I6Z6A6N NOTE: This post was originally on Wacken Trek, and set up as a PhotoBucket dump of pictures with no commentary. This is me being a lazy bastard (at least I'll admit it =D ). After much thought I have made the decision to make a proper Metal Trek Post out of it. Take note this post was up originally on February 4, 2013, while the trek itself was from March 2 - 4, 2012, and that's why it is placed before the Euro Metal Festival Tour with a post date listing of September 30, 2012 (to keep things organized chronologically).
Also, Instead of the usual "dedicate one page to each day", I decided to condense everything into one page as the weekend trip was very "hit and run" and the limited amount of pictures won't allow for one of my usual epic "Saga of the Icelanders" type of posts.
The weekend trip was what would you call a "concentrated" dose of Iced Earth as their tours tend to be limited. When they tour Florida, they usually go no further south than Orlando and after that they head off to their next northerly destination. This tour allowed the more hardcore Florida Iced Earth fans a chance to see their favorite band twice since they had 2 Florida shows (one in Orlando and the other in Ft. Lauderdale). Aside from myself being one of the aforementioned hardcore Iced Earth Fans, I had the distinguished pleasure of having 2 travel companions who shared my fandom level appreciation of Iced Earth throughout this trip in Alex Flores of Sinistre Division and Shirley Moonspell, paparazzi of the dark kind.
Day 1, March 2, 2012
The first concert of the this tour was the Ft. Lauderdale show at Revolution. The tour itself also had Symphony X where the 2 bands would alternate the headlining spots each day, and on this day Symphony X was last to play.
While waiting in line to claim our VIP tickets, a sweet promo poster was staring right at us. If they would have given these out, it would have been the cherry on top of this trip.
Welcome to Metal Trek, the next evolutionary step that was Wacken Trek. Instead of focusing on traveling to Wacken, this blog will focus on all aspects related to Metal Travel.
Wacken Trek had a good run and did what it needed to do (provide information on how to travel to Wacken and the many tall tales of my travels), but as my Metal Travel experiences continue to expand (and my previous travels should have told me this before starting Wacken Trek), it was time to broaden the scope of Wacken Trek and the only way to do this was by creating a new blog, which allows for easier and faster setups of new (and even old) posts. The next few months will have the blog undergo additional major renovations and major updates as it has a long way to go before it is considered complete. If you find links taking you back to the old Wacken Trek site, don't worry, I am aware of it and will fix them as time progress. I will also have videos and news relating to Metal Travel that will be a feature for this blog. As for the old Wacken Trek site, I haven't decided yet whether it will stay up or be deleted.
For the time being, and to give something for the launch, I have posted the Wacken Open Air 2009 and the European Metal Festival Tour 2011 blogs as well as some videos that will provide Metal Travel related entertainment. That's it for now but if you have any suggestions, let me know and I will take them into serious consideration. Many \m/ HEAVY \m/ thanks!6!6!6!
I6Z6A6N NOTE: This was another series of posts originally from my Wacken Trek website that is now part of Metal Trek. There have been some minor changes from the original post to address some grammatical errors. First, a foreword as to why I put both the first and second days together. I didn't have enough pictures to work with from the first day since the moment I arrived it was hit and run, and that's why there aren't many pics from day 1, but I will say the first day was best way to start off my tour.
When I left Miami International Airport, it was August 1 at approximately 3:15PM and the flight was approximately 9 hours. By the time I got to Düsseldorf Flughafen (Airport), it was August 2, approximately 6:40AM, and this is due not only to the length of the flight, but the 6 hour time difference as well. As quickly as I landed I ran off to the Airport Hauptbahnhof (Train Station) to begin my inland journey to Emden, where my best friend Stefan lives. I only stayed 1 night, and to say it was short is a definite understatement since it is a very nice town that most people dream off. It allowed me an opportunity to see his wife Astrid and their new miracle Ida Sophia, a very adorable baby that can rob one persons heart easily. We had a BBQ at their home which allowed me to get to know more of his friends and family. While we went to the supermarket to pick up some provisions for the feast, I manged to get the REAL Havana Club (as in the one that is straight from Cuba). I also picked up some Haribo candy at the local supermarket. As you can imagine, I took advantage of the selection from this great candy that only Germany can provide.
On the following day, I said my farewell to Astrid and Ida Sophia, thus ending one of the best parts of my trip, as myself, Stefan, his brother Günter and his son, Silent Y (My nickname to him since he was very quiet throughout the entire Wacken portion of the trip, and his first name begins with a "Y". Unfortunately, I forgot it, sorry Silent Y) began the march to Wacken Open Air. As you can imagine, this was a road trip of epic proportions as we found ourselves sharing the road with other Wacken legions. It was the Bay of Pigs of convoys.
