Moshking.com: Wacken Open Air 2008


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	The Photo Albums
The Written Review	The PreParty	Wacken 2008: Day 1	Wacken 2008: Day 2	Wacken 2008: Day 3

Wacken Open Air - July 31st - August 2nd 2008
Review & Photos By Denis Recendez & Doug Kasper

This review will include pictures, videos, and my written thoughts of Wacken 2008. Though many of the pictures will be linked to text in the written review, please also view the photo albums linked above and at the title of each day below. The photo albums will have even more pictures and tell a better story of my

experience at Wacken 2008.

This year, I headed to Wacken with my best bud, Doug. He took many of the pictures featured in this review.

Wacken 2008 Pre-Party in Hamburg on July 29th 2008 (CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO ALBUM)

Hamburg is always a great place to hang out and, in my opinion, is one of Germany's beautiful big cities. There is a lot to do and it is a fascinating place to get settled before Wacken. I recommend getting into Hamburg 3 three days before the first day of bands at Wacken, especially if you have never been to Hamburg.

We arrived in Hamburg on Monday (you lose a day flying from the states) and took a bus and then a train to our hotel. We stayed at the Radisson SAS Hotel, a really nice hotel and one of the largest buildings in Hamburg. It's pretty easy to find and is steps from the train station which makes it easy to get anywhere you want to go.

The next day I found out that a couple friends mine, Adam and Steve, were not only in the same hotel, but in the room next door to Doug and me. You may know Adam (as Satan's Might) and Steve (Steven Strong) of Cult Of The Horns.

Amid the many things to see in Hamburg before heading off to Wacken are the St. Pauli Fair, The Reeperbahn, and the pre-party for Wacken at the Ballroom Hamburg. The St. Pauli Fair is much like what you would see at the Orange County Fair, but with MUCH better food and beer. The Reeperbahn reminds me of Hollywood Blvd, but with better restaurants and entertainment (leave kids at the hotel, or better yet at home).

But, the best party in Hamburg is at the Ballroom Hamburg just off the Reeperbahn. The coming days of Wacken I suspect are the craziest for the Ballroom as metalheads from all over the world (I mean that literally) descend on this small club. Of course, you are going to meet tons of people from Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and The Netherlands but on this night, Doug and I also met people from India, China, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, as well as many from the US.

When the party inside Ballroom Hamburg got too crowded or hot, the party continued outside where there were just as many metalheads (if not more). YOU CAN DRINK ALCOHOL ON THE SIDEWALK IN HAMBURG!

Doug:: If you go to Wacken, you have to go to the Ballroom Hamburg for the pre party. I have never had so much fun at a club. Like Denis said, there are people from all over the world that come to this club before Wacken. I conversed with many people from all over the world but the two best conversations I had that night was with a fellow metalhead from Brazil on the subject the current world wide metal scene as well as the scene in LA and the scene in Brazil, which we capped off with a shot of Jaeger. And a separate conversation with another metalhead from India named Swarma about metal in general which we capped off with a shot of Jaeger for me and a shot of Jack for him. I felt like I was at a party with 500 friends. You don't get this type of camaraderie in the states. At one point in time during the night the DJ played Angel of Death by Slayer (my favorite band) which I had to run in (I was outside) and headbang to for the duration. I've headbanged to Angel of Death in Germany, I can now die a happy man.

On the night Doug and I were there, we were treated to performances by Destructor (Thrash Metal from Cleveland, Ohio) and Stone Cold Black (Thrash Metal from Hamburg, Germany) that went well past midnight. The party (in and outside) went on into early morning. I think I finally split around 3am to catch the first U-Bahn back to my hotel. Doug stayed awhile longer and worked himself into a Jäeger-frezy.

Doug:: I stayed until 4 am. I drank lots of beer and Jaeger and ended up puking in the subway station. Fuck it, life is short.

Wacken 2008: Day 1 on July 31st 2008 (CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO ALBUM)

Though the camp sites at Wacken are open the day before the bands actually play, Doug and I decided to get there on the first day of bands. We left Hamburg around 8am for an easy 60 mile drive. If you can afford it, I recommend going there by car, in the event you wish to escape the elements of camping, like my wuss ass. It also makes it easier to leave all your shit in the car instead of having to have it in your tent or around it. Otherwise, you can get there by train with some of the trip by taxi or shuttle from neighboring cities.

