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A review of the trip can be found in three parts: the festival itself in the first and the second, with the post-festival forays into Baarle-Nassau/Hertog and Ypres in the third.
| WEDNESDAY 30.07.2014 | |
| Dyslexia at Wacken. No doubt there'll be some kind of politically correct campaign to "raise awareness"... |
| Is it a shrew? Is it a dormouse? The Yanks thought it was a vole. |
| Shaun, the zoologist... |
| A better view of the small furry thing, outside its natural habitat |
| A nasty surprise is coming... |
| Timewaves |
| Plague Throat |
| Crescent |
| Mutank |
| Bath time at Wacken! |
| Let Shaun be the subject of this (what is, I find, annual) prank! |
| "Timotei for Metallers: see the new, improved results!" |
| Even Kate Moss would be proud... |
| Anstratus |
| Magor (1) |
| Magor (2): they've got the horn |
| Killface |
| I do not believe you are real doctors... |
| I suppose an old American hearse makes for cavernous transport for hauling all your gear half way across Germany... accompanied by a skeleton! |
| "Trink, trink, Brüderlein trink!" |
| The loudest caravan on the entire campsite... I think it was wired up to the National Grid! |
| This is what happens when you get drunker than Father Jack Hackett in Jack Daniel's warehouse. Don't say you weren't warned! |
| "I have never... given head to a rhino." (some people drink) |
| Stuck for a light on a dark campsite? Use this trick that's lightning Brazilian favelas. Only they don't have the flat torch. |
| Shaun, the metal unicorn... |
| THURSDAY 31.07.2014 | |
 | Trouble Agency |
 | Rollstuhl-Willy: crudely drawn on the chipboard panels protecting the maruqee supports. Should we adopt him as a mascot? |
 | Convivium |
 | Agni Kai |
 | Room Of The Mad Robots |
 | Hellhound (1) |
 | Hellhound (2) |
 | Revolution Within (1) |
 | Revolution Within (2): plus pit |
 | Evocation |
 | Juodvarnis |
 | If you don't have a beer bong... make your own! |
 | Earth Divide |
 | [In Mute] |
 | Huldre (1) |
 | Huldre (2) |
 | Huldre (3) |
 | You bunch of drunks! |
 | Pole sitting... stay up there for six hours and upgrade yourself to a VIP ticket! No idea what for, though... |
 | Sunset over Wacken... |
 | Saxon (1) |
 | Saxon (2) |
 | Saxon (3): special guests revealed! |
 | The 2014 incarnation of the famous cow skull... with more torches than ever! |
 | Firing more flames than ever, as well... |
 | Saxon (4): and... fire? Have they turned into Amon Amarth? |
 | Saxon (5): Biff's Budgie has landed |
 | Saxon (6): and... gas? |
 | Saxon (7): the scene was set for Dallas 1PM |
 | The scene at night: denim, leather and mustard-yellow raincoats brought us all together... |
 | Starchild |
 | Drunk shenanigans with Sullie... |
 | Even more drunk shenanigans... |
 | Federico and Cullen claim their trophy! |
| FRIDAY 01.08.2014 | |
 | "What did I do last night..." |
 | Will, trading a six-pack for a cask (as all the best do...) |
 | Lenni ist kaputt (and it's barely lunchtime...) |
 | Hooray, it's me, 2014 vintage. Here's 2004 for comparison. |
 | Endstille (1) |
 | Endstille (2) |
 | Endstille (3) |
 | A watermelon helmet in a black metal crowd? The kvlt police would not approve... |
 | Black Star Riders (1) |
 | Black Star Riders (2) |
 | Black Star Riders (3) |
 | Onkel Tom (1) |
 | Onkel Tom (2) |
 | Onkel Tom (3): with cheat sheet! |
 | Motörhead (1): from afar |
 | Motörhead (2): a cropped shot, still from afar |
 | Motörhead (3): a flame still burns for this once magnificent beast... |
 | Hell (1) |
 | Hell (2): fire is compulsory here |
 | Hell (3) |
 | Hell (4): "...and this is people in the Dark Ages used to do..." |
 | Hell (5): that's gotta hurt |
 | Hell (6) |
 | Tom and Kerry (1) |
 | Tom and Kerry (2): yes, I was a long way back |
 | Tom and Kerry (3) |
 | Tom and Kerry (4): not forgetting their fallen bandmate |
 | Vreid (1): plus Vegard Bakken |
 | Vreid (2): doing Valfar and Windir proud |
 | Vreid (3): doing their own thing with Dolk |
 | Vreid (4): their journey to the end... |
| SATURDAY 02.08.2014 | |
 | Seriously, you lot, do you never wake up? |
 | Somewhere under this pile of junk lies treasure... |
 | Brian makes a space blanket into an improvised toga. Why, I have no idea... |
 | The crew's all here! |
