Wacken Open Air 2022- Part Two

Nothing beats waking up after ‘Fuck-eyed Wednesday’ in a 32 degree sweatbox, to the rank taste of dry Jägermeister in your mouth and the smell of kerosene in your hair. Could it be Thursday at Wacken Open Air 2022? My Crue had been awake a lot longer than me it seemed, or perhaps they didn’t go to bed at all! Two of my Wacken brothers heard me awaken so they unzipped my tent and crawled in with beer cans duct- taped to their hands, spilling beer all inside my tiny tent. Yep… It was definitely Thursday and today was the shiniest day for most of us, with headliners Judas Priest and the mighty Mercyful Fate to look forward to.

I whipped out some under-eye masks because we are fancy and we deserve it, lucky I bought 30 with me as they were in high demand! Everyone wanted to get rid of their festival ‘puffy eyes’ which erupted in a group Death Metal face mask session. It was Beautiful. Then it was time to brush our teeth, Germany has this fluorescent green schnapps called 

Pfefferminz, it both tastes and looks like mouthwash. So it’s no wonder they had a marketing campaign where they gave out pourers with toothbrushes on the end, alas this was how most mornings began at Wacken for us this year. A trip to the communal showers with customary beers to wash the dirt off in freezing cold water and to compliment all of the naked bodies on their tattoos and fantastic breasts. Ahhh there is nothing quite like getting ready for the day with naked strangers. After putting makeup on my face and on all of the boys as well, we were all glittered up and ready for a day of madness.

With Wacken cups full of vodka and a belly full of dusty and delicious camp-cooked bratwurst, we set off to the Headbangers stage to catch Norwegian black metal go-getters Mork. Thomas Eriksen is ever the frontman, his eyes are scarred in black paint as his flowing locks shift along with the German Summer Breeze. Eriksen’s harrowing vocals looming across this dusty field were enough to wake us up after our spa day. He screams out, “This song is about heritage”, as they play into Arv, off their recent 2021 album, Katedralen. “Fuck yeah Wacken, Prost!” as he holds up a can of beer to the us. “Or as we say in Norway, Skøl!” Everyone cheers! Filthy beach balls fly across the moshpit bouncing from head to head to a black metal sound track, this is a hilarious sight to see, it is Wacken after all. Dolk, vocalist of Norwegian band, Kampfar, arrived to the stage to sing his part in Født til Å Herske- (Born to Rule) – unfortunately Dolk’s microphone wasn’t working, so the crowd couldn’t hear him. They didn’t realise until the song was over, which was quite disappointing, because the vocals of these two are a match made in hell. Finishing with Dype Røtter, they take us back to the beginning as Mork say farewell to a very happy and extensive mass.

Making our first trip into the infield after such a long time, we finally step through the gates and my Canadian comrade collapses. His arms spread wide as he hugs the holy land and shows his gratitude and appreciation for being here. His metal brother next to him pours a little beer out for the gods and those fallen and we all share a special moment. We really are home. We see the main stages for the first time and we make a run for it! To the Faster stage, we hustle to the front to see Germany’s Gravedigger to spread their 80’s heavy Metal love and they bought an entire Bagpipe Band! A backdrop bearing the Royal banner of Scotland, the battery of the timbales and the bagpipes in harmony to open with The Brave, was a bit of a tear-jerking moment, before Gravedigger played into The dark of the Sun. Gravedigger have created medieval-inspired concept albums about conflicts and the Scottish struggles for independence from England. I had a feeling we were all going to become very Scottish during this set. Sharing the stage with them, were Hamburg pipes and drums band Baul Muluy and my did they add some punch to an already hard hitting show. Vocalist Chris Botendahl is everyone’s favourite German uncle and he has us eating out of the palm of his hand for Excalibur. The Baul Muluy band chime in throughout the set and the energy on stage is marvellous, especially guitarist Axel Ritt, running and jumping all over the stage. By the time they close the set the infield is packed right back to the gates and all you can hear the roar of thousands of voices screaming to Heavy Metal Breakdown. 

A quick trip into the Bullhead City to the Headbangers stage to wake up with vodka slushies and Swedish Death outfit Vomitory! Since the band reformed and starting touring again in 2018, this was a first for a lot of festival goers this year. We were seeing a band that were there in 1989 and are considered to be in that bracket of Swedish Death Metal Pioneers. A contagious circle pit grew throughout the set, metalheads jumping in, getting thrown out and guitarist Peter Östlund gets them even more worked up. “This next one is a song of true love, this is Terrorized, Brutalised, Sodomized!” We were well and truly awake now and they sent us off for the day with where it all began, Raped in their own Blood from their 1996 debut album. After Vomitory left the stage and the dust settled we found our friends who had been in the thick of it and holy shit were they filthy. Getting out my wet wipes to wipe their dirt covered lips and eyelashes so they could see again, they used some Pfefferminz as mouthwash and were good to go. As the crowd moved over towards the Faster stage, we decided it was lunch time, so we ventured into the Wackinger village to get a meat on a stick, watch the sword fighting. We tried our luck at some axe-throwing and Archery, there really is something for everyone at Wacken Open Air. Back at the main stages we swoon passed Udo Dirkschneider, performing, including songs he played when he was with Accept and we were just in time to have a sing-along to Balls to the wall. 

