Wacken Open Air 2023

Day 1

On Wednesday, the first significant day of the festival began with a few hours of delay. Nervosa was originally scheduled to be the first band on the ‚Louder‘ stage, but when I arrived, I saw the Skew Siskin banner on stage, along with Joey Belladonna, Udo Dirkschneider, and Thomas Jensen. They were paying tribute to the memory of Lemmy Kilmister, the founder of Motörhead.

„Skew Siskin started playing at 3:25 PM. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of this band, as I wasn’t familiar with their music. The musicians poured all their energy into the fans who had been waiting for hours at the gates. We were all delighted to finally hear some live music. The band delivered spectacular guitar riffs during their Mötorhead covers. Finally, Wacken had officially kicked off on the main stages!

The second band I photographed is „Ankor“ on the same stage. If you didn’t see them on the Wacken 2023 lineup, that’s normal because the band received the invitation only a few weeks before the festival. Ankor is a Spanish alternative metal band. They have boundless energy and probably gave their all after waiting for hours in the backstage area. This is, of course, positive for all fans who need to let off steam after probably waiting for hours in their cars to enter the campsite. Fito, the guitarist, moved around a lot, played with his guitar, a real beast on stage for the pleasure of the audience. They played a short setlist of about ten songs. We would have loved to hear a bit more. No problem, Ankor has been announced for Wacken 2024.

It’s time for me to move to the „Faster“ stage for the Broilers band. This is the second time I’ve seen them live. The last time was not even 2 months ago at a festival in Switzerland. They’re a good punk rock band who play some heavy stuff with a great cover of Judas Priest’s ‚Breaking the Law‘. The performance was almost exactly the same as at the Summerside festival, with a 1 hour 15 minutes set. I’m not a big fan of punk rock, but I highly recommend seeing them live

„The last time Battle Beast played at Wacken was in 2019 on the „Faster“ stage. This time, the band played on the „Louder“ stage. Noora was in top form, her voice as powerful as usual. The band’s performance was slightly better than at Summerside 2 months ago. Noora loves to involve the audience by getting them to jump during the song „Eye Of the Storm.“ The setlist featured the greatest hits from their latest albums, totaling 12 songs. A bit short for the fans and myself. We would have wanted one or two more songs. Battle Beast is currently on tour in North America and will return to Europe in early 2024. All tour dates have been announced on their social media.“

„The last band of the evening that I photographed is Beyond the Black. Same lineup, same stage setup as the tour with Amaranthe last year, but they added flames to make the visual spectacle even better. For those who discovered Beyond the Black on YouTube through their latest official music video „Dancing in The Dark,“ they finally got to hear it live and got an idea of this band. They truly deserve to fill large concert halls. What a band!

Unfortunately, on this day, I missed a few bands. It was difficult to know which band was playing when since the website wasn’t regularly updated. Additionally, it was not easy to run between the „Faster“ and „Louder“ stages with my cameras and the large amount of mud. Nevertheless, I was able to photograph 5 bands in the middle of the festival’s persistent rain.“

Day 2

„The second day was much better than the first muddy one. The sun was out despite a few rain showers during the day. There were a lot more of us than yesterday. The festival-goers were ready to make the most of it. All the big stages were ready to rock today! There were a lot of decibels generated on this 2nd day of the festival. Today’s headliner was Helloween, who played on the ‚Faster‘ stage at 10.30pm. There were no reports of any delays on the main stages.

What better way to start the day than with a photo of the band Skyline? For those of you who don’t know this band, they’ve been opening the main stage at Wacken every year since 2009. The band plays covers of popular metal songs. They sang AC/DC, Linkin Park, Metallica, etc. during 45minutes concert. I can’t compare the concert with previous years as this is the first time I’ve been to Wacken. I found the concert to be of excellent quality, and the covers were very close to the original bands.

After 15 minutes break, we moved directly to Vixen, an all-female glam metal band. Wacken is lucky enough to welcome them to their festival, as it’s the only concert in Europe this year, a superb discovery of this band live. The synergy between all the musicians was perfect. During the song „I Want You to Rock Me,“ Lorraine, the lead vocalist, approached the audience by coming down from the stage to continue part of the song on one of the loudspeakers down towards the pit. Rock songs in the style of the 80s undoubtedly represent one of the most memorable and influential decades in the history of music. A great band to bring this kind of music back to life.