 | Beer! Undiscovered for several days, but waiting to be drunk... |
 | ...this man has no dignity. |
 | Prong (1) |
 | Prong (2) |
 | Prong (3) |
 | Sodom (1) |
 | Sodom (2) |
 | Sodom (3) |
 | Arthemis (1) |
 | Arthemis (2) |
 | Arthemis (3) |
 | And the dust... oh, the dust. Everything here is very... dusty. |
 | The cow skull on the last day: blackened with soot, but still going strong |
 | Emperor (1): what an entrance! |
 | Emperor (2) |
 | Emperor (3) |
 | Emperor (4) |
 | Emperor (5) |
 | Emperor (6) |
 | Amon Amarth (1): from afar |
 | Amon Amarth (2) |
 | Amon Amarth (3): with customary fire |
 | Amon Amarth (4): with less customary crowdsurfing feet |
 | Hold... a... chicken in the air, stick a deckchair up your nose... |
 | Amon Amarth (5): with glowing purple runes |
 | The glorious festival scene... in descending daylight |
 | This little piggy never made it home! |
 | Lisa's reasonable attempt at archery |
 | My very rejectful attempt at archery |
 | Ready, aim... miss |
 | There's always one, isn't there? |
 | Dordeduh (1): hammering on planks |
 | Dordeduh (2) |
 | Dordeduh (3) |
 | The presence of Dave Mustaine made some people scramble for the exit... already! |
 | Fleshgod Apocalypse (1) |
 | Fleshgod Apocalypse (2) |
 | ICS Vortex (1) |
 | ICS Vortex (2) |
 | ICS Vortex (3) |
 | Koldbrann (1) |
 | Koldbrann (2) |
 | Koldbrann (3) |
 | ...fuck's sake, it's only a drumstick! |
| SUNDAY 03.08.2014 | |
 | Standard scenes on the Sunday morning... |
 | More wanton destruction... |
 | Desertion and destitution... |
 | The Intergalactic Battlecruiser hadn't had an official decoration this time, but it got one eventually... courtesy of the dust! |
 | Straight into a queue we go... |
 | ...and is that one of the famous Wacken cows? |
| MONDAY 04.08.2014 - ADVENTURES IN BAARLE-NASSAU/HERTOG AND YPRES | |
 | Welcome... to two countries at once! |
 | Baarle-Nassau's town hall... but is it Baarle-Hertog's as well? |
 | A helpful plaque on the town hall explains the jigsaw puzzle of the two countries... to those who can read Dutch! |
 | The auction house - which may or may not hold auctions these days, and as it's in Belgium, it was closed... |
 | The border, as made famous on Wikipedia, with a national crest each side |
 | A continuation of the same border, clearly marked across the road |
 | Juffrouw Tok's inviting interior: might have been a better idea, in retrospect... |
 | I think my arteries have narrowed just looking at it. I don't care. IT'S GOOD FOR YOU. |
 | And there's Juffrouw Tok herself... |
 | The town hall plays a merry tune every 15 minutes - there are enough bells to play a Slayer guitar solo... |
 | Even the shortest border is marked across the pavement |
 | Explaining the division a bit more poetically, as the street divides into non-consecutive house numbers in the different countries... |
 | ...this post doesn't quite line up with the house numbers, though! |
 | The border cuts straight through Zeeman: half the shop is in Belgium, the other half is in the Netherlands, but the front door is on the Dutch side. If it was ever politically favourable to do so, the door could easily be moved into Belgium, changing the nationality of the whole shop... |
 | The model of the town, as it's usually seen... |
 | ...the Belgian chunk rises to show itself clearly. |
 | Polish WWII soldiers are remembered her as well |
 | Imagine having to remember two telephone numbers for the same place... |
 | I never did find Haig House, but this advert for the British Legion on the way into Ypres looks authentically old... |
 | The Commonwealth War Graves' Commission: keeping those marble memorials clean since 1918 |
 | The imposing tower of St. Martin's Cathedral... |
 | ...and the Cloth Hall, a scene compromised by the funfair |
 | Flemish stew: I am eating the local produce again |
 | An apparently unnamed building... but Frontline Tours operates from here, for those who want to know more about the battlefields |
 | Menenpoort, at night - looking into the town |
 | A small fraction of the names of the dead commemorated here |
 | The ubiquitous poppy wreaths, from a wide variety of regiments |
 | Even more names, on top of the north side of the gate... |
 | ...including those who would be local to me now |
 | The bronze map of the battlefields |
