W:O:A | Wacken Open Air

Where: 🇩🇪 Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

When: July 30, 2025 - Aug. 2, 2025

Overview

Wacken Open Air (/ˈvɑːkən/, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a heavy metal music festival held annually since 1989 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Festival Highlights

• Genres: Almost all styles and subgenres of hard rock and metal are represented and hosted.
• Significance: One of the largest heavy metal festivals in the world and one of the largest open-air festivals in Germany.
• Attendance: Between 2011 and 2018, the number of attendees was around 85,000, with 75,000 paying visitors.

Recent History

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no editions of Wacken Open Air in 2020 and 2021.