On the way to Wacken, Doug and I stop in Itzehoe off A23 (autobahn) to pickup supplies, food, and water at this little supermarket that had a deli with great sandwiches.

Doug:: We hadn't eaten yet that morning since nothing opens early in Germany (unlike the US) including Burger King, which we found out when the lady yelled at us in German. I'm not sure if she was yelling about not being open or the fact that I went through their drive through the wrong way when I was trying to get to the parking lot.

Despite the numerous warnings we had received about the traffic, we actually came into Wacken, got our press credentials, and arrived at our camp site just after 10 am. Had we not been in invited into the press camp area, I suspect we wouldn't have come to our camp site till well after the bands started (4pm).

After getting ourselves oriented, Doug and I headed off to the festival area, stopping briefly at the press area. After taking in the festival ground for a bit, we headed off to the beer garden to meet up with our buds, Adam and Steve. We had agreed to meet up at the Biergarden daily at noon just to hang out. We ended up getting there at about 12:30 pm.

The Biergarden is a great place for people watching, meeting new people, hanging out and drinking great German beer.

Doug:: Like at the Ballroom Hamburg, there really is a sense of camaraderie and openness here in Europe. We had agreed to meet that same area of the Biergarden everyday (because it's huge) and many times there were other people at our table so we just sat down and instantly conversation just flowed with people I had just met. It was awesome.

It was at this time that I discovered my new favorite beer, Franziskaner. I think Doug, Adam, Steve, and I sat in the same spot for about 3 hours. It went quick.

Around 4pm, Doug and I went off to see Girlschool on the Black Metal Stage, the legendary all female hard rock band from London. They played a good mix of music from the 80's release up to their 2008 release of Legacy.

After Girlschool, we needed to get our tent and other gear from the Wacken Open Air Headquarters. We had to walk through quite a bit of Wacken to get there. So we got to take in some of the small town (population 2,000) that lies outside the festival grounds. We then dumped our stuff back at the car.

I headed off to the W.E.T. Stage to see Negura Bunget, a Black Metal band from Romania, while Doug headed off to see Sturm and Drang on the Party Stage. We both got to our respective stages in time to catch the last couple songs from Negura Bunget and Sturm and Drang.

I stayed at the W.E.T. Stage and Doug met me there after Sturm and Drang finished on the Party Stage. What brought us to the W.E.T. Stage when there were bigger bands playing on both the Black Metal and Party Stages was Alestorm, self-dubbed as True Scottish Pirate Metal. One might chuckle at the description as I did the first time I heard it. But, after a few songs, I was into them! They are very fun metal band with anthem like lyrics that one would expect from pirates. They turned out to be one of the many fun surprises of the festival.

It was now time for the mighty MAIDEN to take the True Metal Stage. I headed to the photo pit area with camera in hand. I arrived at the pit area and realized I was ill equipped. I stood at the photo pit entrance with my $400 Canon point & shoot in the midst of photographers with multi-thousand dollar cameras. I felt like a soldier with a pocket knife standing at the frontline amid warriors with swords. I started taking shots of the huge crowd that had gathered. About 5 minutes before Iron Maiden took the stage, the warriors and I were led into the middle of the photo pit. Unfortunately, shortly after that, Iron Maiden's tour manager threw me and the photographers out, stating we didn't clear permission to photograph Maiden. FUCK!?!? Oh well. I took some real crappy shots of Maiden from the

crowd and managed to have a great time anyway. Most of the music they played were classic tunes of their past.

From the looks of the crowd, it appeared as if all 70,000 people had come to watch Iron Maiden who played for close to 2 hours. This was a true feast of music for the fans of, what I believe, to be the greatest band of all time, Iron Maiden. The highlight of the set was the nearly 70,000 strong crowd doing the chanting parts of Heaven Can Wait and Fear Of The Dark.

After Maiden's set, Doug and I went back to the Biergarden to have some good beer and food. I crashed back at the car sometime after that.

Wacken 2008:Day 2 on August 1st 2008 (CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO ALBUM)

Doug and I headed of to the Biergarden again. On the way, we ran into another friend of ours from Southern California, Jeff. It is at this time that I took my favorite picture of the festival. As I took another self portrait, Doug, Jeff, and I held up our mugs of beer and let out a battle cry with the Black Metal and True Metal stages in the back ground. This picture best catches my excitement of being at Wacken 2008.

