This was the first time in a long time that it wasn’t raining at Wacken. I was praying for rain. I prefer the mud people over the dust. The thing about Wacken is the pure excitement is what keeps you going. You could be dead in a ditch somewhere and the moment someone yells “Wacken” you are brought back to life. It was Friday, I was feeling rough.
It was time for electro lights and water. We had a big day ahead of us. Cannibal Corpse was playing at noon! I was more shocked that Corpsegrinder was good to go so early. His neck looked bigger than ever. He was taunting the crowd saying things like “Try to keep up” knowing full well that this was one contest he would always win. The hell with coffee, if you want to wake up festival style its starting the day off with Cannibal Corpse. Today was a hit the ground running type of day. Children of Bodom, Doro, Destruction, In Flames and Ghost were all playing. Ghost would be going on stage at 1:45am. You woke up knowing it was going to be a long day and that day naps may be needed.
It would be the first time I’d see C.O.B live. I was impressed! Their live set was amazing, stage presence on point but the sound, the sound is what got me. They found fantastic live. As always there were plenty of crowd surfers and a few people crowd surfing in rafts. Only Wacken Open Air.
After C.O.B I made my way to go see Destruction. They were playing the W.E.T stage, my favoruite. I’ve always been more of a fan of Thrash metal, but nothing could prepare me for how tight and captivating they were. I understand now why they are known as part of the German “Big 4” Destruction, was one of the best bands I got to see at Wacken. They owned the stage. Once they played “Thrash Till Death” I knew I could die happy.
After Destruction, I went back to camp for a little nap. Unfortunately I got either food poisoning or heat stroke and was done for the rest of the night. I missed Ghost that night. From what I heard they were unbelievable. They played really late at night, which made their set even more eerie than normal. They finished playing at 3am