The mud on Wacken’s meadows after a lot of rain has drastic economic effects for the organizers of the heavy metal festival in Schleswig-Holstein. Due to the lower number of visitors, the organizers are losing several million euros in revenue. “It’s a third of our revenue,” said festival co-founder Thomas Jensen ahead of the four-day festival’s conclusion.
Due to the poor condition of the area due to mud when the metal fans arrived, the organizers had imposed an admission stop on Wednesday for safety reasons. Instead of the expected 85,000, there were ultimately 61,000 metal fans on the site. However, those who didn’t get in will get their money back.
According to the organizer, the so-called ribbon edition of the festival remained open despite the admission stops. In total, around 1,500 people have been allowed in over the past three days.
“23,500 times 299”
That is not so difficult to calculate mathematically, said Jensen when asked. “23,500 times 299, and then you get pretty close somewhere.” The tickets cost 299 euros. According to Jensen’s bill, income of more than seven million euros is missing.
“Despite a bad start, we managed to get in a good mood,” said Jensen. The metal scene is still starving after the pandemic. He is optimistic about the future. “The ticket price is the least evil.” Co-founder Holger Hübner made a similar statement. The economic questions will be discussed after the end of the festival from Monday. “It’s not about money here. Then you wouldn’t have done it anyway.”
“By far the safest Wacken Open Air”
There was positive news from the police and rescue services. “That was by far the safest Wacken Open Air – also in relation to the somewhat reduced number of participants, it somehow welded us together,” said Chief Police Director Frank Matthiesen. Officials registered very few crimes.
“Nothing serious happened here,” said the leader of the rescue team, Volker Böhm. Paramedics would have provided 2,500 services and brought 120 visitors to hospitals. Most of these are already back at the festival.
The festival currently has around 20,000 employees. The organizers emphasized the great willingness to help that authorities, farmers and many people in the region showed them due to the difficult weather situation. The site was secured with 2,500 cubic meters of wood chips, 500 cubic meters of gravel and 12,500 square meters of steel plates.
“But we are the loudest, hardest festival – you just have to go through it,” said Hübner. According to the organizers, almost 70 tractor drivers are working in shifts. “They mill away the ruts so that everything dries again,” said Jan Struve from the event team. On Sunday tens of thousands of metal fans will leave the north again.
Better weather – but still a lot of mud
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of metal fans continued to celebrate on Saturday with better weather. After the rain, the sun shone on Saturday afternoon. But there was still a lot of mud in front of the main stages. It was only in the morning that there had been another heavy shower. The last concerts should end around 2 a.m. on Sunday night.
The police appealed that visitors should only drive sober on the return journey and not under the influence of narcotics. “On the day of departure, the police will carry out priority traffic checks.” Vehicles should be cleared of the coarsest mud and dirt beforehand in order to prevent dirt on the road and damage to your own car.
There was already a musical highlight on Friday evening with the performance of Iron Maiden. Tens of thousands of metalheads, as the metal fans call themselves, celebrated the British band. Again and again fans let themselves be carried away by the crowd over the heads of the people while “crowdsurfing”. Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson thanked the organizers. A lot of people had canceled, he said, considering the unpredictable weather with lots of rain and mud on the site. “Wacken, you made it.” (Wacken, you did it.”)
