Juliana Zammit
German heavy metal festival Wacken Open Air is allowing fans to exchange blood donations for free tickets to the festival’s warm-up show.
The Wacken organizers are hoping to support blood donation efforts while offering fans an opportunity to enjoy a pre-festival event.
Blood, sweat & metal
Starting Monday 11th March, those who donate blood to the Essen University Hospital will receive free admission to the festival’s warm-up show. The event will take place at Turock nightclub in Essen, Germany, on June 15th.
Speaking in a press release, the organizers have commented that they will be present at the hospital campaign on June 14th. Their goal is to ‘fill empty blood banks, recruit new donors, and ultimately save lives.’
Wacken open air warm-up show details
The three acts of the Wacken Open Air warm-up show will be Celeste, Downfall of Gaia, and Friisk, who will be dedicating the evening to showcase a “variety of metal music.” The four-day festival has been encouraging blood donation for over a decade, offering merch in exchange for recorded donations.
Wacken open air festival 2024
The 33rd edition of Wacken is set to take place between 31st July and 4th August. Featured artists will be the Scorpions, Korn, and Amon Amarth. This year, the festival sold out all of their 85,000 tickets in four-and-a-half hours. With Blind Guardian, In Extremo, and Axel Rudi Pell on the set list, who wouldn’t snatch up a ticket?
If you’re scared of needles, but still want to catch the warm-up show, the Wacken Festival website offers more details to get regular tickets. For blood donations, more information can be found on the Essen hospital website or Wacken W:O:A page.