When we arrived to Wacken Open Air, it was like seeing the gates of heaven (or hell) again for me since this is my second time at this great festival, and it never gets old that feeling of arriving to the holy land of \m/ETAL!6!6!6!
I made my way to the Metal Market, the Walmart of Metal, where as usual it was packed with Legions shopping for the necessities their lives command (Shirts, CD's, Vinyls (Yes, we still listen to vinyls), Patches, Spiked/Studded Bracelets, Helmets, Drinking Horns, Blowing Horns, etc.).
There was also the usual activities for Metal fans to enjoy ourselves with, like the very appropriate mechanical bull-ride (Wacken Cow Skull anybody?6?6?6?) and the Metal Kick for the soccer hooligans. An interesting side note about the bull-ride, if you rode it either topless or nude, you get on for free. Of course, that idea didn't work for the Metal Kick, but that didn't stop some of the festival attendees from walking around nude either (and no, I don't have pics of that since the suspects were male. If it was the ladies doing it, than it'd be a different story, since women look better nude than men).
The infamous Jager ride made it's triumphant return to the Holy Land of Wacken, and as always, only a select few were the chosen ones to take to the air and drink a fine beverage worthy of the Gods and Goddesses in Valhalla. The only way to get on this ride is to enter a contest and win a seat. One day, I will beat up a prize holder of one of the coveted seats, disguise myself as that person, and get on that ride.
Another activity that Metalheads were able to participate in was Pole-sitting. This is about as simple as it gets, but there's one catch, you have to stay in your seat for 6 hours (with 10 minutes break between the 2 hours seat time). Prizes were from Marshall, Vintage Amps, MM Media, Woodbrass.com as well as a place in front of the first row of the main stages. For the contestants benefit, the seats were about 8 feet high and positioned to view the main stages so they didn't miss out on some parts of the festival. Considering my current occupation sees me sitting a good chunk of time, I should have participated as well, but there was a lot to do, so go figure. Next time.
Going back to one of my favorite candies, here they are in full force with a grab bag stand, meaning, grab one bag and fill it up with which ever flavor they had available and pay it by the weight.
The next pictures will show you the pathway that led to and from our campsite. The best part about where we camped is we were near a Wacken Breakfast Stand (They served coffee, pastries, and doughnuts, plus some other pastries and lite food items), a pizza and gyro stall.
The Big Wacken Oktoberfest style mugs, truly one of the most worthy containers of Wholly nectar in the world. I will say that I slammed a couple of these since for the price, it definitely allowed for some intercontinental (as in hopping from one campsite to the next) distance beverage consumption.
The Jager ride made for a good background if it happened to be in the line of fire (for a camera shot that is).
One thing about the festival goers is our creativity to make something out of nothing. Take these fine folks who decided to make the horns and "WOA" letters out of empty cans of beer.
Watching Helloween for the first time in my life was very awesome, as they are legends in the world of Heavy Metal, and their performance was very tight.
The audience had a very unique way of agreeing with my statement.
The backstage entrance was decorated the only way it can be decorated. By having the Wacken Cow Skull eat you ALIVE!6!6!6!
One of the bands I wanted to see was Blind Guardian, as this was my 2nd time seeing them. My first time seeing Blind Guardian was my very first Metal Festival, ProgPower USA 3 (Atlanta, GA) for their first ever U.S. show (that's a lot of "firsts"). Also, a nice first as well is my first video for the blog, featuring the crowd surfers during their performance. On a comical side-note, Hansi's new haircut makes him look like Mille Petrozza of Kreator.
The ever underrated but popular theme of people being passed out in random parts of the festival is a testament to Wackens reputation. In case your wondering, this lady was passed out on the side of one of the main stages.
The Jager ride, from the True Metal Stage point of view and participating with it's own light show.
Here I am with Stefan and one of the festival attendees (forgot his name, sorry dude).
Now this little guy definitely gave me a bit of a scare. One of the nights, I noticed some random thing in the air that managed to get my attention. I couldn't determine if it was a plane, a helicopter, a hot air balloon (yes, those do fly over the festival sometimes), and it was just impossible for me to determine what it was, and than I came to the conclusion of it being a U.F.O. (not the band). The next day, I noticed the helicamera and finally put 2 and 2 together that it was the helicamera I saw that night.
The organizers (and most likely the sponsors as well) think of ways to make it as convenient as possible for people to get booze.
