As some of you may know, we spent over a week at the Rock Metal & Day’z festival in Oschersleben before moving on to the ROCKHARZ festival on Tuesday 30 June. It’s less than a 50 km trip, so we arrive early enough to check in and set up camp without any stress. Incidentally, the system of dedicated routes for the individual campgrounds, which has been in place for a while now, worked very well again.
However, I have to leave later in the afternoon to pick up my friends Doro and Daniel, who missed their final train due to delays and cancellations on the Deutsche Bahn network. Thankfully, everything worked out and we were able to spend the evening together, enjoying the sunset and some refreshing drinks. It had been seven years since Pendi and me last spent a festival together with Doro and Daniel due to their overseas commitments. I will therefore include some of their comments about the bands in this article.
But first of all and before you turn the page, here are a message of the ROCKHARZ organisers and the official festival film:
ROCKHARZ 2027 Sells Out in Record Time Once Again – Looking Back, Looking Ahead, and the Official Festival Film.
ROCKHARZ 2026 is now history – and while dismantling of this year’s festival was still underway, advance ticket sales for ROCKHARZ 2027 set a new record: Within just 15 hours after the exclusive opening of the ticket shop for returning customers, 90% of all available tickets had already been sold. After general ticket sales began, it took only another 25 minutes before the organisers could officially announce SOLD OUT for next year’s festival.
The organisers are more than grateful for this tremendous vote of confidence and see the unwavering loyalty of the fans as both a motivation and a challenge for the future. Once again, thousands of fans showed what makes the ROCKHARZ community so special: solidarity, passion and an incredible anticipation for four days of rock and metal at the foot of the Teufelsmauer.
The organisers also look back on this year’s festival with great gratitude: More than 25,000 fans celebrated Alice Cooper, Kreator, Feuerschwanz, Helloween and many more at a peaceful festival with a truly unique atmosphere. Once again, eight official civil wedding ceremonies were held during the festival.
The travel and traffic concept introduced last year once again proved to be a great success. Hundreds of guests signed the summit guestbook beneath the cross on the “Großer Gegenstein”, around 45 food and beverage vendors provided a balanced selection of food and drinks, and more than 700 volunteers worked behind the scenes to ensure a smooth and safe festival experience.
The organisers also reached another milestone in one of the festival’s closest priorities: inclusion. More than 500 people with disabilities and their companions (320 in the previous year) stayed at the Inclusion Camp, once again underlining ROCKHARZ’s exceptional commitment in this field. The ROCKHARZ Compass App, designed for visitors with visual impairments, offers turn-by-turn navigation across the festival site to almost every point of interest, food and beverage stand, while also providing additional information such as prices, the running order and autograph sessions. The app reached four-digit download numbers, once again showing that accessible solutions can provide real added value for all festival visitors.
Preview: ROCKHARZ 2027
The first highlights for ROCKHARZ 2027 (7 to 10 July 2027) were already announced on site. No fewer than 29 bands – more than ever before at this point – have already been confirmed:
ACCEPT, ALESTORM, ALL FOR METAL, ARCH ENEMY, BRUCE DICKINSON, COPPELIUS, DARTAGNAN, DUST BOLT, EISBRECHER, EMIL BULLS, EQUILIBRIUM, GRAVE DIGGER, GUTALAX, GWAR, HANDGEMENG, H-BLOCKX, IGEL VS. SHARK, KATERFAHRT, KORPIKLAANI, LORD OF THE LOST, MARDUK, METAL CHURCH, NESTOR, SETYØURSAILS, SKÁLD, TANKARD, STORM SEEKER, THE SISTERS OF MERCY and TURBOBIER are among those already confirmed.
ROCKHARZ 2026: The Festival Film
The organisers are also pleased to present the official ROCKHARZ 2026 festival film on YouTube.
The film takes a look back at this year’s festival and, through a mix of interviews, atmospheric impressions and original voices from the event, offers an entertaining recap for everyone who wants to relive ROCKHARZ 2026, couldn’t make it this year, or simply wants to get in the mood for the already sold-out ROCKHARZ 2027. For everyone who wants to know exactly what the interviewees are saying – or simply prefers to read along – optional subtitles are available in both German and English.
Now prepare for our report which is split in parts for Wednesday and Thursday, for Friday and for Saturday, highlighting the bands and showing the surroundings, people, crew, supporters and you, the great audience.