Wednesday 28 to Saturday 31 July in Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The Holy Ground is calling. ⚔️🤘🔥