List of heavy metal festivals

List of heavy metal festivals
List of heavy metal festivals
	Brutal Assault 2012
General Information
Related genres	Heavy metal, punk rock, rock
Location	Europe and United States (origin); Worldwide (current)
Related events	Punk rock festival, rock festival
	v; t; e;

This is an incomplete list of heavy metal festivals. The genre of heavy metal (or simply metal) is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United States and the United Kingdom.^[1]^[2]^[3] With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the first heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple attracted large audiences, and during the late 1960s and mid-1970s these bands and others in their genre were featured at a number of historic rock festivals.^[4] Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence.^[5]^[6]

Quick facts General Information, Related genres ...

After the genre fused with other related genres such as punk rock in the late 1970s, bands in the new wave of British heavy metal such as Iron Maiden and Saxon followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as "metalheads" or "headbangers", and there were festivals worldwide, both touring and stationary, dedicated to heavy metal subgenres and heavy metal itself. During the 1980s, glam metal became a commercial force, while Underground scenes and extreme subgenres of metal such as death metal and black metal remained subcultural phenomena, though they have their own dedicated festivals as well. Since the mid-1990s, popular styles have further expanded the definition of the genre.

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Festival name	Location	Years	Details
Monsters of Rock	England	1980-1996	music festival held in Castle Donington (later it branched into other locations)
Dynamo Open Air	Netherlands	1986–2005	biggest annual metal festival during the 1990s, with 118,000 visitors in 1995
Moscow Music Peace Festival	Russia	1989	part of an era of momentous change in the Soviet Union
Wacken Open Air	Germany	1990–present	larger heavy metal festival
Sweden Rock Festival	Sweden	1992–present	classic rock, hard rock and metal
Graspop Metal Meeting	Belgium	1996–present	larger heavy metal festival
Mangualde Hard Metal Fest	Portugal	1997–present	Oldest heavy metal festival in the Iberian Peninsula. It's also in the top 10 of the oldest heavy metal festivals in the world. Heavy metal, hard rock and punk.^[7]^[8]
Download Festival	England	2003–present	Hard rock, heavy metal, punk
Bloodstock Open Air	England	2001–present	Heavy Metal festival
Hellfest Summer Open Air	France	2006–present	larger heavy metal festival
Welcome to Rockville	United States	2011–present	The hard rock and heavy metal music festival is the largest rock festival in North America.^[9]^[10]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bangalore Open Air	Karnataka	2012–present	July
Thunderstrock Festival	Ranchi, Jharkhand	2008–present	September

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hammersonic Festival	Jakarta	2012–present	March–April	all heavy music
Hellprint	Bandung	2011–present	November–March	all heavy music
Rock In Celebes	Makassar	2010–present	November	rock genres
Rock in Solo	Surakarta	2004–present	October–November	heritage metal

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Audience	Notes
Kaltenbach Open Air^[12]		2003–present	August
Nova Rock	Nickelsdorf	2005–present	June	Up to 225.00^[13]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Audience	Notes
Graspop Metal Meeting	Dessel	1996–present	End of June	Up to 220.000^[14]	One of the biggest metal festivals in Europe
Alcatraz Hard Rock & Metal Festival^[15]	Kortrijk	2008–present	Beginning of August		Started indoor but changed to an outdoor festival in 2013
Hell's Balls	Kortrijk	2023-present	Beginning of November		Indoor festival organized by the organization of Alcatraz
Huginns Awakening Fest	Oostende	2009–present	April/May		Thrash Speed Heavy metal festival
Headbanger's Balls Fest	Izegem	2012–present	Beginning of May
Blast from the Past Festival	Kuurne	2013–present	December		Old school heavy metal festival
Ieper Hardcore Fest	Ypres	1992-present	Beginning of July		Hardcore
Durbuy Rock	Bomal	1997-present	Beginning of May
Hell Open Air	Diest	2023-present	Beginning of May		Heavy metal and cover festival

