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A thunderous metal gathering in Germany faced an unexpected halt as torrential rain turned the festival grounds into a quagmire. The renowned Wacken Open Air festival, a yearly extravaganza held in the fields near the village of Wacken in northern Germany, draws massive crowds of heavy metal enthusiasts.
This time, however, the persistent downpour transformed the once fertile farmland into an impassable swamp, creating major accessibility challenges. As a result, organizers were compelled to limit the entry to the sold-out festival for the first time since its inception in 1990. The worsening conditions led them to declare a “total admission stop” on Wednesday, causing only approximately 60 percent of the 85,000 ticket-holders to gain entry to the event, according to Germany’s dpa news agency.
A statement released on the festival’s website acknowledged the situation, saying, “Considering the weather conditions, the reasonable visitor capacity for Wacken Open Air 2023 has now been reached.” The event had already sold out before the rainfall commenced. The organizers expressed their regret, stating, “We are very sad, but the continuing difficult weather situation unfortunately leaves us no other choice.”
Those metal fans who possessed tickets but hadn’t arrived yet were instructed to turn their vehicles around and return home. Social media platforms featured videos illustrating the severity of the circumstances, with attendees, clad in anoraks, struggling to trudge through ankle-deep mud.
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Some brave souls embraced the extreme conditions, with one individual daringly diving headfirst into the sea of mud while another decided to lie on his back in the dirt and wildly flail his limbs.
The muddy conditions also disrupted Wacken’s planned schedule, causing a postponement in the start of the festival. “This meant that six bands could not perform,” a statement on the website revealed. The festival had initially promised 150 bands across eight stages performing over four days.
Iconic bands like Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and Pennywise were among the acts set to perform at the event, which was scheduled to conclude on Saturday.
In a memorable episode from previous years, the festival gained attention for installing an underground pipeline to supply the site with the hundreds of thousands of liters of beer consumed by the enthusiastic revelers.
