Wacken Open Air — Dates, Lineup & Tickets
Wacken Open Air (often just “Wacken” or “W:O:A”) is the world’s largest heavy-metal festival, held since 1990 in the tiny village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. Every August the village of a few thousand residents swells with around 85,000 metal fans from across the globe.
When & where
- Founded
- 1990
- Home
- Wacken, Germany
- Genre
- Heavy metal
- When
- Early August
Upcoming editions
Partner links
Tickets for Wacken Open Air
Find tickets and travel options for upcoming Wacken Open Air editions through our partners.
Opens partner sites for live prices. Affiliate partnership pending for some providers.
About Wacken Open Air
The festival is a pilgrimage for the metal community, spanning classic heavy metal, thrash, death, black and folk metal across multiple stages. Tickets routinely sell out far in advance — often before a single band is announced — on the strength of the Wacken name alone.