Bands 2014 Should I be worried?

[Serial]

In anticipation of what should be the best metal festival on the face of the planet my wife, our friends and myself have bought tickets to WOA 2014.

It's not our first time, the last one was in 2010 and we had the time of our lives.

Now... the band line-up for this 25th Anniversary should be pretty amazing one should think, right? So what the fuck is up?

This advent calendar thing is supposed to be fun, but after 20 days opening doors it just keeps on getting more and more depressing.

Ok, we've got some great bands confirmed and since this is Wacken we keep our hopes up but I'm starting to get worried, this is not what we expected for Wacken's happy 25th.

In contrast if you look at the 2014 Hellfest line-up it's amazing. Seriously, if this does't change we're refunding our tickets and heading over to France instead this summer.

Right now there are too many "unknown" bands on one hand and on the other a whole bunch of bands where the lead vocalist is ready for the nursing home (or we've seen them 1000 times allready in their better years).

I'm not going to make of list of this and that band is missing... you know what the fuck I'm talking about here, the word is getting around.

If all this is part of a "surprise" marketing stunt, it's not funny anymore.

 

[MasterChu19155]

Oh if you take a long trip to Wacken I can understand your frustration.
But take into account that the real headliner is still not announced. And there are some more bands in the pipe. ^^

May I ask you what bands you would like to see?

Personally I have some bands I like, but I miss the really exciting stuff...looking at the Hellfest lineup I would prefer to see Queensryche, Megadeth, Angra and Satan in Wacken, too.

I really miss the old speed/power metal stuff.
And there is still no old school death metal at all...

 

[Serial]

...
May I ask you what bands you would like to see? ...

Yes we come from Spain, about a group of 12 people in total.

I like Slayer, Lamb of God, Gorgoroth, The Black Dahlia Murder, 1349, Down, Meshuggah, Blind Guardian, Slipknot, Stone Sour, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Equilibrium, Devil Driver, Rob Zombie, Katatonia, Opeth, Ghost Brigade, NiN, At the Gates, Mastodon, Sylosis, Black Label Society, Tool, Kalmha, Deicide.

And for fun some Red Fang, Monster Magnet, Rob Zombie and yeah even The Bosshoss

We are pretty flexible as you can see but in total disbelief at not seeing any of these names on the board yet.

Thanks for understanding the frustration and letting me steam a bit

 

[Quark]

[Old record mode]
All in due time!
[/Old record mode]

 

[Mad Butcher]

I think you don´t need big Headliner´s to have a good time at the W:O:A. Several little Bands are also nice to hear.
By the Way -> Don´t worry, be Happy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFDa9efCQU

 

[Serial]

I think you don´t need big Headliner´s to have a good time at the W:O:A. Several little Bands are also nice to hear.
By the Way -> Don´t worry, be Happy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFDa9efCQU

Who goes to wacken to see one headliner? That's not the point.

Just to make it clear, I'm not talking about 1 or 2 headliners but more like the whole line-up itself. Check my post below where I listed some bands, or maybe it's me going crazy and those bands are not in line with this festival.

But hey! Thanks for cheering us up, we will remain confident for the time being and trust Wacken's background to deliver. But give or take end of January if it doesn't change we're out.

 

[Serial]

Just been on to the Facebook page... and wow, I'm not the only one with this opinion it seems. Now I'm really worried because 1 or 2 bands are not going to make a difference here. In my opinion this looks like a management clusterfuck that is going to let a lot of people down that have trusted Wacken to deliver.

And I don't care if it's still 200 days or not, I think the festival's focus has shifted and that something like that does not get patched up after a few (ok maybe a few hundred) complains like this one. Other years people might bitch because they don't see their ideal line-up materialized. This is not the case, lets keep that clear.

We are 12 people from Spain with little kids that are too young to make the trip and that we have to arrange for, plane tickets have to be bought (they get more expensive every day), vans have to be rented, and lets not talk about our dogs and cats... you know the minor arrangements one might underestimate.

Also our country is in a fucked up economic situation and for people to get their holidays in the summer it's difficult. We must confirm the days we pick months up front to our employers and most of them have no flexibility, at all. So yeah, I'd be nice to know if we are going or if we have to start selling back our tickets.

If other festivals, way smaller than Wacken can do this right all I can say is that you (the management) have grown big and blind and are not family anymore.

Just this situation alone is taking the fun out of planning it and even if it all gets better... Wacken represents fun for us! Never a reason to be worried or disappointed about, and surely not a reason to cry about on a forum. We got our daily lives for that shit. Messing with our one sad fucked up chance per year to disconnect from this hopeless society and finally mangle with others alike... is a bitter taste we don't like.