After hanging out with Jeff, I went to the press tent to see an interview of the legendary Doro Pesch, hosted by Sabina Classen of Holy Moses. Doro discussed her 25th anniversary show at the ISS Dome (in Düsseldorf), an interesting recording session with Warlock (see video below), and more. As she was wrapping up her interview, I caught my second favorite shot of the festival.

After that, Doug and I headed to the Black Metal Stage to see Ensiferum, the folk metal legends from Finland. They play a mix of power metal, black metal and viking metal to the lyrics of Finnish folklore. I didn't know too much about them going in. But, they made a fan out of me by the end of their performance. They gave one of my top 5 favorite performances at Wacken.

During Ensiferum's set came the first rain. This might have made a miserable experience for some. But, Ensiferum's music and the pouring rain gave me one of many natural highs of the festival.

After Ensiferum, Doug and I went the press area where Doug ran into a couple members of Grave. Unfortunately, I had missed their performance earlier in the day (the first of the band on Day 2). Doug said they gave a brutally impressive set.

Shortly after, Kamelot took to the True Metal Stage. Kamelot is an outstanding progressive metal band from Tampa, Florida. From what I remember, they played a mixed set of material from all their releases. One of the high lights of their set was when Simone Simmons (Epica) came on stage for a duet with Roy Khan. All in all, Kamelot gave a fiery performance.

Next up was on of my favorite bands, Soilwork of Sweden. Soilwork performed a descent mix of tunes, mostly newer stuff. I truly wish they would play more stuff of off my favorite of theirs live, A Predator's Portrait. But, I was still satisfied. The high light of the set was when the band invited the

crowd to do a wall of death in a very muddy pit during their performance of One With The Flies. There are numerous YouTube videos of this including mine below.

After Soilwork's set, I don't remember much of what I did for the next 3 hours. I will blame this on alcohol. Somehow, I managed to miss great sets from Opeth, Sonata Arctica, and Children of Bodom.

But, I did make it back into the festival area to see Corvus Corax from Berlin, Germany on the Black Metal Stage. They are a, hmmm, well I am not sure what they are. From what I gathered from the music, they are a German Folk/Celtic band. Coming out of my alcohol induced 3 hour coma, I thought someone had transported me to another festival. Corvus Corax had a mix of wind instruments (heavy on the bagpipes), different types of drums, and operatic singers. Not really a metal band. But, they made for an interesting break from the rest of the bands.

Next up was Avantasia on the True Metal stage. I credit my friend Melanie for educating me on the unique treat is was to see this band live. Avantasia is project made up of musicians from some of the more predominant progressive and power metal bands of the time. The band was probably is huge jam session turned serious project. I was not too familiar with their music as I watched them take the stage. But, wow. They gave a remarkable performance. With each song, a few musicians at a time would be switched off to do their own songs of the Avantasia releases. They definitely lived up to the hype.

Next, and last for me, was Gorgoroth on the Black Metal stage. Many may remember Gorgoroth's Gaahl and his response to the question of "What is the primary ideology behind Gorgoroth's music" in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. "SATAN". Most though know Gorgoroth as one of the pioneering black metal bands from Norway. They delivered the most demonic set, combining their music with the stage full of crucified humans, blood red lighting, and lots of fire.

After that, I stumbled back to my tent and crashed.

Wacken 2008:Day 3 on August 2nd 2008 (CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO ALBUM)

I decide to start the day with a walk through the Metal Market. The Market is pretty huge, about the size of a Target store, expect outdoors. You can find all things Metal and other stuff too. Of course, you have clothing, music, and memorabilia. But, there were also vendors selling furniture, flags and sex toys with models. But, bring cash. I didn't notice any vendors that took credit cards.

Walking out of the Metal Market took me to the Biergarden. There, Doug and I meet up with Adam and Steve. By this time, I was starting to show the wear and tear of the festival, but beer cures all.

After a few hours, we headed to the festival where it was time to see Holy Moses on the Black Metal stage. I didn't know too much about Holy Moses other what I had heard about Sabina Classen. It had been her and Doro that helped show the world that women could be integral parts of metal bands, not flush to make a band more appealing.

I had never seen the Holy Moses before. But, a few songs in, I realized I was being treated to outstanding raw German Thrash, spanning music from the 1980s to present day. They delivered what ended up being one of my favorite set of the festival. I have started my collection Holy Moses music.

