Festival Veterans, WOA 2012. Help!

[DanLights]

So I´ll be going to my first Wacken this year, so far I´ve been to the two last Sonispheres in Madrid, not even staying at the camping so my experience in these huge European metal fests is little to none. Those who´ve been a million times, got any golden tips to share? How to survive, not lose your stuff, not kill yourself, not want to kill everyone and actually enjoy bands instead of die in the field, those kind of things. Camping gear I should take, taking showers, using the bathroom, I´d love someone with actual experience to let me in on some info. Thanks in advance!

And now that we´re at it, who´s going?

 

[AdamWathan]

Bring your own toilet paper and bring baby wipes to keep yourself feeling at least somewhat "fresh" Crucial man crucial.

 

[StefTD]

DON'T SHOWER!!! You will start to smell the other guys after showering...
Worst idea I've ever had!!! Water proofed tent, enough socks (if it's wet your socks are wet
first, your feet will hurt and so on, went to summer breeze 2005 and went home with a pneu-
monia).

Imho it really depends if you want to party or if you want to see the bands, my first festivals
were more party orientated, so I just brought a little tent with me, a camping chair, as much
beer and booze as possible and that's it.
I later started to listen to the bands more and stopped drinking and partying that much, today
I hate going to festivals because there's no way to really seperate it imho.

 

[DanLights]

Definitely for the bands, not so much for the partying, although I'm sure there will be partying, I'll be the geek with the carefully thought out schedule. Keep me coming guys, good points so far

 

[Wohma]

I DO recommend showering, but Stef's recommendation may have something to it
Don't bring anything expensive - and if you do, take it with you everywhere or put it into a safe deposit.
Also, do not lock your tent - it's a signal for thieves that there's something valuable inside. Cutting into a tent is a matter of a few seconds, so the lock is useless anyway.
Don't build your tent too close to a road or toilettes.
Arrive early, as early as you can. The best tent spots are usually taken very fast.
Take a good pair of waterproof shoes in case it rains. Things get nasty when it rains throughout the festival and your boots become the most strained equipment.
Listen to all the bands in advance and mark them in a printed out program. Set up an alarm for the most important ones, it's easy to lose track of time on a festival.
Buy as much bottled water as you can right after your arrival, unless there is a shop that is guaranteed to have some water in 2 days time or so. It's one of the most sought after things, right after the booze.
Bring earplugs!

 

[abigor731]

*altitude matters: often when you arrive later there are still some really great spots left for camping except they are a bit lower than the surrounding area
the problem is when it rains you're fucked

*always carry 1-3 garbage bags with you, be creative with them when the rain starts

*you don't need an expensive tent, pitching it correctly is much more important, the first people who are getting soaked in their tents are usually not those with the cheapest tents, but those who were the most drunk when putting it up
it is not always wise to use the guy ropes though, especially when you're in a crowded area, i only use them when necessairy

*there is lots of extra stuff thats nice to have like one of those cheap white pavillions, a camping grill, a camping seat, an acoustic guitar,... the most important out of these is hands down the camping seat cause very often there is literally no other chance to sit anywhere

*don't camp right next to the manowar-karaoke-tent, just don't
camping near the stage is no problem, but camping near the locations where the artershow-parties are set sucks

 

[LeSedna]

Showering is cheating

+1 for the camping chair. Anyone with a camping chair looks like a god to the other 239483 ones without one, looking at him jealously.

 

[B36arin]

Bring a tall flag pole and a recognizable flag so you can find your camp when you're really, really wasted.

Seriously speaking from that just bring water and beer and you'll be fine. I agree with the no shower advice, the best time I've had at Wacken was the one year where the airline company lost my luggage, so I basically went to Wacken with one set of clothes and sandals(arrived from Spain) and almost no money. If it rains boots will save your life.

The camping chair is a must, and a pavilion is great if you're going with a bunch of friends.

 

[B36arin]

Oh, I forgot one thing, which is probably the best advice I can give you from my times at Wacken. The festival and camping area bathrooms are absolutely disgusting. There are a few smaller private bathrooms close to one of the camp site entrances and a bit outside the festival area which always have toilet paper, get cleaned regularly and cost something like 1 euro a po(o)p(at least the last time I was there). When you've been at the festival for a few days, have been drinking beer all the time and haven't showered it's amazing to sit down in a nice, clean bathroom and do your business.

 

[Derpsicle]

Amen to all of this.
Showers are gay, toilets are worth paying for and bring boots.

Maybe I'll see you there!

 

[Ashgarth]

bring boots.

Whiskey is cheaper in spain, get your whiskey here! hahaha

 

[LeSedna]

Oh yeah, bring boots, even if they are pink with blue flowers. I have military boots that I wear only for festivals, it's a must have.

 

[Joematthews]

Pretty much every festival has toilets in the arena, get up as soon as the arena opens and go take a luxury turd, they get changed every night so they are always clean in the morning. Never been to WOA though...

 

[Ashgarth]

I went to WOA on 2008, they have those awful plastic toilets, and if you pay (I don't even remember how much, but it was pretty cheap) you can go to normal toilets that are clean, always have paper and don't let you see whatever the fat guy that took a dump before you ate.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

The only way Wacken works for me these days is to camp backstage = 1 minute from the tent (fresh beers) to the stages...that way you don't have to stand around on the stage site for hours just cause you're too lazy to walk the 45mins back to your tent..
then in the mornings I drive to Burger King to have a nice shit...for backstage food I bring a grill and a wok plus all the fresh ingredients and make some nice thai curry or something....

 

[DanLights]

Cool, but is it allowed for normal people to camp backstage? Sounds to me like you´ve got special privileges, Herr Lasse

 

[MetalSound]

The only way Wacken works for me these days is to camp backstage = 1 minute from the tent (fresh beers) to the stages...that way you don't have to stand around on the stage site for hours just cause you're too lazy to walk the 45mins back to your tent..
then in the mornings I drive to Burger King to have a nice shit...for backstage food I bring a grill and a wok plus all the fresh ingredients and make some nice thai curry or something....

haha, that seperates the kids from the (old) men.