Easter greetings from Wacken

Dear Metalheads, friends & W:O:A family,
we wish you all a happy Easter and some calm days in this difficult time.

In a normal year we would announce bands for the upcoming festival on today's Easter Sunday - but for this year we decided not to do so. Announcing bands while friends and industry colleagues are forced to cancel their festivals? That seems inappropriate to us.

The pandemic has been affecting the entire cultural landscape for quite some time now and of course it doesn't stop at the summer festivals.

We are all in the same boat when it comes to the pandemic. No one on the planet knows for sure what the situation will be like in a few months. And like so many of you, we are following the studies, press conferences, info podcasts and all the other sources of information with great attention.

But since we are "only" a festival organizer and no virologists, epidemiologists or politicians, we can also only wait and see what the future may bring. We don't presume to speculate and we can't evaluate the model calculations for the coming weeks. Instead, we have complete confidence in the experts and follow their advice.

Planning for the W:O:A 2020 continues

As of now there is no edict, law or other compelling reason that prevents the W:O:A 2020. So the planning continues, even though we, like many of you, have been working in our home office for almost a month now and video conferencing has replaced meetings.

Despite all the uncertainty: We are optimistic and hope to welcome all of you in Wacken this summer! Of course it is clear that in case of doubt the health and safety of all participants has the highest priority - as usual at our events.

If the situation regarding W:O:A changes fundamentally, we will inform you immediately.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who are currently doing your part to help us all get through this crisis as quickly and as well as possible.

The list of relevant jobs and activities is far too long to be listed here in its entirety and we don't want to favour or ignore anyone - you know who you are! And even those who only follow the rules of hygiene and distance already make an important contribution.

Thank you all, happy Easter and stay healthy!

Holger, Thomas & the W:O:A crew