Wacken 2019 will start this Thursday 1 August and we are on our way to the 30th anniversary of the legendary metal festival. This article will be a special treat for the fans of numbers and data; here we are showing what to expect from this year’s edition of Wacken through facts and figures.
Size of Wacken Open Air
The size of the festival area is 300 hectares, which is the equivalent of just over 560 football pitches, with the festival infield being 43 hectares. All this area requires 48 km of temporary fencing for hoarding. Wacken has a capacity of 75000 visitors and all in all has 5000 employees. Crew numbers in detail are the following:
- 25 electricians
- 40 site-crew
- 15 persons responsible for water supply
- 1800 security and guards
- 150 cleaning staff
- 70 construction hands
- 400 police men daily
- 250 firefighters daily
- 900 paramedics daily
- 6 emergency doctors
- 50 representatives of administrations
- Over 150 bands (approximately 1300 persons) on 9 stages
Facilities
A festival with such a big area has to prepare its facilities for the huge number of people attending. Here is the full list of available facilities:
- 850 toilets (plus 200 mobile toilets)
- 410 units of flushing toilets
- 300 urinals
- 200 rental toilets
- 9 handicapped accessible toilet containers
- 5 handicapped accessible shower containers
- 600 shower containers
- 420 washing areas
- 40 drinking water areas
Infrastructure
It is not just the facilities that makes up a festival. Let’s take a look how much material and other specifics make up Wacken Open Air.
- 1000 trucks with material
- 75 trailer trucks of stage material (1000 tonnes)
- 10 trailer trucks of sound technique
- 20 trailer trucks of light technique
- Building of stages: 7 days
- Reduction of stages: 5 days
- 10 km of mobile heavy-duty street
- 350 container units
- 300 tents and padogas
- Power is 12 megawatts (which constitutes the demand of a little town with 70000 inhabitants)
- 4 km of power cables have been permanently installed for ecological reasons as they replace 98 diesel generators
- This reduces the number of diesel generators in use to 40
- 6 km flexible power lines are necessary and 280 distribution boxes are built
Food and drink
Of course, available food and drink cannot miss the list! At Wacken 2019 we will be able to find 150 food and 120 gastronomy booths, and 300 non-food booths will be set up as well. Garbage produced during the festival is estimated to be 590 tons, fortunately several steps have been taken to reduce the amount of garbage and be more ecologically friendly.
One of these steps, apart from the ones mentioned above in infrastructure, is the 1 km long beer pipeline they installed back in 2017. This raises the question how much beer is actually consumed at Wacken? The title about beer sales is not just trying to hide an extremely surprising number. It is part of the official facts and figures: beer sales are going to be A LOT! We have a feeling it was put there this way for a reason and we hope visitors this year will not disappoint the organisers and their estimation!
Wacken Open Air 2019
Wacken Open Air is one of the major metal festivals in Europe. It takes place in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Wacken first started as a small festival in 1990, but its popularity over the years has increased so much that it is now considered the biggest metal festival in the world. It attracts around 80,000 metalheads every year and is always sold out. In 2016, Wacken launched its own brewery.
- Location: Wacken, Germany.
- Date: 1-3 August 2019.
- Tickets: sold out.
- For more information, see our festival page or the official website.
Wacken Open Air 2024
