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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/03/floods-turn-worlds-biggest-heavy-metal-festival-into-mudbath-wacken-open-air>
"Torrential rain in Germany has turned the grounds of the world’s largest heavy
metal festival into a mudbath, forcing organisers to turn many ticket holders
away.
Wacken Open Air in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, opened on Wednesday
and by the same evening the festival said newcomers would be refused access to
the site due to what it called unmanageable conditions.
“It does sometimes rain at festivals, but rarely so much as we’ve seen,” a
statement said.
The four-day festival’s lineup features about 200 bands from across the world,
from Ukraine to Japan. Headliners Iron Maiden are scheduled to perform on
Friday evening, along with Megadeth. Other acts include Uriah Heep, Heaven
Shall Burn and Dropkick Murphys and the local community’s firefighter band, the
Wacken Firefighters, who waded through the mud to get to the stage on
Wednesday, to huge applause. Six bands were believed to have cancelled.
In its appeal to ticket holders who had not yet arrived to stay away after the
campsite was flooded, the organisers said the “sensible level of visitors” had
been reached and those who had either made the decision to leave or had yet to
arrive would receive a refund.
Organisers confirmed it was the first time they had made such a decision in the
festival’s 33-year history. “We are very sad but the continuing difficult
weather situation unfortunately leaves us with no other choice.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