Like when a good friend lets you down.

 

[Wattafack]

Well, I still hope they will announce some awesome bands.

I was quite disappointed about the christmas announcements as well...
Lots of Bands that are usually playing on medieval festivals and a bunch of metalcore

Not that I don't like them, but I have hoped for more diversity.

Megadeth was a good one though.

But actually, I don't want big headliners, but rather some really awesome live bands... all-time-heroes, and I don't mean that in the Motörhead-sense.

Anyway, theres still hope

 

[Static X]

hellfest has an awesome lineup, 25th anniversary lineup for wacken sucks, ticketprice even matches wacken, so whats going wrong here?

 

[Quark]

hellfest has an awesome lineup, 25th anniversary lineup for wacken sucks, ticketprice even matches wacken, so whats going wrong here?

Your expectations.

 

[austro-yank]

Your expectations.

I don't think so. 25 years ago, we didn't care who played as long as it was metal. Now, hell year, I want to see great bands. I get it - my great bands might not match yours, but management could have done better.

 

[Wetter]

I don't think so. 25 years ago

25 years ago... long time ago

 

[Quark]

I don't think so. 25 years ago, we didn't care who played as long as it was metal. Now, hell year, I want to see great bands. I get it - my great bands might not match yours, but management could have done better.

For GREATER, BIGGER, MORE "x" (fill in yourself), HIGHER, etc. you need to go elsewhere.

25 years ago, we hardly had METAL, we had HARDROCK. And with the mid 80 it started to diversify.

In 1986 Dymano started, and the big names were around 1995 when it had its 10th anniversairy.
We all know its end. There was no 15th anniversairy.

 

[mallegh]

Another disappointed guy enters the room.

Last year was my first time in Wacken and it was so amazing that I bought the tickets for 2014 as soon as the server allowed it on the non-ending midnight of Monday 5th of August. I spent around 160€ just knowing a few great bands. My brother said I was stupid, my sister said I was stupid, my colleagues at work said I was stupid, my mother thinks I was still drunk and my girlfriend is just happy laughing at me every single day. Why I bought it?

I bought it first of all, because my Wacken experience was much more than the concerts. In 2013 I spent much more time hanging around with people I just met than in the stages. Besides, the few first bands were reasonable good. If I remember right, there were 5 bands out of 10 that I wanted to see alive and just making some naive projections, I decided it worth for me. I decided it. I cannot blame Wacken organization for gathering such a nonsense line up. It's their choice as well as it was my choice to buy the ticket in August. I write here in order to put into word my frustration and make some suggestions for future editions.

I still might go since I live in Germany, my financial situation is good enough and I still have the hope of meeting great people as it happened last year. But these arguments are absolutely invalid for my friends in Spain (I am spanish by the way). I have been so a kick in the ass telling my mates about the great the Wacken is that I convinced them to buy the tickets as soon as they could. But for someone who has never been in Wacken, it is difficult to have a good idea of what is the life in the camping and the atmosphere. Take into account the current line-up, the prices of planes, rented cars, food and add it to the hell that a lot of families in Spain go through. It was impossible for me to not understand when they told me that they will sell their tickets. It is a pity but it is normal.

Big bands are an attraction, a lure. They catch the attention of people who have never been in the festival and increase the size of the community. Perhaps the Wacken organization decided that the community is big enough. I don't know and I don't care, it's not my decision. I am just sad because I had the expectation of showing my friends a really amazing experience I now everything tore down.

My decision is whether I buy the ticket or not and if I recommend the festival or not. At least I learned something out of all this. But since this is a suggestion forum, I want to suggest something for the next edition: get big names, at least some. I helps to attract new people.

 

[nuclear_demon]

......

Well, we already discussed this in a lot of detail. There are many people (including me) who would like to see another big name on the lineup, but come on at the the end we all bought tickets when the line-up was not complete, and it is still not complete!, Therefore it's of course a little bit of gambling, when you buy a ticket that early. I mean why should the guys from ICS should really care about the lineup anymore, they're already sold out. In the german forum we already discussed the possible if they had a big name, but something might went wrong. But all this is just speculative. I'm pretty sure the still have something big coming up which they are going to announce later, but there is still half a year till the festival is going to start, so you still have to show some patience.
On the other site, don't your friends have any bands at all, which they want to watch, in the current line-up? If not, are you sure it's the right festival for them?