Wacken Stories: Jörg Stammer

Almost 30 years of W:O:A lead to many, many great stories – crazy, heart-warming, revealing, or just plain funny. To collect those stories, we have talked to the people that live, work or party around the „Wacken Holy Ground“. Their experience illustrate the festival’s extraordinary spirit, so have fun with special anecdotes which you won’t find everywhere else: Here are the „Wacken Stories“!

Jörg Stammer (senior police officer, head of the W:O:A police station)

„His friends glued a beer keg to his forehead“

For nine years, Jörg Stammer has enjoyed working at the police station on the W:O:A grounds as a senior officer. He witnesses funny things on a regular basis, but he probably won’t forget that one time when a beer keg was stuck to a fan’s forehead…

„My first time at the W:O:A was in 2009. I run the police station we built every year on the festival site together with two colleagues. Funny and weird stuff happens almost daily. For example, there are always guests who can’t find their tent. Like the two ladies this year who had come from Southern Germany in the morning, set up their tent and went to party right away. In the evening they came to us in a state of desperation, because they couldn’t remember at all where to go. For almost three hours several officers helped them to look for their tent – and managed to find it. Those girls were really happy and relieved.

In 2017, one guest actually complained about loud music in the camping area. That’s unusual for a Heavy Metal festival. But there’s one fan in particular I will always remember: The medical services are located right next to us, and he had come there and asked for help. His problem was that his friends had glued a tin keg to his forehead, probably while he was sleeping. Not with duct tape, though – with super glue! He became a „metalhead“ quite literally. The paramedics were able to get rid of that thing, but the situation left a mental image I won’t forget.

I need to stress that all colleagues from all over the state of Schleswig-Holstein really, really like to work at this festival. It’s a much sought-after job every summer! One reason is the fact that the W:O:A is absolutely peaceful, another is the way the fans react to us. We often get to hear statements like ‚You’re doing a great job!‘, ‚You’re always there, but never intrusive!‘ or ‚We can always ask for help!‘. Here at the Wacken Open Air I can walk through the camping area alone and in uniform, but the only attacks I need to look out for are spontaneous hugs, requests for selfies or shouts of gratitude. Which is unusual, but that it was make Wacken so special.’

Stammers wish for the 30th W:O:A, if anything was possible:

„I would really love to see Metallica.“

Text & Pic: Katharina Metag

Do you want some more? All already released stories are available here!