So I am delighted as well as feeling totally honoured and privileged in some way to be able to have the opportunity in a lifetime to attend this year's Wacken Festival over in Hamburg, Germany. What can I say even though I have been to two festivals in my own country of Ireland, as I have been exposed to more and more from the hard rock or heavy metal genres, this was a festival I couldn’t miss out on. The festival itself has been going on a lot longer than people think, its history stretching all the way back to the early 1990’s with so many well known bands taking to the stage over the years to showcase the very best hard rock and heavy metal music that we can only dream of.

A total of 8 stages awaits those who attend as this 240 hectare festival site becomes a metropolis for 80,000 people or more where there are various stages in an area called Infield or The Holy Land; Harder, Faster and Louder stages which are all within walking distance of each other. Harder and Faster stages are literally right next to each other, where as Louder is separate, you will not disappointed to know that Faster and Louder stages play at the same time so when there are changeovers on these stages, the Harder stage will take over to feed every Wacken Festival goer with more bands. This of course means there is little time in between shows so that you will not be left waiting for too long. But that’s just for starters, there is also the Wackinger Village where the Wackinger stage is located and Bullhead City where two more stages are here which are the W.E.T and Headbangers stage.

Straight across from the camping grounds, is the camping plaza where is the location of two more stages; Welcome To The Jungle and Wasteland are those two in question. Where you can see for your very own eyes, the Wasteland Warriors and some thrash metal, industrial rock music to also wet your appetite. Of course there is no way of not mentioning that the small town/village of Wacken is open to visitors who are attending the festival and there is even a Metal Church located on the festival grounds which is worth looking around. So now that you have an idea of what the festival site is like and all the stages there are also separate food kiosks, farmer’s market, art exhibition and merchandise stands like EMP too.

Now what can be said of the lineup for this year's festival in 2025, the headliners this year included GUNS ‘N’ ROSES, MACHINE HEAD, PAPA ROACH, GOJIRA, APOCALYPTICA, MASTODON, WITHIN TEMPTATION and so many more with over 100 artists or bands altogether on the festivals schedule. So going into the festival lineup itself starting on Wednesday 30th, headliner act APOCALYPTICA was certainly the highlight of the first day of the festival on day one. They are a Finnish symphonic metal band who have been around for 30 years, made up of three extremely talented cellists plus a backing band. Nevertheless seeing them was a pleasure to watch and it was such a big surprise yet a real treat to see a guest appearance by TINA GUO who is just one the biggest superstars to play the cello.

I had the opportunity to catch some of the bands who were also competing in the WACKEN BATTLE OF THE BANDS, who were chosen or selected from countries across the world to perform at WACKEN going head to head against one another for a grand prize. I also saw HANABIE, LITA FORD, TARJA & MARCO HIETALA and LOST SOCIETY the same day, HANABIE who are essentially a Japanese hardcore band that blew me away, was great to see LITA FORD who is still going strong even after decades of being a solo artist plus a former member of THE RUNAWAYS. To hear TARJA TURUNEN & MARCO HIETALA play together was so warm and soothing, both former members of Finnish symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH, they were a duo I won’t forget.

Another Finnish band came on stage even after that who were LOST SOCIETY who were simply staggering, as they are a band that likes to merge symphonic influences with hard rock and put on a show like no other. They came to the spotlight in 2010, but were also competing in a global battle of the bands in 2012 as the Finnish  qualifier, they went to London to perform in the grand final. So moving onto the other performers that performed that day included WIND ROSE, BEYOND THE BLACK, SALATATIO MORTIS and WARBRINGER. So day two of Wacken Festival Thursday 31st was upon the thousands of people who have been on site including myself, this day I saw three bands throughout the day which were headliner GUNS ‘N’ ROSES as well as MINISTRY and STATIC-X. I had never got the chance to see GUNS ‘N’ ROSES so to see such a classic rock band who are pretty well known to so many fans across the world.