After Holy Moses, we headed to the True Metal stage to see California's own Bay Area Thrash legends, Exodus. After a having seen Exodus a few times in the recent past with the new lead singer, Rob Dukes, I can't say I was expecting much. I am a huge fan of the earlier Zetro era material, which the band seems to have been staying away from the last few times I have seen them.

However, I was blown away by their performance at Wacken. They hit the stage with the power one might expect from the Bay Area titans. For the most part, they played stuff off of Bonded By Blood, Tempo Of The Damned, Shovel Headed Kill Machine, and The Atrocity Exhibition. However, they also played in a few songs from early Sousa era releases. The crowd really appeared to be into them, forming what had to have been one of the two the largest moshpit I had seen at the festival (the other by Kreator). In the end, they made a renewed fan out of me, strengthening that when I saw them again back home later in the year.

After Exodus, the Wacken Party Stage hosted Obituary. They pounded out some good old fashion Florida Death Metal. I can't say I am a big fan of theirs. But, I don't discount their influence on the music. They gave a descent enough performance to where I stayed to the end of their set.

After that, I caught partial sets from Germany's Enemy of the Sun and Romania's Powerwolf. They were pretty solid bands. Unfortunately, their sets were in conflict with Carcass, who took the Black Metal stage.

Yet another legendary band I had yet to see live, Carcass. Seeing as I wasn't sure I would ever see them again, I had to catch their set. Indeed, I enjoy it. The band featured nearly the original line up. One of the high lights was when Michael Amott band mate from Arch Enemy, Angela Gassow, joined the band for Incarnated Solvent Abuse. One of the other highlight was when the final original member, Ken Owen, joined the bands on stage for a drum solo. This was considered a mayor feat as has been recovering from a brain hemorrhage for the last decade.

After Carcass, I headed back to the W.E.T. Stage to catch Southern California’s own Warbringer. The neo-thrash masters had apparently amassed a large following in Germany as the W.E.T. Stage tent was packed with not just curious on-lookers, but rabid fans of theirs too. I believe they played War Without End in its entirety plus

a few other tunes of theirs. Their set was powerful and well accepted by the crowd. After their set, the gang and I hung out with John Kevill (lead singer) to for a beer and a couple pictures.

After Warbringer, I went to see At The Gates. Sadly, I don't remember too much from their set. Not taking anything away from the band, that was all my fault. I was reminded of why one should never drink too much before seeing a band one might never see again. I did get some shots of the band though.

After At The Gates’s set, Doug and I mingled with the crowd for a bit. There seemed to be even more camaraderie between metalheads at this time. After all, the last of the bands of Wacken 2008 were now playing their sets.

I went to see Nightwish, whom I had seen once before, but with Tarja Turunen. This was my first time seeing the gothic/power metal band with Anette Olzon. Though one might make the argument that Anette doesn’t have the vocal range of Tarja, to me, Anette holds her own. Besides, there is much more to the band then the singer. The band delivered a great set of music and was well received by the crowd.

Closing out the night and the festival for me was an outstanding performance by the Thrash Metal titans, Kreator. They were the last band on the Black Metal stage. Performing one of the most brutal sets of the festival, they easily drew what I believe was the largest moshpit. They played an even set of songs from their catalog and delivered one of many of my favorite sets of WOA 2008.

Conclusion

I didn't get to see all the bands I wanted to see. But, that is just the way it goes with Wacken. What happens on the stages is only a part of the festival as a whole. Between the bands, the side show events, the metal market, contests, camp site activities, the band meet & greets, and meeting fellow metalheads from around the world, I would be impressed by anyone who saw more than 50% of the bands.

Though I can't say any of the bands that I saw at Wacken 2008 gave bad performances, the best came from Iron Maiden, Ensiferum, Holy Moses, Exodus, Kreator, and Warbringer.

Go alone or go with friends to Wacken. I promise you will have an outstanding life experience. I myself will return in 2010.

Photos and Review by:: Denis Recendez; Doug Kasper
Event:: Wacken Open Air 2008
Locations:: Wacken, Germany

My Videos Of Wacken

I would have taken tons more videos if I had known how good the audio and video quality would be from my Canon PowerShot SD870 (a simple point shoot camera). Enjoy what I did get.

Soilwork performing "One With The Flies"

Doro Press Conference