[REVISION HISTORY]

Wacken Open Air 2026-2027: Festival summary and 2027 plans

Updated 22 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-18 20:43 UTC → 2026-08-22 06:42 UTC · added ~~removed~~

The 35th-anniversary Wacken Open Air ran from 29 July to 1 August 2026 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, selling out its 85,000-ticket capacity. The event featured approximately 200 acts across ten stages, including headliners Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Powerwolf, Europe, and Sabaton. Notable performances included Sepultura’s last German show and Running Wild’s final career performance. While organizers described the event as a success, the festival faced some controversy regarding a new price list, with fans reacting to costs such as €6.90 for 0.5 L of beer. Attendees also noted a change in official beer from Krombacher to Bud. Security staff faced criticism for removing political patches from attendees, leading to an apology from security chief Daniel Schlatter and subsequent training revisions. Medical teams responded to approximately 3,500 calls, including 15 heat-related cases during temperatures exceeding 30 °C. Police logged 226 incidents, and unauthorized drone flights resulted in fines. The festival also debuted an ecumenical ‘Metal Church’ service led by Pastor Alisa Mühlfried and Mathias Fuchs, which featured musical performances by ‘MetalGodZ powered by Gelbsucht and friends.’ Unlike previous years, attendees experienced sunny and dusty conditions rather than the typical mud. Technical and social highlights included a record 115 TB of data traffic reported by Vodafone, a partnership with DKMS resulting in 111 stem-cell donations, and inclusive projects like wheelchair-crowdsurfing. Following the festival, Wacken Open Air and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) announced a joint ‘Blood Donation Day’ scheduled for 22 August 2026 at the UKE campus. The initiative aims to address local blood shortages, featuring musical performances by the Heavy Metalchor e. V. and guitarist VanSteef. Preparations for the 2027 edition (28–31 July) are underway. The first wave of the lineup includes Electric Callboy, Five Finger Death Punch, Helloween, Heaven Shall Burn, Halestorm, DragonForce, Napalm Death, and Belphegor. ~~A pre-sale of 10,000 ‘loyalty’ tickets sold out immediately, with the remaining 75,000 scheduled for release on 20 August 2026.~~

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