It’s Uriah Heep’s turn to take the stage. Are you familiar with this British band that has been around for over 50 years? If you haven’t, I’m pretty sure you’ve already heard one of the following songs: Gypsy, Lady in Black, and Easy Livin‘. These songs were in the setlist for the concert. Bernie’s voice is so distinctive you could recognize it without seeing them on stage. Uriah Heep released an album this year called ‚Chaos and Colour,‘ but the band didn’t play any songs from their latest album. For the time being, I’m really pleased with the concerts I’ve seen on the main stages, a great program.

15 minutes later, the ‚Faster‘ stage was taken by Hammerfall. A band I’d been wanting to see for a long time. From the very first song, the band sent out a ton of decibels, with drums blasting through us. Pontus, the guitarist, played some truly amazing guitar riffs. You could hear the bass keeping the rhythm going with Joacim’s amazing vocals. A great power metal band to see at least once in your life.

It’s time for the thrash metal band to perform on stage. They’re a German band from Essen, formed in the 80s. Can you guess which band it is? It’s, of course, the famous band Kreator. During the concert, before the song ‚Awakening Of The Gods,‘ lead singer Mille asked the crowd to spread out in circles to make a giant mosh pit before continuing with the song ‚Enemy of God.‘ During the concert, Sofia Portanet took to the stage to perform with Kreator on the song ‚Midnight Sun.‘ I’ve already seen Kreator live several times. The show was as energetic as ever, with mosh pits and crowd surfing. A show that didn’t last long enough.

We end this 2nd day with another German band, but this time power/speed metal. As usual, the drummer is on a huge pumpkin in the middle of the stage. The special thing about this band is that there are 3 guitarists, all as talented as the others. In the middle of the set, we got a stunning guitar solo from Sascha, and a few songs later, it was Dani’s turn to give us an insane drum solo. The concert ended with the legendary song ‚I Want Out,‘ where orange balloons were thrown into the crowd. Helloween left after a 2 hours show. For the more motivated, there were still concerts on other stages.“

Day 3

I woke up to sunshine in the morning, and it was great to see blue skies. Without a doubt, the 3rd day of the festival was the best, with no rain falling in Wacken. The mud was starting to solidify, which made it easier to move around the festival. I took the opportunity to visit the whole of Wacken and also take a look at the other stages.

We started off strongly on the main stage. Kärbholz had the honour of opening the main stages this Friday. They’re a German indie-punk band. From the first note they played, I got a good impression of this band I didn’t know, and I wasn’t wrong. We were offered an exceptional 1 hour show. The band sings in German, which is a nice change from most bands who only sing in English. If you’d like to see them again, they’re on tour in Germany in October, with a date in Switzerland.

A short 15 minutes break for the ears before continuing with Amaranthe, a band I absolutely did not want to miss. I can’t explain why I like this band so much. Maybe it’s because they have a different line-up, with 3 vocalists, a female sing lead, a male singer, and a growler. This year Mikael Sehlin joined the band to replace Henrik ‚GG6‘ Englund Wilhelmsson who left last year. Every line-up change for a band is a risk. I think Mikael fits in perfectly with the band. We were given a classic concert setlist with quite a few songs from their latest album, Manifest. A new song was added, ‚Damnation Flame‘, which was released at the end of June. The band’s performance was, as usual, exceptional. They used pyrotechnic effects and smoke machines to create a more enjoyable visual. As always, the band finished with the song ‚Drop Dead Cynical‘, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year. During the show, Amaranthe announced the new date for their next album.

We switched from melodic metal to metalcore, a totally different universe. It’s While She Sleeps‘ turn on stage. A band I’d never seen before, I’ve seen others metalcore bands like Bullet For My Valentine and Parkway Drive. Unfortunately, I wasn’t captivated by While She Sleeps. There was something missing for me to enjoy the show. However, the festival-goers seemed very happy with the show, and the fans‘ festival experience remains the most important thing.

