Wacken Open Air (W:O:A) is a popular German music festival focusing on various forms of extreme metal and heavy metal. It takes place annually in the small town of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. With 60,000 festival visitors, and including personnel a total of over 72,000 attendees in 2007,[2] it attracts all kinds of metal music fans, such as fans of Black Metal, Death metal, Power metal, Thrash metal, Symphonic metal and also Folk metal, from around the world.
The festival was first held in 1990 as a small event for local German bands. By 1998 the event had become the major festival on the European metal calendar and one of the most important in the world and included over 70 bands from all over Europe, North America and Australia. W:O:A is usually held at the beginning of August and lasts three days, during which the festival-goers camp on several large camping grounds surrounding the actual festival area. The 70 or more artists perform across four separate stages over the course of the event.
The festival is well known for its very amicable run, which is a fact that is approved year by year. .
