Wacken Open Air 2005
Review By Brat
Good photos by Metaltix (www.metaltix.com)
Not so good ones by Brat
Other photos acknowledged as they appear
What a line-up this year! W:O:A 2005 was to be my biggest and best Wacken festival since my virgin outing in 2002, when I was forced to watch so many half sets because a lot of the bands I wanted to see clashed. Over the years the organisers have improved scheduling immensely from a power/melodic metal perspective with very few power/melodic metal bands clashing by firstly, swapping the positions of the True and Black stages putting the Black stage further from the Party stage; secondly, running the Black stage and Party stage almost simultaneously; and thirdly, running a band competition (Metal Battle) and low profile or relatively new acts on the Wet stage.
For those not familiar with the festival set up of Wacken Open Air, the True and Black stages are the two main stages set side by side and run bands alternately. The True stage usually features melodic, power and old-school bands, while the Black stage usually features the more extreme styles of metal. The Party stage is a smaller outdoor stage set to the far left of the festival area, and in past years, has been dominated with melodic metal. The aptly named Wet stage is in a large tent and in hot conditions resembles a sauna making it somewhat uncomfortable. Ironically, this was the only dry stage this year.
