Query to wacken vets.

[MetallKopp]

Hi, I hope you'll have a splendid first Wacken experience! The German part of the forum is planning to meet at the beergarden at Thursday, abt. 1PM CET. You're heavily invited to join in, of course. Will be a bunch of people sticking their heads together, some with some sort of sign carrying their forum nickname or Avatar or whatever.

I expect there to be an obscene amount of food kiosks and the like so I won't have to bring any food, although I was told the pricing isn't as bad at wacken as the UK festivals are. Is there a great range of food as I'm a picky git at times?

Range of food is incredible and has continued to grow over the years. You get virtually everything. Prices vary between 3 to 5 € per meal, that is a Hamburger, a portion of French fries, noodles, a lot of bakery, even vegetarian meals, Burritos, all sort of stuff.

Toilet situations? At Sonisphere&Download in the UK it's pretty much just mass amount of portable toilets that get cleaned daily, with some form of posh clean version that you can pay for. Is it the same at wacken? Or do they use some giant septic tank with seats on the top which will make me gip while pooping.

Lots of portable Dixi cabins, cleaned regularly. In the infield there are free flush toilets, shower camps have flush toilets as well. I think they charge 50 cent or a Euro or so.

Phone charging, I've found the 2 euro thing but am curious to people who have used this. I normally take a cheap £10 phone to festivals and leave my smartphone at home, but I could do with remaining connected to my online hectic life while at wacken. So I decided to take the S3 along with me, but the battery life if used regular throughout the day will wear it down daily. Can I just pay 2 euro and drop it off at night to pick it up in the morning or is the 2 euro just for a quick 1 hour 12v charge that's going to die after half an hour?

There are several "stores" on the Metal market, which consist of nothing more than some guys and lots of power plugs. You can deposit your mobile there (you have to bring along the power supply), and they charge it full for the fee of 2 or 3 Euros. Also, there is the Electric hotel, which more or less does the same. There are some funny machines, with which you can produce the power on your own.
I don't think they take phones at night. But one charge is always to 100% battery.

Don't forget to bring a compatible power supply / adapter of some kind. We have 230V/60Hz over here!

Atmosphere query. I'm a fairly calm and quite person, well until I get comfy/drunk I guess. The thing I've loved about Sonisphere&Download in the UK is the amazing community that it has. When you compare it to the shit holes like Leeds Festival you don't get all the violence and stupidity. I mean you get some no matter what happens but I just mean does Wacken tend to have the general "one for all and all for one" attitude that the UK rock/metal festivals have going on.

The atmosphere is great. Not only is there a complete absence of violence of any kind, also the people you meet are having a good time with each other. I never saw anyone get unfriendly, at least when they're not arguing over a place in the first row of one of the gigs.
Really really great. I promise!

 

[raylouie]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Maybe you'll get some shut-eye on the train back to Hamburg

That and the 4hr train rider to Köln after WOA and the buffet at the Hamburg Fish Market Sunday morning.

 

[Tri-6]

Probably depends on which airline, I guess. I''m flying United to Chicago then Lufthansa to Hamburg. Which airline are you taking?

United/Lufthansa. Of course we booked back in February so flights were probably added. We are flying into and out of Hamburg. Initially planning on going to Hamburg for 2 days, then 4 at the festival, then going to Berlin for a few, then back to Hamburg to fly back. Then we figured screw that, lets go to Munich after the fest thinking we would just fly back from Munich but changing the flight was like a 500 dollar fee! Insane. So we are now flying to Munich the Monday after the festival then flying back Wednesday night to Hamburg to catch our return flight. Next year I'm planning on doing it again, though I may do a different festival if Wacken is going to sell out so fast that I can't even get a good idea of the full band list, and I'll plan better. But next year is the 25th anniversary so the bands may be insanely awesome. It all depends.

 

[raylouie]

United/Lufthansa. Of course we booked back in February so flights were probably added. We are flying into and out of Hamburg. Initially planning on going to Hamburg for 2 days, then 4 at the festival, then going to Berlin for a few, then back to Hamburg to fly back. Then we figured screw that, lets go to Munich after the fest thinking we would just fly back from Munich but changing the flight was like a 500 dollar fee! Insane. So we are now flying to Munich the Monday after the festival then flying back Wednesday night to Hamburg to catch our return flight. Next year I'm planning on doing it again, though I may do a different festival if Wacken is going to sell out so fast that I can't even get a good idea of the full band list, and I'll plan better. But next year is the 25th anniversary so the bands may be insanely awesome. It all depends.

Hopefully they announced when WOA 25 tickets goes on sale during or before this years festival so I can try to get the X-Mas limited edition ticket package. I really think there will be a lot more bigger bands next year compare to the one's we are seeing this year, not that I'm complaining. Probably the only time I will ever see Motorhead. And after next year, I will probably be out of frequent flier mileage too.

 

[Alix]

That and the 4hr train rider to Köln after WOA and the buffet at the Hamburg Fish Market Sunday morning.

