Wacken Open Air 2002
By The Punishment Due
This was my first time at Wacken open air, and of course I expected
it to be amazing. Nothing, however, could prepare me for such a
mind-blowing experience!
Pre-Wacken
I made my way from Ireland to England with a flight to Liverpool.
After staying there for a couple of days, it was time. I got onto the
coach at 3pm on Wednesday, and I made my way towards the ferry port at
Dover. It was on the ferry that the ice was broken with the other
metalheads traveling, as we sat for just over an hour, drinking a few
pints and talking away. Then, when we arrived in France, the first stop
was to the cash & carry where I stocked up on loads of beer! We then
made our way on the grueling trip to Hamburg, making a few stops on this
monster 28 hour journey. I'd like to give a big hail to Dave, Rob,
Martin, Tom, Paul, Claudia, Jill, Ben and the rest of the crowd - you
guys ruled!
Thursday
At last, we arrived in Hamburg, where we left off the hotel
dwellers. Two hours later we finally arrived at the campsite, after the
long journey to the town of Wacken and getting through the traffic.
First order of the day was to get the tent, bags and beer to the site,
which proved to be a mammoth task! After a few slip-ups with the baggage
carrying, we set down and started putting up the tent, as the sun was
beating down like an inferno. Then, out of nowhere, a shower of rain
came down like I've never seen before! It took ages to get the tent up
and we had to get fellow campers to help. Cheers!
As soon as everything was sorted, a crowd of us walked towards the
festival area. The amount of people there was insane! It didn't take
very long to get our wrist bands though, so after sinking a few beers,
we pushed on into the festival area. BLAZE BAILEY was finishing his set
at this time, and seeing as the crowd was massive and the ground was wet
and very muddy, I didn't bother going over. I just stood in awe for a
minute or so. I spent a lot of time at the stalls buying CDs and shirts,
and talking to foreign metalheads. I went back to the tent briefly to
hide away my haul, and to grab my backstage exchange form.
Back at the festival, I handed my form to the security guard and he
gave it back and let me through. It was too late for me to actually
exchange it for a pass at this time so I waited for the next day.
Backstage, first thing I did was to get a pint. As I was at the bar, I
met a writer for another magazine and a girl called Natalie, who turned
out to be the girlfriend of Nocturnal Rites' keyboard player, Mattias
Bernhardsson. I sat, chatted and drank with them for a lot of the night.
When they had both left, I was on my own so I went to the opposite bar.
A tall, well built bloke with long curly hair started talking to me, and
when I saw his Artist pass, I asked who he played for. He replied,
"FLESHCRAWL!" It was their new guitarist Oliver Grbavac, who
hadn't even been in the band a month, thus, why I didn't notice him.
After chatting for a while, we got some more drink and sat down for a
while. Now, I was in shock here! I was drinking and talking with
FLESHCRAWL, one of the bands I wanted to see most! When they left, I
walked around again, only to meet Roland Grapow, formerly of HELLOWEEN.
After talking for ages, and getting in a few jibes about "PINK
BUBBLES GO APE" and "CHAMELEON," myself and some Swedish
bloke got talking. After a few more drinks, we decide to leave and check
out the party tent. We had to get out the back entrance because the
festival area gates were locked. We took a wrong turn though, and after
climbing a fence, I found myself inside the Metal Market! (Now bear in
mind that this is around 3:30am) I got promptly thrown out of the Metal
Market, and so I went to the WET stage for the Headbanger's Ballroom
Party (I have no idea what happened to that other bloke.)
I drank so much and banged my head 'till it nearly came off my
shoulders. I can't remember much of what happened in there, but I know
it was amazing. I can't remember how I got back to the tent, but I
believe I knocked it down trying to get in. Great night!
Friday
Most people in our area of the campsite woke up on Friday at
around 12:30pm. My head was pounding from the night before, but I soon
got up, cracked open two tins for breakfast and tried to gather a squad
to go up to the festival site with me. This took about 20 minutes. As we
arrived at the site, IRON SAVIOR were finishing the last few songs on
their set, which wasn't too impressive to tell you the truth. They
played with little emotion or power, and seemed like they just wanted to
get the show over and done with so they could leave. I expected so much
from them, and just bit my lip as they churned through the remainder of
the set. It was fun though, what with all the hay fights in the crowd!
