The day after the Wacken festival is also part of the experience, where you have thousands of Metalheads taking down camp, letting out the last of the shits and giggles in their systems before heading back into civilization, and making some last minute friends.
When I woke up the following day at approximately 5:00AM, I was awaken by a group of about 15 Metalheads playing garbage drums with crates, kegs, buckets, and anything that can make a sound when beaten. At first, I said to myself let them go at it, since at some point in time they will tire themselves out and I can get some much needed sleep. 20 minutes later (They played for well over 1 fucking hour long), they were still going at it, and I couldn’t believe the stamina they had playing the garbage drums, and it was getting to the point where I knew they wouldn’t stop, so, after much pondering, I made the decision to wake up and start packing up, but when I opened my tent door, this is what I saw:
The many times I have seen/heard/YouTubed/etc. of the Wacken camp fires, I was thrilled to see one literally 5 feet away from my tent. The funny part of this story is how the camp fire started. One of the Canadian Metal Legion lit a candle early in the morning so he and his pals were able to warm up in the cold German weather, than, somebody threw some cardboard on top of the candle, and started a big fire, and that’s when everybody in the immediate vicinity started contributing with all sorts of garbage, clothing, chairs, you name it, and began the Wacken camp fire. Naturally, this drew a crowd, and people kept on throwing/golfing/kicking more items to keep the fire going.
There was also a dude who added to the Wacken Camp Fire atmosphere by breaking 2 bottles with each of his hands by colliding them together, and the end result was something very expected at Wacken Open Air.
At least he left his blood on the Holy Metal Land.
When there’s a fire, there will be firefighters to put it out, and they definitely added to the Wacken camp fire tradition. I especially liked the helmets they were wearing, very Metal.
Once they were done with the fire, here was the end result, plus a glimpse as to what went into making our Wacken Camp Fire.
Once the whole Wacken Camp Fire debacle finished, I started packing up my camp area, and I couldn’t believe all the crap I lugged from the USA was able to fit in my bags on top of what I bought at the Metal Market Place. Plus seeing what once was my camp site now packed up was pretty interesting, since I called that spot home for 5 days and 4 nights. Also, if you look in the upper part of the pic below, you’ll see my bags (the ones in blue and black).
I was hanging out with the remaining campers from my site before I left for the shuttle bus, which was in about 4 hours give or take, and that’s when one of us, the same dude who lit the candle that started our Wacken camp fire, wanted to go to the local supermarket to turn in the empty beer bottles for the coin refund they have in Germany/Europe, and needed our help since he had a lot of bottles. So we decided to leave all of our belongings in one tent, and start the maiden voyage by dragging the bottles in the crates, as you would see in the YouTube videos. Along the way, there was another Metal couple that joined us with their own bottles. It took us a good solid 45 minutes to get from the camp site to the supermarket, and when we got there, the damn place was closed. It was like the Lord of the Rings, except replace a golden ring with piles of empty bottles, replace the gnomes with Headbangers, and replace the success of returning the ring to the lava pits with failure and you got a good picture of what our voyage was like. The beauty of it was the adventure aspect of it, and it was fun, plus we got to see more of the “town” side of Wacken because of it. When we headed back to the camp site, we saw lot’s of cars and buses hauling Metalheads back to whatever destination they were going, and it was cool. Once at our camp site, we sat around waiting for our shuttle bus when we saw the remaining fans either fighting with each other with chairs/tent poles/garbage, or setting more Wacken Camp Fire. During our impromptu after-Wacken roundtable, I was looking into the distance when I saw a tent go in a HUGE ball of fire.
The dude with the Ghostbusters shirt was the one who lit the candle he bought at the Metal Market and was the “spark” that started our camp fire, just for the record. He was also the one who had all the bottles of beer and wanted our help, so there ya go, one guy who started many misadventures in Wacken. Thanks for the memories dude.
Once the remaining Metal fans left from my camp site, I made the decision to go to the locker trucks to pick up the remaining items I had. During the walk there, I met 2 German ladies who were promoting a contest, and we walked all the way to the lockers, and they were just awesome to hang with, and cute too. When I got to the lockers, I couldn’t believe they were locked up with nobody around to ask to open them so I can grab my items. As you can imagine, this worried me a great deal since I had a bunch of my stuff in there, namely electronics, the Metal Market schwag, and most important, my passport. Thankfully, there was an info booth nearby which they called the owners of the locker trucks so they can open it up. From there, I made the walk to the shuttle bus, and waited for my bus to show up. Like the shuttle bus trip to the festival grounds, I was able to get on one of the earlier buses back to Hamburg, and it was a great ride since the bus was half packed, and seeing the highways and roadways of Germany packed with Metal fans going back where ever they came from. Once I arrived at Hamburg airport, I took the S-Bahn to Hamburg HBF, and from there hiked back to A&O hostel. On my way there, I met up with a pretty lady who also went to Wacken and was going the same hostel I was staying at, and she came all the way from Mexico, so we had a common language that allowed us to get along. Once I checked in to my hostel, I needed to get myself cleaned up since I have not had a proper shower since leaving for Wacken, and as you can imagine, all the dirt and grime came of off me like a tsunami.
I literally took 3 showers just to make sure all of it was off. Once I finished showering, I shaved since I also have not shaved since leaving for Wacken.
