First bands confirmed for 2024: Scorpions and Amon Amarth to return as headliners.
Wacken/Germany, August 6, 2023 – On Saturday night, the 32nd Wacken Open Air successfully ended after celebrated performances by Iron Maiden, Helloween, Doro and Heaven Shall Burn as well as shows by over 200 other bands on nine stages – and the return of Lemmy Kilmister to the W:O:A. For the first time, Wednesday was already a full festival day with programs on the main stages.
Despite a difficult start at the beginning of the week, 61,000 fans celebrated the biggest metal party of the year. At short notice, the legendary festival in northern Germany had to take place with reduced capacity due to extreme rainfall with massive effects on the site. “It hurts a lot to know that part of our metal family could not join the party,” explains organizer Holger Hübner. “But unfortunately this step was unavoidable for the festival to take place at all. The real heroes and heroines of the W:O:A are those who had to stay at home or turn back.”
Co-organizer Thomas Jensen adds: “We are all the more happy that this year’s Wacken Open Air turned into a remarkable experience with countless goosebump moments, terrific concerts and an breathtaking sense of community. The great solidarity in our scene and far beyond fills us with gratitude.” Metalheads who were unable to attend W:O:A 2023 will have the price of their ticket refunded as well as having the option to purchase tickets for the Wacken Open Air 2024 first.
At a press conference on the last day of the festival, police, rescue service and fire department as well as the responsible public order office also drew a positive balance with once again a low number of deployments.
First bands for 2024!!!
During the last night, new bands for next year’s edition were announced on the main stages in front of a cheering crowd. Wacken Open Air 2024 will take place from July 31 to August 3, 2024.
Leading the lineup are German hard rock legends Scorpions and Viking metallers Amon Amarth from Sweden. Also on the bill are In Extremo, Blind Guardian and Mayhem. A total of 33 bands have been confirmed for the 33rd edition of Wacken Open Air, including Pain, Beast In Black, Watain, Bury Tomorrow, Blues Pills, Knorkator, Sonata Arctica, Motionless In White and many more.
Witches & Warlocks – a world of magic: Once again, there will be a theme running through the whole festival: In line with the mystical, magical number 33, it will be “Witches & Warlocks“. This will manifest itself in the overall appearance of the W:O:A as well artistic performances and program content.
Bands confirmed: Scorpions, Amon Amarth, In Extremo, Blind Guardian, Mayhem, Pain, Beast In Black, Watain, Bury Tomorrow, Blues Pills, Knorkator, Sonata Arctica, Motionless In White, Unleash The Archers, Sick Of It All, The Warning, Red Fang, The Black Dahlia Murder, Ankor, Primordial, Flotsam and Jetsam, Xandria, Soil, Emil Bulls, Vio-Lence, Wolf, Exumer, Vreid, Brutus, Ignea, Future Palace, John Coffey, and Assagraum.
About Wacken Open Air: Wacken Open Air is the largest heavy metal festival in the world. Starting with 800 visitors in 1990, nowadays 85,000 fans from all over the world travel to Wacken every year, turning the small village in Schleswig-Holstein into the center of the festival scene for several days. The organizing WOA Festival GmbH is connected to a broad network including band management, the Wacken Foundation, tour booking, music publishing, metal travel, merchandising distribution and ticketing. In cooperation with partners, this results in creative solutions and ideas that revolutionize the festival experience, enable technical innovations and produce extraordinary event concepts. Wacken Open Air 2024 will take place from July 31 to August 3, 2024. (www.wacken.com)