A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular events, while others recur annually in the same location. Occasionally, a festival will focus on a particular genre, but many attempt to bring together a diverse lineup to showcase a broad array of popular music trends.
Wacken Open Air is a heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1989 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and subgenres of hard rock and metal are represented and hosted. It is now one of the largest heavy metal festivals in the world and one of the largest open-air festivals in Germany. Between 2011 and 2018, the number of attendees was around 85,000, 75,000 of whom were paying visitors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no 2020 and 2021 editions of Wacken Open Air.
Gorgoroth is a Norwegian black metal band based in Bergen. It was formed in 1992 by guitarist Infernus, who is the sole original member remaining, and has released nine studio albums. Gorgoroth are a Satanic band and have drawn controversy due to some of their concerts, which have featured impaled sheep heads and mock crucifixions. The band is named after the dead plateau of darkness in the land of Mordor from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings.
Warlock was a German heavy metal band founded in 1982 in Düsseldorf by members of the underground bands Snakebite and Beast. The band gained popularity and some commercial success in Europe in the mid-1980s, due to the personality and stage presence of lead vocalist Doro Pesch. Warlock supported successful heavy metal bands on tour, such as W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, Dio and Megadeth.
Dynamo Open Air is a festival in the Netherlands that was held (almost) every year between 1986 and 2005. It was reborn in 2008 as Dynamo Outdoor and in 2015 as Dynamo Metal Fest.
Crucified Barbara were an all-female Swedish hard rock and heavy metal band, formed in Stockholm in 1998.
Masters of Rock is a metal festival in Vizovice, Czech Republic. The main styles represented at this festival are power metal, speed metal, and heavy metal. In the past, the festival has featured bands such as Judas Priest, Motörhead, Slayer, Helloween, Uriah Heep, Manowar, Dream Theater, Nightwish, Accept, Anthrax, Sweet, Twisted Sister, Europe, HammerFall, Stratovarius, Gamma Ray, Rhapsody of Fire, Sabaton, Kreator, Edguy, Rage - also with symphonic orchestra, Tarja Turunen, Apocalyptica, Within Temptation, Children of Bodom, Avantasia, Sebastian Bach, Behemoth, Amon Amarth, and many more. The 2005 attendance was over 20,000, the 2006 one over 25,000 and finally the 2007 was over 30,000. The festival is held every summer and the Winter morphosis takes place in November in the town of Zlín. Since 2010 the main stage of summer festival is named after Ronnie James Dio, who died earlier that year.
Neil Turbin is an American singer known for being the first full-time vocalist for thrash metal band Anthrax. He is the current lead vocalist and songwriter of heavy metal band DeathRiders and a member of hard rock band Bleed the Hunger.
Kryptos is an Indian heavy metal band from Bangalore, India, formed in 1998 by Nolan Lewis (vocals/guitars) and Ganesh K. (bassist). They are one of the pioneers of the modern Indian heavy metal movement. Since their inception the band has released seven albums: Spiral Ascent (2004), The Ark of Gemini (2008),The Coils of Apollyon (2013), Burn Up The Night (2016), Afterburner (2019), Force of Danger (2021) and Decimator (2024).
Croats in Germany refers to persons living in Germany who have total or partial Croatian ancestry. They form the sixth largest ethnic minority in Germany. In 2021, there were 434,610 Croats holding Croatian citizenship and living in Germany. Croatia's State Office for the Croats Abroad, Croatian embassy in Berlin and Croatian Catholic Missions estimated that there are more than 500,000 Croats and their descendants living in Germany.
The Sonisphere Festival was a touring rock music festival which took place across Europe between the months of June and August. The festival was owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It was jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live. It hosted heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold and Babymetal.
Shadowkeep are an English heavy metal band formed in Guildford in 1999 by guitarists Chris Allen and Nikki Robson.
70000 Tons of Metal is an annual heavy metal music festival that takes place on board a cruise ship. The event is a five-day festival, including one shore day at a select Caribbean destination.
Hell are an English heavy metal band from Derbyshire, formed in 1982 from the remaining members of bands Race Against Time and Paralex. Due to a series of unfortunate and tragic events, the band originally folded in 1987. They were amongst the first bands to wear proto-corpse paint as part of their stage show, which featured hysterical ranting from a gargoyle-adorned pulpit, along with the use of a pyrotechnic exploding Bible which caused outrage amongst the clergy when it originally appeared in 1983.
The Resolution Tour was a concert tour by American heavy metal band Lamb of God in support of the group's seventh studio album, Resolution, which was released in January 2012.
Dragony is a power metal band from Vienna, Austria, which incorporates elements of symphonic metal in their style.
The Freilichtbühne Loreley is an amphitheatre located on top of the Lorelei rock in St. Goarshausen, Germany. Designed by Hermann Senf, it was built between 1934 and 1939 as one of the Nazi Thingplätze and is one of the best known of these. It has been used continuously since World War II, initially mainly for theatrical performances and since 1976, mainly for rock concerts.
Holocausto Canibal is a Portuguese goregrind band based in Rio Tinto. Formed in 1997, the band has released one demo, six studio albums, three EPs, four splits and a compilation album and is considered one of the most well known Portuguese extreme metal acts in the scene today.
Neonfly is a British metal band who have released three albums to date: The Future, Tonight (2021), Strangers In Paradise (2014) and Outshine The Sun (2011).
