I was there in 09 and it was horrific. The Saturday night was pure chaos. I remember the field next to mine had flames 15-20ft high from a bonfire made of tents but the fire marshal decided to come to my tent instead and extinguish a fire I had made in a bean can...
Wacken in Germany was also like this. My last time was in 2010 and in the camp site after the last day the fire brigade were just driving from one campsite to the other putting out tent fires. People were stacking up hundreds of tents into a pile and setting them alight. The whole area stunk of melted plastic, it was horrid. I was also there in 2005 and 2007, and it wasn't quite as bad, but still a mess after the last day.
Needless to say I haven't been back to Wacken since, and I instead go to smaller festivals.
Maybe I just left too early, but I carried my tent around Europe for 2mo after doing Tomorrowland and Wacken then took it back to Australia. Wasn't particularly convenient, and I could of course afford to have just left / replaced it when I needed another, but it's a pretty decent tent. No regrets. This was like 2023. But yeah we the people I camped with at both properly packed our sites.. I did throw out my Wellington boots after about a week though. That was a bit much to carry around for something I'd never use again.
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u/Low-Outlandishness14 9h ago
I was there in '09 and it was chaos, everyone seemed more concerned about drugs and burning tents down every night. Genuinely horrendous experience
Im sure some people were there for music and a good time but that isn't my memory of it
Took my tent home and didnt shit for 5 days so dont look at me....