As soon as their set finished, I went backstage so I could exchange
my form for a pass. After getting directed around the place by security
guards, I finally found the press booth and the exchange was made! I was
a happy man. On my way back to the backstage area, I saw a familiar face
in a group of three walking past me. I turned around and said
"excuse me mate, Los Meurtos?" He didn't hear me and I asked
him if he wrote for a magazine, to which he replied "yeah, Metal
Rules." I just smiled, held out my hand and said "The
Punishment Due." We had finally made contact! After himself and his
girlfriend loaded the car with their market hauls, they met me back at
the backstage bar where we talked over a drink. Then Los suggested we
see ANGRA play, which I didn't dispute. I'm glad I didn't, because they
put on a brilliant set! I'm not the biggest power metal fan in the
world, nor am I familiar with this band, but these guys were just
fantastic and know how to put on a show! They were full of energy,
played a set of great songs and really got the crowd going.
After that show, I went off to buy more stuff from the various
markets that surrounded me. After 20 minutes or so of browsing and
buying, I went back to the tent to put the stuff away, as well as to get
a few beers to neck down. I spent a while back at the campsite with a
load of German and Norwegian people and gradually become very
intoxicated once again! Well, I made an effort to get back to the
festival to see FLESHCRAWL, but unfortunately I had a bit of a fall
trying to get into the WET stage and found myself unable to get up! I
missed their show, so in a dejected state of mind made my way towards to
backstage area, where I found Los Meurtos and Nomad on their way out to
see BORKNAGAR, so I went with them. They were excellent! I hadn't ever
heard them before, but I was very much advised to see them by some
people (cheers Ronnie!) and I'm glad I did. I really liked their music
and I was headbanging and shouting and really enjoying myself. Not
really much else I can say on that, having not known any of their
set-list.
SAVATAGE was next on the list at the True Metal Stage and I really
wanted to see them. Not only have I heard wondrous things about them,
but Jeff Waters of ANNIHILATOR was playing guitar for them on this tour
and I really wanted to see him live for the first time! And man, they
slayed! Some excellent metal and seeing Jeff Waters live was just
brilliant. I'd definitely see them again. During this show I got to meet
Black Goat (Barbarian Wrath) and Skyklad (MetalGospel.com), the later of
whom was in an insane headbanging trance when I met her. After a chat
with BG, we cut short our stay at this show and went backstage for some
refreshment. We spent ages backstage drinking, eating and talking away
to each other - so much that I forgot about the DESTRUCTION show! I
quickly burst back into the festival and ran like mad to the Black Metal
Stage. They were thrashing out "Curse The Gods" when I
arrived, and then the one I was waiting for - THRASH 'TIL DEATH! I went
completely nuts, my head nearly come off my shoulders, I lost my voice
screaming along and was in pure ecstasy! One down-point about their show
was that there was a BIG technical screw up - the tech team forgot to
charge the power generator before the gig, and so the stage power went
down in the middle of the show! Other than that, it was completely
amazing, and the guys made an extra special effort to recover from the
problem. THRASH 'TIL DEATH!
Unfortunately, they were the last band I saw that day, finishing at
8:35pm. I'm actually not too exactly what I did after that, though I do
remember going back to the campsite just as CHILDREN OF BODOM were
starting. When I got back, I spent a while with the other people from
our coach, drinking and talking about everyone who we had saw so far. A
few hours later I went backstage again for some more drinking and I
chatted again with fellow VIP pass holders. Then I went out to the
stalls and bought a load of CDs and shirts - it took AGES finding
everything! So when I was about to go back to the campsite, it had only
just dawned on me that all the bands had finished and that the main
gates were locked. The only way out was through the backstage area - two
nights in a row locked in! I went a different direction this time than I
did the night before, and found myself out on the main road. I managed
to get to the town of Wacken, but I couldn't find the campsite entrance.
Luckily for me, I stopped a taxi driver who took me the short distance,
and refused to take any money from me for it. What a nice guy! Upon
arrival back at the site, I was surprised to see that loads of people
were still up partying like mad! I went straight to the tent, put my
haul away and joined them. There was loads of music belting out from
people's stereos and metalheads singing songs together! I remember a lot
of pissed off people complaining about how they missed the one-off
CANDLEMASS reunion because they swapped with Primordial at the last
minute. From this point on I remember very little - I can't remember
going to sleep at all. Another great day anyway!
