Pre-announcement W:O:A 2004

Hello Metalheadz!

Right now we are very proud to announce that your one and only W:O:A will be going to have its anniversary very ? VERY soon! In August 2004 the W:O:A will be celebrating its 15th ? with YOU and the bands!

15 Years ? louder than hell. Next year we will present you a retrospective over the last 15 years W:O:A, including new hits, old hits, reunions, newcomers and top acts.

15 years ?Wacken?! Fifteen years of pure heavy metal,just as we like it, that`s what it`s all about! But it is no sooner than now getting clear: it has been a long, long way.

When Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen with their friends first had the idea about doing a festival for real metalheadz 15 years ago, they did not know that this was going to become one of the greatest and most important heavy metal festivals ever. It happened during the summer of 1990 when they organized the FIRST W:O:A ? with a ticket price of 12,- DM and a relatively small but well-captured line-up which consisted of approximately 6 unknown bands and 800 metalheads who found their way into the ?mud? of our famous Norderstraße.

Now as you all know, events like this are nothing new and they need some time to grow, but it did not happen often before that a open air festival went from underground to a really big deal in such a short time ? without loosing its ?brotherhood flair?!!. Our line up grew year by year, including the really big acts, and more and more metalheadz were glad to take our invitation ? more than Holger and Thomas had ever dreamed about.

In 1996 there were some 8000 metalheadz who found their way to WACKEN ? tenth as much as 6 years ago!

We think that the legendary ?Böhse Onkelz?-performance finally pushed our festival to where it is now.

There has always been a friendly relationship between the bosses of the W:O:A and the Onkelz which did not only include performances of the Onkelz, but also technical know-how which Thomas Jensen acquired during the Onkelz tours from 1998 to 2002 as their technical coordinator.

So it is only fair that the Wacken people are going to get the Onkelz again for their next event, the W:O:A 2004, taking place from the 5th to the 7th of August. Yeah, it was the Onkelz, who will be opening for the legendary Rolling Stones in Hannover later this year (8th August), and they are going to headline the W:O:A 2004 (5th August) among some other bands, featuring our ?Night To Remember?.

There is much arguing about the Onkelz in Germany concerning their (old) political direction, but it is important to underline once again that the Onkelz as well as the W:O:A-team are strictly against racism and faschism in any kind!

As a matter of fact our W:O:A-bosse Sheree Hesse, Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner are to represent ?Metalheads against Racism? VERY strongly. Yeah, and this will be our Metal-Motto for 2004!!

But right now we find ourselves in 2003 and our 14th W:O:A is in action right now! Starting with a line up of 6 metal bands we have now reached an enormous event of 61 bands on 4 stages. There are no more 800 fans, but 30.000 instead!! And we always remained at the price of 50,- Euro - it has been the same for the past years - including Camping for all days, in spite of our professional logistic systems, which are required for a festival this size.

And what do you get? ? a metal village (actually a real city!!) Furthermore, you all know NWOBHM!!!! ? Our heroes SAXON and GRAVE DIGGER, NEVERMORE, AMON AMARTH and BRAINSTORM are already confirmed!

So all of us are looking forward to what will happen on the 14th W:O:A. And there is already one eye blinking towards next year, our 15th anniversary in 2004!

Will we be able to top it once again?. Be sure! You can count on us, because we are counting on you!!

in metal we trust.

Your W:O:A TEAM