Wacken, Germany, 16h of April 2020
This year’s Wacken Open Air has been cancelled
According to yesterday’s decision by the federal German government all major events in Germany are banned until 31 August 2020 to prevent further spreading of the corona pandemic. This means that this year’s edition of the Wacken Open Air, which has been scheduled to the period from July 30th to the 1st of August 2020, will not take place.
Holger Hübner explains: “We are facing an unprecedented situation and for the first time in 30 years we have to announce with a heavy heart that unfortunately there cannot be a Wacken Open Air this year”, says the festival co-founder. “Our whole team has been working intensively on the festival these last last months and the more all of us are bitterly disappointed that we are not allowed to celebrate a Wacken Open Air together with our visitors and the bands this year.” His fellow co-founder Thomas Jensen adds: “This administrative order affects us heavily and we will need some time to process the bad news. Nevertheless, we support the decision of the German government in this difficult situation for the whole world. The health and safety of all visitors, artists, employees, tradesmen, security and rescue services, public authorities and all other participants has always been our highest priority. We as promoters are therefore bound to take an even greater responsibility and have to follow the instructions of the experts.”
With regard to all other open questions such as W:O:A 2021 and the options concerning the already purchased tickets, we will return with another statement as soon as possible and kindly ask for a little patience.
The promoters of the Wacken Open Air would like to give their heartfelt thanks for the trust received in this unprecedented situation for everyone involved.
More information about the Wacken Open Air can be found at wacken.com.
About Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air is the worldwide largest heavy metal festival. Founded in 1990, its original attendance of 800 visitors has grown to more than 75,000 fans from all around the globe each year. For a handful of days, the village of Wacken with its roughly 2,000 inhabitants is turning into the third largest city of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The ICS Festival Service GmbH as long-standing festival organiser is combining music related business areas such as band management, the “Wacken Foundation”, tour booking, music publishing, metal travel, merchandising, and ticketing. In cooperation with diverse partner companies, this network is the source of creative solutions and ideas that revolutionise each visitor’s festival experience, creates technical innovation and produces extraordinary event concepts such as the Full Metal Cruise or the Wacken Winter Nights. Further information can be found at www.wacken.com.