I also cleaned my combat boots in the shower stall to try and get rid of the mud, and I was able to get rid a good portion, but there was still some left on my boot I couldn’t get off, the Wacken land stubbornness ladies and gentleman. I grabbed myself a bite to eat at the Die Gondel restaurant next to the hostel, went downstairs to check my email and call home.I went back to my room and found myself bunking with a family from Denmark, very cool people. I went outside in front of the hostel to soak in Hamburg one last time, and there were Metal fans from the festival hanging out in front of the hostel including the Mexican chick I met earlier and some of the Irish/Scottish fans I met before leaving for Wacken. We all were talking about our experience at Wacken, Metal albums, bands, and our countries and so forth, drinking some beer, and just having a classic hang out that I will remember for the ages. A lot of taxis were coming to the hostel, and one particular taxi caught our attention for demonic reasons.
We all decided to grab one more pic of ourselves for the road and it was a fitting way to end the last unofficial day of Wacken.
The following day, I did my laundry at the hostel laundromat, and while my clothes were drying up, I was checking out. Once I checked out, I left for the Hamburg HBF to head off to Emden, and I saw some of the Metal fans from the hostel and we bid our final farewell, and even one of them was riding the same train as me which kept me company on a long voyage, and I even hooked him up with the remaining disposable clean wipes I used to keep myself clean at Wacken. When I got off the train to catch a connecting train to Emden, it ended the main part of my trip and moving forward with the rest of Europe to visit my friend in Emden and visit Brussels for their fine beer.
Before ending this post, I wanted to show the Full Metal Bag and the armaments I got at the Metal Market.
The Full Metal Bag is given to you at the ticket booth when you turn in your Wacken Open Air ticket. You also get the prestigious Wacken bracelet awarded to the brave few who dare march into the Metal Holy Land.
I want to mention the above bracelet has been reattached and been made into a removable bracelet which I seldom wear since I am trying to protect it with my life.
The contents of the Full Metal Bag had a garbage bag, a portable ash tray, a small bag, pen, notepad, lots of flyers, stickers, a post card, and a note from the local police about pickpockets. But I believe the most important items were the pendant and patch, which is like another award for going and surviving Wacken Open Air.
Wacken also had their signature beer which I bought 3 cans of, and there’s a funny story attached to it. I actually saved one to take home as one of many mementos to take home, and like an idiot, instead leaving the can inside my camping bag, I took it with me as a carry on The German version of TSA checked my bag, they said I couldn’t take it with me, but they did allow me to drink it before boarding, but I told them I didn’t want to since I drank so much during my stay in Europe. Plus I wanted to be by my plane gate nice and early since that’s how I operate during my travels.
Wacken also has a DVD they release every year, and the 2009 version is trying to break a record for the World’s Longest DVD Credits.
The items I picked up at the Metal Market was a very Metal Christmas for me, since they had some schwag that wasn’t readily available in the USA and I would have had to pay import pricing on top what ever the thing cost. When I saw they had weapon pendants, I picked up a battle axe.
I also purchased a Wacken Cow Skull pendant, as a way to have yet another medal of sorts.
Than there’s the WOA Coffee Mug, to start my days off in a good and positive mood.
They also had a Cow plush doll which I picked up for my mom, and let me tell you, it was an adorable lil thing.
I also saw the most Metal Memory Stick ever. They had them in Black and Gold, but I opted for the black one since gold isn’t my cup of tea and the gold one was 30 Euros more, and it even had a lanyard to go with the memory stick.
I also picked up an Iced Earth Patch which will go great on my Battle Vest.
They also had an Amon Amarth skullie which definitely came in handy on the cold evenings.
Than there was the Iron Maiden Live After Death hoodie from one of my earlier posts that helped me a great deal on the last 2 nights. I never had plans on buying a hoodie since I live in a hot-ass place (Miami, Florida), but when I had to deal with the cold at night in Wacken, the choice was to either freeze to death or fight the cold, I chose the latter since that’s what Metal fans do.
I also picked up a Destruction Eternal Devastation shirt for the following reasons: It’s bad ass album and more importantly, it is the most funniest Metal album cover ever. Think about it, a tornado tearing up New York City with their heads riding on top of it.
I also saw a shirt that I wanted to buy before going to Europe, but couldn’t because I was saving for that very trip. This shirt just reeked of awesomeness since it came in a blood red tie dye, and it would have stood out of my army of black shirts like a cut off thumb pissing blood.
Finally, there’s the Wacken Open Air official festival shirt, which is one of amongst many important artifacts to have if you go to Wacken for many reason: It’s another award for earning your Wacken Colors, it has a complete list of the bands that played in Wacken, and it’s a uniform you can wear proudly.
When I came back to United States, I got myself a Wacken Tattoo as a way to commemorate the trip, because this was the kind of impact the trip itself had on me.
With this photo, ends my blog about my trip to Europe. To all the people I met in Europe, I want to say thank you for allowing me to meet you all. To Stefan and Astrid for inviting me into their lives for a couple of days which added a personal touch to the trip. Finally, to all of you who have read and commented/spoke with/chatted on my blog, thank you, it definitely means a lot to me that you have taken the time to read about my adventure. I have plans on going back in 2011, so for those of you who may go in 2011 and want somebody who can help you out, just shoot me an email ( i6z6a6n@hotmail.com ), an AOL Instant Message ( Screen Name: talshiaragent930 ), add me as a Facebook friend and I’ll do what I can to make your trip in Wacken a lot more easier than it needs to be. I want to end this blog to encourage all of you who have not been to Wacken, to go, because this is guaranteed to be the trip of a lifetime and an experience you will not get anywhere else. Thanks again and see you all in Wacken Open Air 2011.
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