Wacken at night is even better than day, since most Metalheads tend to be more active at night, but it can also get dark, and getting lost can be a problem. That's where lighting is a very important part of Metalheads life. Here, you see the backstage access entrance in it's illuminated glory...
... and the obligatory close up of the Cow Skull on fire \m/ .
I'll be the first to admit I am not the biggest Ozzy fan, but this one night, it goes to show why Ozzy has the reputation he has, and he did put on the best show for the evening.
Than there's the tag team of the Pole-sitting contest. The only thing you win is a good view of the band, and some sore shoulders.
A side note about Wacken, the festival allows zoo animals into it's domain.
The backstage entrance also had it's own light show to go with the festival.
Humor is a definite requirement to go to this festival. In case your wondering, I walked out of there with a customized $7,000 Jackson Kelly with Matte Black finish, Titanium Skull Iron Cross Inlays on the fretboard, and carved Skull Iron Cross inlays on the body (In my dreams when I walked to the guitar rack).
One of the last things I saw before leaving the festival area was, you guessed it, the Jager ride at night.
In case your wondering how the Stages look after they wrap up for the night, here it is in the glory of it's version of the "CLOSED SIGN".
Day 3 started in a very good manner, when I was walking from my campsite to catch some breakfast at the WOA breakfast stall, I noticed Metal Legions marching to the main festival in "formation" (meaning, nothing but black shirts going in the same direction).
I ordered Heavy Metals equivalence of the doughnut and coffee for breakfast.
As I was walking around our camp site, I noticed some Ukranian flags, hoping this is an omen from the Metal Gods that I will make it to the Metalheads Mission Festival in Ukraine.
The diversity of food Wacken has will cater to everybody's taste buds, even if you eat blown up brain pieces.
This is probably the most calmest moment of the main stages entry, unlike the usual mob that's there. Than again, it is early in the day. Metal fans usual sleeping habits.
As mentioned earlier, Vikings are the first Metalheads in mankinds history, and it was only natural for them to invade our "shores". This boat brought Viking Blood and Mead, beverages for the Metal and Scandinavian Warrios.
Aside the diversity of fans that go to Wacken, the food is no exception. While not of the highest of the quality, it is still pretty tasty. The beer on the other hand, well, let's just say there's a reason German beer has the reputation it has.
Nintendo decided to get in on the Wacken action by promoting the 3DS and what better way than to have one of it's most popular icons join in on the Metal action.
The campsites at Wacken are like a maze filled with corridors and passageways that can sometimes lead you nowhere with some pleasant surprises.
One of those surprises is a villain from the Zelda games attacking you with the trumpet of doom.
This was my campsite with the most awesome Legions the festival has to offer. This is good company ladies and gentlemen.
One of the main roads to the holy land.
These are some pics of the main stage areas, where the meat and bones of the festival is located.
One of the bands I wanted to see was Van Canto, a unique ensemble where Metal Music is commanded by the sound of voice (with a drummer to play a supporting role in the attack). It sounds something like Beavis & Butt-head "Huh-huh, huh-huh", but replace the first "h" of each word with a "d", and sounds something like "duh-duh, duh-duh, duh-duh". Still sounds very \m/ HEAVY \m/.
You also had your flyboys sending the message of Metal through the air, aside from the beer cups flying.
As everyone knows, alcohol is like water to Metal Legions, and mixed drinks are no exceptions. This was a Cuba Libre, and a damn good drink.
The beauty of Wacken is you get to see many bands you don't get the opportunity to do so, and this was my first time seeing Sodom. They kicked ass, although the sound system was horrid. Maybe I should take a chainsaw to the soundguys head for some poetic justice.
The march to The Final Countdown begins.
Wacken has been known to draw very creative people, not only musically, but from the woods as well.
Viking ships have been known to come in many different sizes and shapes, and this was the big one between the two that invaded the Wacken "shores". It even tagged along some hot valkyries.
Another activity for the Legions that was offered was the ability to test their balancing skills. I forgot the name of the game, but it's harder than it looks.
Watching Judas Priest for the first time was a major experience, and Wacken enhanced it 666%.
The Legions paid tribute with human sacrifices by sending them to the front of the stage to be slaughtered for the Metal Gods.
The Metal God himself showing the world how to look Holy.
And on the Seventh day, the Metal Gods created the day for the Metal Armies to recoup from a Metal War.
The Mouth of Hell opening before us.
The Metal God and his Stallion.
Soaking in Wacken to end the night on a HEAVY mood (not that there is any other mood for Wacken, it's HEAVY FUCKING METAL!6!6!6!).