That's ambitious!

 

[Tri-6]

Hopefully they announced when WOA 25 tickets goes on sale during or before this years festival so I can try to get the X-Mas limited edition ticket package. I really think there will be a lot more bigger bands next year compare to the one's we are seeing this year, not that I'm complaining. Probably the only time I will ever see Motorhead. And after next year, I will probably be out of frequent flier mileage too.

From what Motorhead has said they have cancelled all of their summer festival dates for Lemmy to recover. Wacken hasn't said anything so who knows, but I'm not planning on seeing them this year. I just hope if they aren't playing that they get a quality replacement.

 

[Pantho]

Hi, I hope you'll have a splendid first Wacken experience! The German part of the forum is planning to meet at the beergarden at Thursday, abt. 1PM CET. You're heavily invited to join in, of course. Will be a bunch of people sticking their heads together, some with some sort of sign carrying their forum nickname or Avatar or whatever.



Range of food is incredible and has continued to grow over the years. You get virtually everything. Prices vary between 3 to 5 € per meal, that is a Hamburger, a portion of French fries, noodles, a lot of bakery, even vegetarian meals, Burritos, all sort of stuff.



Lots of portable Dixi cabins, cleaned regularly. In the infield there are free flush toilets, shower camps have flush toilets as well. I think they charge 50 cent or a Euro or so.



There are several "stores" on the Metal market, which consist of nothing more than some guys and lots of power plugs. You can deposit your mobile there (you have to bring along the power supply), and they charge it full for the fee of 2 or 3 Euros. Also, there is the Electric hotel, which more or less does the same. There are some funny machines, with which you can produce the power on your own.
I don't think they take phones at night. But one charge is always to 100% battery.

Don't forget to bring a compatible power supply / adapter of some kind. We have 230V/60Hz over here!

The atmosphere is great. Not only is there a complete absence of violence of any kind, also the people you meet are having a good time with each other. I never saw anyone get unfriendly, at least when they're not arguing over a place in the first row of one of the gigs.
Really really great. I promise!

Glad you mentioned that I'd need my own power adapter, although I'm sure I could have grabbed a micro usb power adapter from somewhere cheap enough. Since about 90%+ of (newer) phones use them now.

 

[MetallKopp]

Glad you mentioned that I'd need my own power adapter, although I'm sure I could have grabbed a micro usb power adapter from somewhere cheap enough. Since about 90%+ of (newer) phones use them now.

Right. I'm using the Galaxy Tab power supply for my S3. It's also USB, but has a current output of 2000mA instead of 1000. Charges the phone in no time.

I'm not sure where to buy a really cheap one. Big electronic stores offer some, I think. Not sure how much they are.

I figure you could use one of these.

 

[raylouie]

Right. I'm using the Galaxy Tab power supply for my S3. It's also USB, but has a current output of 2000mA instead of 1000. Charges the phone in no time.

I'm not sure where to buy a really cheap one. Big electronic stores offer some, I think. Not sure how much they are.

I figure you could use one of these.

Would the Saturn electronic store across from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof have these converters? I'm looking for the same thing when I arrive.

 

[Tri-6]

I need to find a cheap sim I can use in my phone for the couple weeks I'm there, something to give me a few GB of data usage.

 

[UltimoAviso]

I need to find a cheap sim I can use in my phone for the couple weeks I'm there, something to give me a few GB of data usage.

Where are you flying into? There is a shop called my cell in the hamburg airport shops

 

[tDa]

Hi, I hope you'll have a splendid first Wacken experience! The German part of the forum is planning to meet at the beergarden at Thursday, abt. 1PM CET. You're heavily invited to join in, of course. Will be a bunch of people sticking their heads together, some with some sort of sign carrying their forum nickname or Avatar or whatever.

Pretty awesome - but most speak English, right? At least to some basic extent?

 

[ThunderZtorm]

Pretty awesome - but most speak English, right? At least to some basic extent?

I've found that I can easily get along on English in Germany. Of course it does help that I know some German, but generally I haven't had problems speaking in English in Germany at all.

And especially not at Wacken

 

[PopoMetal]

Would the Saturn electronic store across from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof have these converters? I'm looking for the same thing when I arrive.

Saturn have those. If you don't get one though no problem:

In Wacken near the big tent (Headbanger Stage) there will be the "Electric Hotel" again this year.
http://www.the-electric-hotel.com/
They have converters and everything. You give your phone to them they charge it and you can get it back a few hours later.

The fee they charge you is not that much and it is really safe they are making photo of you and your phone + have a number so nobody else can falsely claim your phone back. We did it multiple times now and great service everytime. Just expect to have to wait if you come during the main busy hours.

 

[Tri-6]

Where are you flying into? There is a shop called my cell in the hamburg airport shops

Hamburg Airport. So I'll check that out. T-Mobile gave me an unlock code when I put a different cell in it so hopefully its all good.