We had heard rumour of a surprise Amon Amarth concert in between the sets, so we were right up the front with Viking drinking horns full of beer and at the ready. Word of the surprise must have gotten out, because the infield was full to high Valhalla. A makeshift castle stands between the two main stages, which we soon realise is a tall standing stage itself! Both the Faster and Harder stages have a medieval army front line, maidens and men stand strong with their shields. Then we see them, Swedish Vikings Amon Amarth arrive to the tallest stage Wacken Open Air has ever seen. They open with Guardians of Asgaard and I can barely hear vocalist Johan Hegg, over the roar of a very ecstatic Wacken crowd. Wacken always has some surprises under their belt, but this was the biggest I had seen in my seven year Wacken journey and most of those around me felt both honoured and lucky too. They announce their album ‘The Great Heathen Army’ will be released the next day, that they will also have a surprise signing session and performed two live debut’s from the album right under the bullhorn for us. I look at my buddy in the pit with me, sporting an Amon Amarth back patch, happy tears stream through the dirt on his face as he head-bangs his way through their 6 song set. As the afternoon draws to a close, they finish with Twilight of the Thunder God and Wacken goes wild for it!

The sun starts to set over the Wacken skyline and as the curtain dropped on the Harder stage, it was finally time. One of the final bands to tick off my bucket list and judging by the energy of the infield, we were all very ready for Merciful Fate! An upside down neon cross hangs over a marble staircase and in front of the baphomet he stands, danish born King Diamond. Wearing a horned half mask and holding a wooden cross microphone, there is no mucking around before they kick straight into The Oath. Swooning all around the stage in a red leather cape, he screams “We’re gonna go all the way back to 1982 now, this is called A Corpse without Soul.” Kings vocals, have completely floored us, how, how can he still have such a falsetto in his late sixties. He makes a swift costume change into a black devilish crown during very well rehearsed guitar solos and they play through anew song for us. “I’m so glad the sun went down- I was afraid I was gonna melt, It’s beginning to turn into a Dangerous Meeting”, King Diamond’s puns are almost as enjoyable as his vocal range. Ofcourse they also screech through Melissa and I’ve never seen so many metal-heads try and reach such a High note of “Melisssaaaaaaaa.”He grimaces at us, “with this many people, surely a ritual is possible?” The Bullhorn is lit and then we we hear it, Come to the Sabbath, life is now complete, the excitement for this had been building inside us all year and now it was here and we were all it singing together. They of course come back for an encore and now baring a staff, he tricks us by announcing a new song, a short romantic ballad, but instead they play 1983’s 11 minute wonder that is Satan’s fall. That bloody comedian, King Diamond thanks us from the bottom of his black heart as he crawls back into his marble cave under the stairs for possibly another 20 years. What a show. 

Now the infield was shoulder to shoulder packed, people had been waiting hours at the front of the stage for a good spot for Judas Priest! We needed to make our way through to the Faster stage but we were so many and didn’t want to lose each other. So about 15 of us, linked pinkie fingers and made our way through a very stubborn crowd like one ridiculous heavy metal caterpillar. We finally got enough space, quite far back, but near the bar. We exchanged our 2 metre high cup stack and got a shitload of beers. We were pumped! The stage opened, the Priest Trident lowers from the roof of the stage, it lights up the infield and we actually see how many we are and how fierce we look! What an army. The band arrive on the stage to The sound of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs and we lose our Shit. Fashion icon and frontman Rob Halford has tassels for days as he leads the band through their opening song, One Shot at Glory. Crowd surfers were everywhere, kicking our heads. They had come over in the hundreds, surfing the entire length of the infield by the time they made it to Turbo lover. Now if someone gets injured in the middle of the infield moshpit, there is only one way to get them out safely, throw them a medical raft and crowd-surf them to the medical tent, which is exactly what happened during this set. Straight over our heads.

After their melancholic cover of Diamonds and Rust to bring out the lighters in the crowd, they hit us with the high notes of Painkiller and we all try to reach them too. During the encore, Rob turns it up a notch, zooming onto the stage, riding a motorbike, leather whip clenched firmly between his teeth. This was is Hellbent for Leather! The next thing we know, a giant Bull statue is on the stage, to represent the Birmingham bull, where Priest started their journey in 1969 and we all throw our fists in the air for Breaking the Law. Rob has a secret dressing room through some curtains and man did he make use of his wardrobe for this show. Leather coats, sparkles, studs, fancy chaps and after a total of ten (I counted) costume changes, as the clock strikes midnight, they hit us with their final song of the evening, Livin’ After Midnight. This was an absolutely killer performance and Rob Halford sure showed us, that if we think he might be retiring soon? We’ve got another thing comin’.

A midnight feast of delicious potato noodles and a stroll around the Wasteland to warm up at the fire show were just what the doctor ordered. German fiends Megabosch put on a smoking set to the late night wasteland crowd. Our team made it back to camp to drink schnapps and have a 90’s party until 3am. Coco Jambo after Judas Priest? I think Rob would approve. 

For All Things Wacken Click HERE

For Magenta Musik’s Video Coverage of WOA 22 Click HERE

For Wacken Part One Click HERE