Best rock/metal festival in Europe?

[thetime]

Me and my festival colleagues 😄 have never done a rock/metal fest in europe.

 

We've done the usual route of European festivals with Roskilde, werchter, sziget, pukkelpop, electric castle, balaton, pinkpop. Whilst they are/were brilliant, a big metal one is pulling us in 2025. 

 

What would you advise between Wacken/Hellfest/Graspop? Do they all do camping? I presume graspop is the same camping situation as werchter/pukkelpop? 

 

Rock AM or IM as an alternative. Although the long narrow crowds petrifies me. 

Edited October 23 by thetime

[eivomracsy]

nothing useful from my side but recently i read it several times and its makes me want to scratch my eyes out. to shorten rock am ring or rock im park with rock am or rock in is like isle of or parades de. common short versions in german speaking countries are RAR and RIP. just needed to get that ouf the system. love your posts, please ignore me :⁠-⁠)

[Nicklord]

Hellfest is already too late to buy, it's like Glastonbury to get tickets - maybe slightly easier but I was deep in 6 digits on the day tickets were released in the queue 😄 

 

Graspop is pretty similar to Werchter organization wise. They have 2 main stages next which is amazing. Overall less people. I'd recommend that one. Wacken always has way too many power metal and things like that so I never went.

 

Not sure if you like a bit heavier stuff. If you do I'd recommend Brutal Assault in Czechia. But it's generally very heavy without many "mainstream" metal bands but the setting and the vibe are amazing

[Matt86]

I can talk about Hellfest, going there in 2025 for the 5th time, and it remains the only fest' I do every year with Sziget ;

 

Camping is big, you can bring your own alcohol with no restrictions, the festival area is maybe the most beautiful I've done, 2 outside MainStages, 2 "indoor" stages a bit like A38 from Sziget, and 2 other outdoor stages.

 

But yeah, difficult to have tickets since it's sold out within the first hour. I would recommend "Nova Rock", many friends go there every year, they love the atmosphere, and the line up is pretty good ^^

[Sparticus]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

Me and my festival colleagues 😄 have never done a rock/metal fest in europe.

 

We've done the usual route of European festivals with Roskilde, werchter, sziget, pukkelpop, electric castle, balaton, pinkpop. Whilst they are/were brilliant, a big metal one is pulling us in 2025. 

 

What would you advise between Wacken/Hellfest/Graspop? Do they all do camping? I presume graspop is the same camping situation as werchter/pukkelpop? 

 

Rock AM or IM as an alternative. Although the long narrow crowds petrifies me. 

I have done rock am ring twice, 07 and 15. The latter was at Mendig which was used for 2015 and 2016. From memory, the first rock am ring was a narrow mainstage, and would be interested to hear how rock im park compares?

[Newjem]

Can recommend Rock for People in Czechia if you want something not as big or expensive as Hellfest/Graspop/RaR. Apart from the great atmospehere and the lovely location, it also has quite a diverse accompanying program (theatre, panel discussions, stand-up comedy, movies etc).

[Mondo-kun]

30 minutes ago, Sparticus said:

I have done rock am ring twice, 07 and 15. The latter was at Mendig which was used for 2015 and 2016. From memory, the first rock am ring was a narrow mainstage, and would be interested to hear how rock im park compares?

Rock Im Park has just an ordinary festival area in... the park 🙂
Main stage view from the sky:

[foolee]

Rock Im Park and Nova Rock are both well worth a visit 

[Ferda]

Rock im Park is cool as a city festival with a comfy venue. I especially like their Club stage which is located in the hockey hall which provides nice ambience and shade in the hot summer day.

I am not a fan of Nova Rock as this is just stages in the cornfield, nothing spectacular, but I reckon it's a matter of personal taste.

RfP is cool as it's not a typical rock/metal only festival, offers 7 stages with a lot of different music going on and a lot of non-music stuff as well, kind of Glasto style.

Can't say much about the others as I haven't attended but heard nice things about Coppenhell and GMM.

 

 

[amfest12]

was at Hellfest this year and Rock Im Park on 2019, and also at Pukkelpop many years ago (and the only time camping), Rock en Seine and twice in Mad Cool.

lineups usually much better on Hellfest as there are specific stages for stoner, prog, hardcore and black metal with some of the best names on each genere so you can have a great day without visiting or only few visits on the main stages. of course it means many clashes and busy days.

two downsides for Hellfest are that although it's big festival site I think they are selling way too much tickets and from midday it can take a long time to move there and pee even in urinals and for big acts like Metallica this year you might not be able to see the stage (1.80 M) if you come few minutes before the show from another stage and it's not something I remember from any other festival. second thing is that it takes too much time to get back to Nantes if you are not a camper and weren't lucky or can afford room in clisson as you need to take shuttle which is for 9-10 people and then wait for a train that might run every 45 minutes.

I remember Rock Im Park as really fun as it's in nice city with normal trains, the stages are close to each other, great vibes and at least from my exprience it was less croweded even during rush hours but recent lineups there for me are much weaker comparing to Hellfest or Graspop...

heard good things about Graspop but also that it's really dirty and food is bad and expensive, also about Wacken but I think weather there is too extreme. Summer Breeze and Brutal Assualt also consider good but maybe lineup is without the biggest names.

my hope is to visit the scandinavian festivals, either Sweden Rock, Copenhell or Tons of Rock which seems very nice in contries I want to travel though it might be very expensive trip and not sure if full festival in the sun is for me and so far lineups are preety weak

 

Edited October 23 by amfest12

[MusicFan_1]

Is Rock Im Park better than Rock Am Ring? I finally am going to make it over to Europe from the states next summer for a European rock festival, and already got tickets for Rock Am Ring.

[amfest12]

6 minutes ago, MusicFan_1 said:

Is Rock Im Park better than Rock Am Ring? I finally am going to make it over to Europe from the states next summer for a European rock festival, and already got tickets for Rock Am Ring.

can't tell exactly as never been in Rock Am Ring but from my search few years ago Rock Am Ring is the bigger and the original, concerts there are recorded so you can watch it later unlike Rock Im Park. it can be a bit more diffuclt to get there and if you are not into camping it has much less options than in the park, I also think weather can be more extreme in the Ring, I remember a year that the Ring was cancelled after the first day due to storms and rain while park continue regularly. of course it can also be very rainy in the park. lineup is the same with different days scheudle 

[thetime]

Thanks for the recommendations folks, much appreciated and much to research. 

[northernangel]

9 hours ago, MusicFan_1 said:

Is Rock Im Park better than Rock Am Ring? I finally am going to make it over to Europe from the states next summer for a European rock festival, and already got tickets for Rock Am Ring.

I get the feeling park I'd the better site etc but ring is the original. I feel to travel to Germany for a festival I'd want to do the original site. There has been occasions where artists get slightly extra to fit another song in a ring too which might be your favourite haha. Park generally easier to get to I believe.

[Ferda]

1 hour ago, northernangel said:

I get the feeling park I'd the better site etc but ring is the original. I feel to travel to Germany for a festival I'd want to do the original site. There has been occasions where artists get slightly extra to fit another song in a ring too which might be your favourite haha. Park generally easier to get to I believe.

Gig-wise it's pretty much identical, there were occasions when extras happened in Park and not at Ring, especially recently. I wouldn't see it as a significant difference though, days when GNR was Park exclusive are numbered 🙂

From my POV it's about the accessibility and site composition, plus Park program starts and finishes earlier than Ring due to curfew, so if you are not a night owl you migth enjoy Park more...