The festival season of 2025 has already begun, with the calendar filling up with events each weekend. I have three festivals scheduled in a row. First is Ulmich om Braand, located between Frankfurt and Fulda on the 20th and 21st of June. From there I will be heading to Rock & Metal Day’z at Oschersleben near Magdeburg, just 50 km away from my last festival on this tour. The festival runs from the 26th to the 28th of June, but I am part of the crew, so I will be there to help with setting up and taking down the festival during the week before and after. Finally, I will be heading to the Rockharz Festival in Ballenstedt from 2nd to 5th July. Let’s focus on the latter but maybe some of you will combine these three festivals too?
Looking back
In 2024, Rockharz Festival had what might be the best line-up ever, with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden performing with his solo project, as well as the metal gods Judas Priest. These are two artists I never even dreamed of seeing there when I first went to the Rockharz Festival more than a decade ago. There were many other excellent bands too, so here are a few impressions from 2024.
Bands 2025
The quality of the bands and the festival itself led to it selling out in less than two weeks, despite only a few bands had been announced for 2025. Here is the complete list in alphabetical order. Some of them are infrequent guests or even newcomers, but there is also a range of regulars at the Rockharz Festival. Do you have any idea who these new bands are, or who the headliners will be?
ABBATH DOOM OCCULTA (100% IMMORTAL-Songs), AEPHANEMER, ANY GIVEN DAY, APRIL ART, ARCTIS, ASENBLUT, ASP, AVATARIUM, BOKASSA, CLAWFINGER, COMBICHRIST, CRADLE OF FILTH, DARK TRANQUILLITY, DEFECTS, DELIVER THE GALAXY, DESERTED FEAR, DIE KASSIERER, DRACONIAN, DRAGONFORCE, EXCREMENTORY GRINDFUCKERS, FROG LEAP, FROZEN CROWN, GLORYHAMMER, GRAND MAGUS, GREEN LUNG, HARPYIE, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, IN EXTREMO, INSOMNIUM, J.B.O., KING DIAMOND, KUPFERGOLD, MEMORIAM,MISTER MISERY, MONO INC., MR. HURLEY & DIE PULVERAFFEN, NACHTBLUT, NON EST DEUS, OVERKILL, POWERWOLF, PRIMAL FEAR, PRO-PAIN, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, ROBSE, SAXON, SEASONS IN BLACK, SODOM, SOLSTAFIR, SOULFLY, THE GEMS, THE NEW ROSES, TRAGEDY, TYR, VADER, VELVET RUSH, VERSENGOLD, VISIONS OF ATLANTIS, WARKINGS
Growing
As the festival grows, so does the campsite. Of course it takes a lot of planning and organisation to fit everyone in so that no space is wasted. Being nice to the stewards is a keyword here… They know what they are doing and have the layout in their heads. Well, someone will always complain about lack of space, but I must say I have never felt far too cramped in all these years. Get organised and you won’t have space problems. Along with the perfect campsite size comes short distances to the infield, food, drink and merchandise stalls. Even the furthest campsite is closer to the stage than it is to the toilets at the big festivals. And don’t forget the legendary walk to the Teufelsmauer… the place where legends and stories are made and told around the campfire for generations of headbangers!
Traffic
As the festival grows, the negative side effect of increased traffic leads to jams several kilometres long and long waiting times to enter the campsite. Additionally, the number of caravans and camper vans has increased, as has the number of cars carrying only one passenger. However, campsite space is not finite, so the Rockharz Festival is taking measures to reduce the number of vehicles. Visit the website for more details.
Tickets
Although the festival is sold out as far as camping is concerned, day tickets will still be available at the Rockharz shop. Day tickets may be sold out on site. Please keep an eye on the Rockharz newsfeed. Day visitors will have access to the infield through a separate entrance.
More facts and projects:
ROCK’N’RECYCLE PROJECT
It’s a project of the students of the Wolterstorff-Gymnasium since 2022. During the festival they collect donations such as sealed cans, sleeping mats, tents and cutlery to donate to the animal shelter or the Bahnhofsmission (similar to Army Of Salvation. Slight damage to equipment does not make it unusable!
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Happiness in cans
Drinking beer and doing good at the same time? That’s the motto of the “Glück in Dosen” project, which has been running at the ROCKHARZ in cooperation with the Clausthal-Zellerfeld club for more than 10 years. Thanks to the collected cans, an incredible €70,000 was distributed to seven charities to support their social projects during a festive handover ceremony in November last year!
So if you see them on the campsite or pass by their stall near the infield, feel free to donate whatever you can, or invite them over for a drink and hand over your empty cans. They deserve it!
The important volunteers
Keep in mind that most of the volunteers are doing their job during the Rockharz festival for free or they took time off from their regular nine to five jobs. Be kind to them, they are metalheads like us and share the same passion. I will never forget the two policemen who queued up for the merch like everyone else “because we are metalheads like you”. These guys are just the best and deserve all the respect. They are there for you when you need them, no matter who you are, where you come from, what your problem is. They will help you solve it.
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Online:
Please buy merch and physical music or downloads from the bands’ official sources and don’t stream it for free, because that steals the artists’ income.
Original photos taken by Friend.X aka Mr. Deep