Police return men safely
Updated 8th August 2018
Courtesy of Deutsche Welle comes the news that two elderly gentleman left their nursing home to attend Wacken Open Air festival. The two men left on Friday and were reported missing to police by concerned staff who found the men at 3am Saturday at the festival, dazed and disoriented. The two men wanted to stay but police escorted them back to the nursing home.
Police spokeswoman Merle Neufeld told public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, “They obviously liked the metal festival. The care home quickly organised a return transport after police picked them up.”
However, the Associated Press has now revealed more details that paint a far more realistic picture. The two men were 58 and 59 years of age and had escaped a mental health facility, before being found at 3am drunk by festival goers at a bus stop after buses had stopped running.
This year’s Wacken Open Air Festival has seen organisers warn attendees of fire risks and dust after the heatwave that has affected Europe, which is a contrast to the usual muddy conditions at the festival. Last year Wacken’s organisers improved drainage conditions at the site and built a four mile long pipeline to supply beer to the festival in order to protect the site’s land from being churned up by the large number of beer trucks. This meant that the infield could be farmed throughout the rest of the year while the festival’s 70,000+ attendees could continue to enjoy their beer which is consumed at an average of five litres per person. Despite more beer being consumed at Wacken Open Air than at many other large festivals, police have consistently spoken highly of the Wacken crowd’s good behaviour.
The festival is now in it’s 29th year and this year has seen Vince Neil perform despite his mother dying a few days ago. Danzig, Dokken, Converge, Hatebreed, Judas Priest, Amorphis, Ghost, Cannibal Corpse, Epica, Nightwish, Fozzy, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Gojira, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Samael, Madball and Helmet are amongst the 150 bands playing over the four days.
You can watch pro shot footage of Arch Enemy’s full set below
Metal Report Editor.
Ex guitarist in Zenopede, ex vocals for a goth covers band that was hailed as the future of Welsh music, former DJ, promoter and nightclub director. Writer for Gear4Geeks’ Blog4Geeks and owner of Gear4Geeks ltd. First published music critique was Kerrang letter of the Week.
Definitely has never been the future, present or past of Welsh music.