Hello everybody! Spring has finally shown up and it smells like festivals' season is about to start soon! Since I am a huge fan of hard rock and metal music and enjoy going to festivals, I would like to share with you a few very great hard rock/metal festivals in central Europe (meaning France, Belgium, Germany...). I also want to tell that I don't know all festivals but some of them which remain famous in all Europe.
France
Download Festival
This English festival is born in 2003 and has spread to France in 2016. Even if the Download Festival is very young in France, many famous bands are present, from metal to punk rock and alternative rock. Among the most notorious: Guns 'N Roses, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, Ozzy Osbourne and many more performing through the 15th to 18th of June in Paris.
Hellfest
One of the biggest metal festivals in Europe, sold out before the line-up was presented! Founded in 2006, the festival takes place in Clisson, a small town near Nantes. There are six stages related to six different genres: two main stages for hard rock/trash, the Temple Stage for doom/pagan metal/black metal, the Altar Stage for death metal/grind, the Valley Stage for sludge/stoner and the War Zone for punk/punk hard rock. Apart from the many stages, the Hellfest has also a small village with shops and stunning sets. From the 22nd to the 24th of June, you can see performing Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Alice in Chains, Nightwish,...
Belgium
Graspop Metal Meeting
The biggest hard rock, hardcore and metal festival in Belgium and the one where I will have the pleasure to be! It started in 1995 and occurs every year in Dessel, located in the north of Belgium. This year, the festival is getting longer by adding one day to the line-up, it goes from the 21st to the 24th of June! I let you see for yourself the very attractive line-up:
Alcatraz Hard Rock and Metal Festival
Taking its name from the famous prison in the Bay of San Francisco, the Alcatraz Festival seeks to be the real (hard)rock and metal festival with an original mascot: the Officer Nice. Compared to the previous festivals, this one is smaller but nonetheless, it has a great line-up and atmosphere.
It was created in 2006 and occurs in Courtrai (north-east of Belgium) from the 10th to the 12th of August this year. The line-up is composed of StatusQuo, Helloween, Epica, In Flames, Satyricon, Behemoth, Alestorm, Sepultura,...
Germany
Wacken Open Air
This festival takes place in Wacken, a small village in the north-east of Germany. Probably one of the biggest and most famous metal festival in the world. It started in 1990 and this year, the festival will occur during 3 days, from the 2nd to the 4th of August and will have as headliners: Judas Priest, Nightwish, In Flames, Ghost, Helloween, Arch Enemy, Children of Bodom, Gojira, Steel Panther, Epica, Sepultura and so much that I can't list all of them.
Summer Breeze Open Air
The Summer Breeze is a German festival mainly devoted to heavy metal bands. The town of Dinkelsbühl in Bavaria hosts this smaller festival (compared with Wacken) which occurs from the 15th to the 18th of August.
This is the end of my small presentation about Central-European hard rock and metal festivals that I've heard about. I hope you will have the opportunity to go to one of them. If you know any other interesting festival in Europe, let me know in the comments! And all hail to rock and metal music!