Metalcore fans just have to move to the stage on the left to see a second metalcore concert, with Trivium on stage! The line-up is a special one, with bassist Paolo unfortunately unable to play at Wacken due to an emergency operation. We hope he’ll be back on stage in top form soon. So it was Josh Baines from Malevolence who took to the stage with Trivium at the world’s biggest metal festival. That doesn’t change anything about the performance, which was exceptional, with the biggest crowd-surfing gig ever. The security guards had their work cut out securing the crowd surfers in the pit. A big thank you to all the security team. You guys are top-notch.

The next concert was a complete change of style, with the loudspeakers playing Celtic music by Santiano for 1 hour 15 minutes. I don’t think many people knew this band, but it’s good for all metalheads to discover something new during their favourite festival. Some people went off to get some food and drink during the concert before the 2 big headliners of the day, Megadeth and Iron Maiden.

One of the „Big Four of Thrash metal“ bands, Megadeth, started playing at 7.15 pm. Here’s a quick introduction via the screens on stage. They kicked off with ‚Hangar 18‘, one of the band’s greatest hits. This song will be celebrating its 20th anniversary next year! Already?! Marty Friedman, former guitarist with Megadeth, came along to play guitar with the band for 4 songs, ‚Trust‘, ‚Tornado of Souls‘, ‚Symphony of Destruction‘, and ‚Holy Wars… The Punishment Due‘. For a thrash metal legend, the performance was, of course, very high, much to the delight of the fans.

Later in the evening, Wardruna took to the ‚Harder‘ stage. Do you know this group? „Wardruna is a Norwegian music constellation dedicated to creating musical renditions of ancient Norse and Nordic traditions. We use a broad selection of both traditional and historical Nordic instruments. Non-traditional instruments and other sources of sound such as trees, stones, bones, water and fire are used to enhance the nature of the theme being ‚portrayed‘ in each case. Thorough research and serious study form an important foundation for our music, but the ultimate intention is not to copy or recreate music from any specific time period. We take thoughts, tools and methods from the past and use them to create new music which builds on the contemporary as well as the ancient“ (source: https://www.wardruna.com/about/). The atmosphere on stage was special, with very little light and just a few curtains. The concert was intense and magical; you could feel yourself traveling through the songs. I recommend Wardruna if you want to discover something unique.

The last band I photographed on the 3rd day of the festival was Lord Of The Lost, a German gothic metal band who have only been around since 2007. They have around 550,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. In this sub-genre of metal, we’re used to hearing female lead singers. This time it’s a man. I thought this band stood out and offered something different audibly. I love it when bands really have their own identity, and you can recognize certain songs without even knowing which artist they are.

The 3rd day ended very late. It’s time to get some rest for the last day of the festival.

Day 4

„A heavy rain shower woke me up just before 10 am. I hoped the mud wouldn’t turn to liquid again, but unfortunately, it did. It was difficult to get around the festival again. I noticed that there were already fewer people than the day before. It’s a pity because there were still some great bands to see.

Masterplan opened the main stage by celebrating their 20th anniversary. Rick, the singer, arrived on stage wearing diving glasses before taking them off for the first song. Very few people were there at 11:30 am for this first concert. Probably the metalheads are still asleep from the previous night’s intense program.

Shortly afterwards, the band Delain took to the stage. As a reminder, Martjin Westerholt, the band’s keyboardist, announced that he and all the other members of the band were splitting up. In 2021, Delain welcomed 4 new members. I’d never seen Delain in this line-up before. I have to admit I really like it. Diana’s voice is melodious and fits in perfectly with Delain’s songs. The band released their 7th studio album in February 2023. They sang a few songs from it, including ‚The Cold,‘ ‚The Quest and the Curse,‘ and ‚Moth to a Flame.‘

The next band to play on the ‚Harder‘ stage was Ensiferum, whose distinctive feature was that 4 of the 5 musicians sang during the songs, alternating between clear and guttural vocals. The melody of the songs is very infectious, and the performers‘ stage presence is captivating. Their songs took us on a trip to the land of the Vikings. This is another band I knew very little about, but which made an impression on me. I saw them again at Rock the Lakes in Switzerland a few weeks later. The 2 concerts were brilliant.