They don’t need an introduction, but they are still going since they were mainstream in the 1990’s and 2000’s, with hits like Mr Brownstone, Welcome To The Jungle and Sweet Child Of Mine. So before these classic rock legends took to the stage for a 3.5 hour set, I also saw MINISTRY who are an industrial rock band from Chicago, Illinois (USA) and STATIC-X, who are also an industrial rock band from Los Angeles, California (USA). So both bands certainly were very similar in terms of sound and performance as they are both well-known bands in the industrial rock scene so to hear both of them on the same day was truly remarkable. Other bands that day included UGLY KID JOE, CLAWFINGER, MICHAEL SCHENKER, GRAVEDIGGER and METAL BATTLE where there was a continuation of the bands from across the  world competing against one another.

Friday 1st of August dawned up the festival goers as for today I got to see a classic act, a heavy metal band from Finland who started as a band who were put together to play music for children but then all of sudden they became so popular, HEAVYSAURUS were a joy to see at Wacken Festival. So on the bill also, I got the opportunity to check out LANDMVRKS who are a French metalcore band who really left a superb impression on me, they were recommended to me. They formed in 2014 but took a couple of years to really make their name before signing onto a German record label. Plus they are a mix of metalcore, nu metal and hardcore punk so this really caught my eye and they were totally worth seeing. As well as them, I got to see black metal band HELSOTT who were also so good. Even though I don’t often get to hear black metal too much, these guys blew me away with their dedication and commitment.

I even saw this band who combined Celtic music with folk and punk . They were THE FEELGOOD MCLOUDS who are from Germany, they certainly give a very cool vibe as well as great mixture of styles so they were good fun to see. But nevertheless, the two big headliners that were to play in the evening were nu metal giants PAPA ROACH and extreme metal legends DIMMU BORGIR who formed in 1993, as they both took to the stage, I can safely say that PAPA ROACH being one of the more active nu metal bands took my breath away. They formed in 1993 also but they were amazing, even when their singer mentioned by video they were making a generous donation to a suicidal prevention charity, this really showed how much mental health means to a band like PAPA ROACH.

Along the way on Friday also were bands including DOMINUM, KROKUS, BAD LOVERZ, GRAVEYARD, BOOMTOWN RATS, FEAR FACTORY, ORANGE GOBLIN  and KATATONIA. Saturday 2nd of August as the final day of the festival comes to the fore, the final headliners are now ready to go to close out the festival for another year. WITHIN TEMPTATION was the first of these headliners to take to the stage, who are a Dutch symphonic metal band that has been on the scene since 1996, so they have come a long way to get to the stage at Wacken Festival. As well as these folks, Grammy award winning progressive metal band MASTODON also took to the stage, as they too have been around for a long time since 2000, W.A.S.P who are a classic American rock band from the 1980’s so another legendary addition to the line up.

So continuing on with the final bands we move onto GOJIRA, who are a French metalcore band who formed back in 1996, under a different name changing it a few years ago, so what can I say about them, they were astounding and truly remarkable. They were also the first metal band to have the opportunity to play during the Olympics opening ceremony in 2024 as well as being the first French band to top the Billboard Hard Rock Album Charts plus they received two Grammy award nominations. So it’s now come to this, the final night of Wacken Festival 2025, I have seen a lot of epic bands and solo artists, but now we have the final band and headliner, MACHINE HEAD. This band has experimented with various styles including thrash metal, nu metal, groove metal and generally, we can perhaps say they are an alternative metal band.

They formed in 1991, releasing a total of eleven studio albums to date. Some of them were certified silver in the United Kingdom, so they have certainly made their name over the years, it was such an honour and privilege to see them live for the first time myself. Of course as the festival has drawn to a close, there was also a surprise taster of whose to headline Wacken Festival in 2026, the lineup includes LAMB OF GOD, SEPULTURA, DEF LEPPARD and others are to be confirmed. So MACHINE HEAD really did the festival justice by giving a stunning and heavy metal closure to what has been a mesmerising event for me, I would love to go again, only time will tell but I am sure next year will be fantastic.