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Copenhell	Copenhagen	2010–present	June	featuring death, thrash, black, doom, heavy, power metal and hard rock
Aalborg Metal Festival	Aalborg	2002–present	November	featuring death, thrash, black, doom, heavy, power metal and hard rock
Royal Metal Fest	Aarhus	2008–present	April	featuring death, thrash, black, doom, heavy, power metal and hard rock
Viborg Metal Festival	Viborg	2014–present	March	featuring death, thrash, black, doom, heavy, power metal and hard rock
Metal Magic Festival	Fredericia	2008–present	July	featuring death, thrash, black, doom, heavy, power metal and hard rock

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. month	Audience	Notes
Chronical Moshers Open Air	Heinsdorfergrund	1982–present	June	Up to 1.000	Death, Black and Thrash Metal
Dark Troll Festival	Bornstedt	2009-present	May	Est. 1,200	Pagan, Black, Folk, Post, Melodic Death, Death Metal, Celtic Metal
Dong Open Air	Neukirchen-Vluyn	2001–present	July	up to 5,000	All subgenres of Metal
Elbriot	Hamburg	2013–present	August	up to 12,000	Metal Festival in Hamburg^[21]
Euroblast Festival	Cologne	2008–present	October	up to 12,000	Progressive and Avantgarde Metal
Full Force	Löbnitz	1994–present	July	Est. 25,000	Hardcore, Metalcore, Punk and Metal
Impericon Festivals	Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich, Oberhausen	2011-present	March	up to 11,000	Biggest indoor festivals in Europe; Metalcore
In Flammen Open Air	Torgau		July	up to 6,000	Death, Black and Thrash Metal
Mammut Festival	Königsbrunn	2022-present	March	min. 500	Audience increasing fast; all subgenres of Metal
Metal Frenzy Open Air Festival	Gardelegen	2014–present	June	up to 5,000	Metal and Hard Rock
Party.San Metal Open Air	Schlotheim	1996-present	August	up to 10,000	All subgenres of Metal
Ragnarök Festival	Lichtenfels, Bavaria	2004–present	April	up to 4000	Black, Pagan, Viking, Death Metal
Rock am Ring and Rock im Park	Nürburgring	1985-present	June	up to 92,000	Biggest rock festival in the world; Metalcore, Death Metal, Thrash, Heavy Metal, Punk Rock, Rock
RockXplosion	Leonberg	1984-present	July	up to 2,000	Death Metal, Metalcore, Hardcore Punk, Punk Rock
Rock Hard Festival	Gelsenkirchen	2003–present	June	7,000	Heavy, Power, Thrash and Death Metal
Rockharz Open Air	Ballenstedt	1993/94-present	July	up to 24,000	All subgenres of Metal
Rock um zu helfen	Freiberg, Saxony		October		Rock genres
Reload Festival	Sulingen	2006-present	August	up to 15,000	Metal, Hardcore, Punk & Party
Summer Breeze Open Air	Dinkelsbühl	1997–present	August	up to 40,000	Death, Black, Thrash Metal
Under the Black Sun	Friesack near Berlin	1997-present	June or July	up to 1000	Black Metal
Wacken Open Air	Wacken	1990–present	August	up to 85,000	Largest metal festival in Germany; all subgenres of Metal

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Zobens un Lemess	Bauska	2014–present	June	folk, pagan, metal subgenres; 3 day festival
munky pride	Vandāni	2021–present	July	grindcore, goregrind, trash, brutal death metal, punk

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Dynamo Open Air	Eindhoven	1986–present	July
Into the Grave	Leeuwarden	2010–present	June
MidsummerProg	Valkenburg	2017–present	June
ProgPower Europe	Baarlo	1999–present	October	featuring power, progressive metal
Roadburn Festival	Tilburg	1999–present	April	large festival featuring doom, stoner, death, black metal

Historical heavy metal festivals

Current heavy metal festivals

Africa

Botswana

Asia

India

Indonesia

Japan

Europe

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Latvia

Lithuania

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

North America

Canada

Mexico

United States

Tours

Heavy metal festivals that are no longer active

Europe

Slovenia

See also

References

External links