At 3:15 pm, it was time for Jinjer to take to the stage. A big banner appeared with the band’s name and logo in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. As you may have guessed, this is a Ukrainian band. The composition is simple (a singer with 3 musicians, a drummer, a guitarist, and a bassist) but effective who’s send out decibels. As always, Tatiana, the singer, captivated the audience with her gestures and her voice. One song I absolutely wanted to hear live was ‚Pisces,‘ but they didn’t sing it again. Maybe next time.

Beer? Duck? Lots of fun? Have you figured out which band I’m talking about? The famous band Alestorm, of course. In less than an hour’s performance, the band had the audience engaged and involved. I love the way Alestorm manages to seduce audiences, even those who don’t necessarily listen to their music. Their energy on stage is incredible, and the audience really enjoyed themselves. Perhaps the most fun concert at Wacken.

I ran over to the ‚Louder‘ stage to see Kataklysm playing. I spotted the banner with the band’s name written on it in blood red from a distance. It was great to see this band play in an open-air because the lights are limited and often red and blue in concert venues. We were able to see their demonic riffs and headbanging in the middle of the day. In the middle of the show, Kataklysm announced the release of their next album, ‚Goliath,‘ on 11 August 2023, before going back to heavy sounds.

Last trip around the marsh to get to the 2 stages „Faster“ and „Harder“ for the rest of the evening. Killswitch Engage turned up to take to the stage. This was a band I’d never seen live, or on an album, so it was a big discovery for me. I thought the performance was pretty decent. However, after talking to a few fans, they told me that the performance wasn’t quite as good as always; Jesse seemed to have less energy than usual. Some fans were expecting a bit more violence from the band.

Folk returned to the ‚Harder‘ stage with Saltatio Mortis, and as with Alestorm, there was a lot of energy from both the band and the audience. There were pyrotechnic effects, flames shooting towards the audience like at Amon Amarth concerts. It was a very intense show, and I even got some liquid for the fire machines in my lens. A few songs later, the singer asked the audience to sit down and then jump with him. A lot of people jumped in the Holy Ground. Later, the singer came down from the stage and climbed on the crash barriers. He was held up by fans in the front row. A crazy atmosphere at Wacken!

We continued the evening with Heaven Shall Burn. I was speechless, it was a masterful concert. They totally deserved their place at the top of the headline next to Doro. Hundreds of kilos of equipment, screens, flames, sparks, explosions, curtains of sparks. They blew it all up right from the first song with ‚Endzeit.‘ A huge concert who’s promised 1 hour 30 minutes of madness. I saw Heaven Shall Burn again 2 weeks later in Switzerland at Rock The Lakes. The Wacken stage is gigantic, and Heaven Shall Burn was able to bring all their equipment to put on an extraordinary pyrotechnic show. What a band!

After the previous emotional concert, it was Two Steps From Hell to perform now. It was night and day, 2 completely different styles. For those unfamiliar with Two Steps From Hell, it’s an orchestra that composes epic music for movie trailers. I don’t know exactly how many people are in the band. In any case, the Wacken stage wasn’t a problem for getting all the musicians to play on stage. I never thought I’d see this orchestra perform at Wacken. It’s not metal, it’s not rock. However, I loved discovering this band on the last day of the festival. Hearing this band is really incredible. They’ll be in Zürich on 29 September 2023, so I think I’ll be seeing them again at the end of the month!

It was getting late and the rain had fallen again at the festival. However, I couldn’t go back to the campsite without getting some photos of Dropkick Murphys. After seeing the enthusiasm of the fans with Alestorm and Saltatio Mortis, I was sure that Dropkick would really attract the metal fans. The atmosphere was great until the very last second of the festival. Crowd surfing fans were able to enjoy the last concert on the Holy Ground. I’ve really no words to say. The fans were dancing and singing throughout the concert. I think the performance talked for itself.

Shortly before the final concerts, the first bands for Wacken 2024 were announced, headlined by Scorpions and Amon Amarth. If you’ve been dreaming of seeing one of these two bands at Wacken, unfortunately, it’s not possible, as the festival is already sold out. Maybe next time. I was really pleased to be able to take photos of my favorite bands. Thank you, Wacken, for trusting me. I hope you enjoy my work. Plekvetica will be happy to come back soon. Thank you to the organizers, the security staff, and all the volunteers for making this wonderful festival possible.

Pictures by Kevin (Istagram : csk_lens)

Report writing by Kevin (Istagram : csk_lens)