Excitement Builds as Wacken 2015 Approaches

Written by Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen

The Wacken Open Air ticket is definitely a hard one to get your hands on, and this was the 10th year in a row that the event has sold out! All 75,000 tickets to the 26th W.O.A. completely sold out in an astonishing twelve hours, which makes this the fastest sellout in Wacken history!

The first Wacken took place in 1990, drew just about 800 people, and just a handful of local German bands played during a Friday and Saturday. It is absolutely amazing to see how Wacken has completely blown up over the past 25 years. With increasing fan attendance and number of bands performing, it is now the biggest open air music festival of its kind.

This year’s festival, which is scheduled to take place from Thursday, July 30th through Saturday, August 1st, already has 90 Bands booked to date and a continually increasing line-up. Musicians and fans travel from all over the world to a small village in Northern Germany called Schleswig-Holstein to be part of it all. Wacken alone proves that music is a universal language, with fans and friends alike rocking out together for three full days, sharing their love for music.

This year’s line-up is extremely impressive, as always, including both newer and classic rock and metal bands. Some of the bands scheduled to perform are: Armored Saint, Biohazard, Black Label Society, Butcher Babies, Cannibal Corpse, Cradle of Filth, Death Angel, Dream Theater, Epica, Europe, In Flames, Judas Priest, Mushroomhead, My Dying Bride, Obituary, Opeth, Queensryche, Rob Zombie, Savatage, Sepultura, Stratovarious, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Uli Jon Roth, Within Temptation, and Zodiac.

Armored Saint guitarist Jeff Duncan said that “Armored Saint has played Wacken in the past and I remember it as one of the best shows I’ve ever played. I’m so looking forward and thrilled to be playing it again. I’m also eager to play songs from Armored Saint’s new album ‘Win Hands Down’ live too.”  This will definitely be a great opportunity for fans to hear the brand new Armored Saint songs. Duncan also said that “Wacken is a metalhead’s dream come true.” I truly hope that this ‘Metalhead’ is able to experience that first hand this year.

Savatage is scheduled to play their first ever reunion show at this year’s Wacken, followed by a performance by Paul O’Neill’s mastermind creation Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This will be the only live show for the two bands in 2015 as well.  Savatage fans have been anxiously awaiting, hoping, and dreaming for over a decade that a reunion tour would one day take place, and now it finally is! Rumors have it that if all goes well, Savatage could play additional reunion shows in both Europe and the U.S.

With this killer line-up, record sellout, and Savatage reunion, this is definitely going to be one of the best Wacken Open Air Festivals to date! If all goes well, I will be giving you all a full report of the show!

For more information on the Wacken Open Air Fest, check out the teaser video:

Visit their official website at: http://www.wacken.com/