Saturday
Most people in our section woke up around 12:30pm, during the
ARMON AMARTH set. After getting our heads together and necking down a
few tins for breakfast, we went to the festival. Almost as soon as I
arrived, I went back to tent - it was SCORCHING and I had a heavy
leather jacket on. When I arrived back at the festival, I had lost
everyone so first order of the day was to go backstage, where I met Los
and Nomad. After spending a while doing the usual, I convinced them to
see NUCLEAR ASSAULT - thrash goodness!!! They tore the stage apart and I
headbanged for as long as possible before the heat got to me. That, and
Los wanted to see FALCONER. So I compromised and joined them. Los said
"Falconer is power metal for people who don't like power
metal." This was actually quite true, as I really enjoyed the short
time that I watched them. (That's not to say I don't like power metal -
I like some bands, though it's not my favorite kind of metal.)
But then it was time! As I looked across towards the Black Metal
Stage, the one and only IMMORTAL were getting ready to start! I ran as
fast as I could to get a good spot in the crowd. They opened with a few
early styled songs that I am not familiar with, then "Damned In
Black" kicked in and I was starting to enjoy myself more. Other big
numbers include "Solarfall" and "Withstand The Fall Of
Time" and I headbanged like a nut! One of the best shows I was at,
though I left a little early because I was about to pass out from heat
exhaustion. I escaped to the backstage area where I met, yet again, Los,
Nomad and Ice Maiden! We got some drink and a bite to eat, after which
we met CANNIBAL CORPSE and HAMMERFALL. We spent ages talking to them,
and I took a few pictures of Los standing with the guys. The CC guys
were really psyched up about going on stage later that night, and
although I said I'd be there, I never made it. I went back to the
campsite and got really drunk with all the guys back there that had seen
IMMORTAL, MACABRE, ARMON AMARTH and EXODUS, and we spent ages praising
them all and telling funny stories. I met a load of German people at
this massive orange tent, and hours later, me and one of them (Hail
Thomas!) went up to try and catch the end of CANNIBAL CORPSE. Sadly we
missed them, but we hung around to see some of BLIND GUARDIAN.
BG were nothing special in my opinion. What really bugged everyone
was that they had their sound turned out REALLY loud! It was up so loud
that the band, Unleashed, playing on the Party Stage, could hardly be
heard by any of their spectators. There was only so much I could take of
the band, so after enduring about half an hour of their set, we left and
grabbed a burger. We popped into the WET stage and just as we arrived,
BLITZKRIEG were getting ready to start. HOLY CRAP! BLITZKRIEG were
amazing!!! Their sound set-up was brilliant and their performance was
the best I had seen yet. They played a 10 song set, with 6 of them being
from the new, as yet unreleased album. They opened with
"Inferno" then "The Wraith" a new song then
"Unholy Trinity." The new songs were amazing, especially
"Feel The Pain" which was played just before the almighty
classic that made me and the whole room completely erupt -
BLITZKRIEG!!!! I have never went as insane in my life. I went mad,
headbanging, air guitar and screamed my lungs out as I sang along. It
was the most amazing show I have seen!
After their set finished with a couple of new songs, me and Thomas
left and as soon as we got out, KREATOR had just began their set! I
heard "Violent Revolution" in the distance and we ran down to
catch the action. They also played "People Of The Lie,"
"Coma Of Souls," "All Of The Same Blood" and
"Pleasure To Kill," from what I can remember. They were
fucking amazing! I left briefly during it to run backstage to the press
room and log on the internet, where I posted on the Metal Rules board
telling everyone how I was getting on. I bumped into Los & Co. and
as we were leaving he said "Man, just in case we don't see each
other again tonight, it's been great meeting you!" and I said don't
worry, we will! 20 seconds later I lost them, and never met them again!
Though I think I saw Ice Maiden waving at me from the Kreator photo pit…
After the Kreator show, we went back to the campsite and had the
MOTHER of all parties! There was music, loads of beer, loads of
metalheads and just the most amazing atmosphere and feeling of unity
ever! A few people burnt their tents just before they left to get their
early trips home. I have never been so drunk in my life, it was just
pure amazing! Despite not seeing a load of bands, I have never had a
more amazing experience in my life and I will definitely go next year!
Cheers!