List of heavy metal festivals

Main articles: Rock festival and Heavy metal music

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]

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

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.

Historical heavy metal festivals

Selected historically notable heavy metal festivals held since the 1960s

Festival name	Location	Years	Details
Myponga Pop Festival	Australia	1971	pop festival headlined by Black Sabbath
Texxas Jam	United States	1978-1988	Three-day festival held in both Dallas and Houston, featuring hard rock and heavy metal acts like Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Blue Öyster Cult, and Dio
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
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

Current heavy metal festivals

Africa

Botswana

Festival name	Location	Active	Approximate time of year	Notes
Overthrust Winter Metal Mania Festival[7]	Ghanzi	2010–present	May	featuring local and African metal bands

Asia

India

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

Indonesia

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

Japan

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Loud Park Festival	Saitama City or Chiba City	2023-present	October

Europe

Austria

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Kaltenbach Open Air[8]		2003–present	August
Nova Rock	Nickelsdorf	2005–present	June

Belgium

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Graspop Metal Meeting	Dessel	1996–present	End of June	One of the biggest metal festivals in Europe
Alcatraz Hard Rock & Metal Festival[9]	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

Bulgaria

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hills of Rock	Rowing Canal in Plovdiv, Bulgaria	2017 - current	July	rock, metal, crossover punk

Czech Republic

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Brutal Assault	Jaroměř	1996–present	August	extreme metal, heavy metal, hardcore punk, experimental music
Masters of Rock (festival)	Vizovice	2003–present	July	heavy metal, power metal, rock
Metalfest	Pilsen	2007–present	June	heavy metal, power metal, death
Obscene Extreme	Trutnov	1999–present	July	grindcore, death metal, hardcore punk
Rock Castle	Moravský Krumlov	2021-present	August	metal
Basin Fire Fest	Spálené Poříčí	2003-present	June	metal, punk, international + local bands

Denmark

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

Estonia

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hard Rock Laager	Vana-Vigala	2002–present	June	The biggest metal festival in Estonia[10]
Howls of Winter	Tallinn	2014–present	February	black metal

Finland

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Dark River Festival	Kotka		August	all subgenres of metal
Hellsinki Metal Festival	Helsinki	2023-present	August	all subgenres of metal
John Smith Rock Festival[11]	Laukaa	2016–present	July	The best rock festival in Finland[12]
Nummirock	Kauhajoki	1987–present	June	all subgenres of metal
Saarihelvetti	Tampere		August	all subgenres of metal
Steelfest Open Air	Hyvinkää	2008–present	May	black and death metal
Turku Saatanalle	Turku	2011–present	March	black metal
Tuska Open Air	Helsinki	1998–present	July	all subgenres of metal

France

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hellfest Summer Open Air	Clisson	2006–present	June	up to 60.000 people; all subgenres of Metal
Motocultor Festival	Brittany	2007–present	August	death, black, thrash metal
Plane'R Fest	Colombier-Saugnieu	2012–present	July	all subgenres of Metal
Sylak Open Air	Saint-Maurice-de-Gourdans		August	all subgenres of Metal, hardcore

Germany

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[13]
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

Latvia

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Zobens un Lemess	Bauska	2014–present	June	folk, pagan, metal subgenres; 3 day festival

Lithuania

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Kilkim Žaibu	Varniai	1999–present	June (end)	black, Viking metal and folk music

Netherlands

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Dynamo Open Air	Eindhoven	2015–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
Metalyard	Arnhem	2015–present	April	indoor festival featuring thrash, heavy metal, death, black metal and so on.

Norway

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Inferno Metal Festival	Oslo	2001–present	April	featuring black, death, thrash, doom metal
Tons of Rock	Oslo	2014-present	June	wide range of metal subgenres
Karmøygeddon Metal Festival	Kopervik	2004–present	May	wide range of metal subgenres
Garasjefestival	Reinsvoll	2017–present	July	black, death, trash and other subgenres of metal

Portugal

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
HARDMETALFEST	Mangualde	1997–present	January	featuring power, death, black, thrash, doom metal
Laurus Nobilis Music	Famalicão	2015–present	August	featuring power, death, black, thrash, doom metal
Rock in Rio Lisboa	Lisboa	2004–present	May	featuring various genres
SWR Barroselas Metalfest	Barroselas	1998–present	April	featuring power, death, black, thrash, doom metal
Vagos Metal Fest	Calvão	2016–present	August	featuring power, death, black, thrash, doom metal
Evil Live	Lisboa	2009–present	June	featuring power, death, black, thrash, doom metal

Romania

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Artmania Festival	Sibiu	2006–present	August	art festival featuring heavy metal
Metalhead Meeting	Bucharest	2013–present	June/July	death metal, black metal, heavy metal
Rockstadt Extreme Festival	Rasnov	2013–present	August	death metal, black metal, heavy metal
Metal Gates Festival	Bucharest	2017–present	November	death metal, black metal, doom metal
Posada Rock Fest	Campulung Muscel	1986–present

Russia

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Metal Over Russia	Moscow		July	3-day doom, death, black, dark, pagan, folk metal

Slovenia

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Tolminator	Tolmin	2023–present	July	all styles of metal, attendance capped at 5000 visitors. Spiritual successor to Metaldays and MetalCamp

Spain

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Barcelona Rock Fest	Barcelona	2014–present	July	featuring hardcore, metalcore, thrash, death, black metal, punk
Leyendas del Rock	Villena	2006–present	August	mostly traditional, thrash, power and gothic metal
Resurrection Fest	Viveiro	2006–present	July	featuring hardcore, metalcore, thrash, death, black metal, punk
Rock Imperium	Cartagena	2022-present	June	mostly traditional, glam, power metal.
Z! Live Rock Fest	Zamora	2016-present	June	mostly traditional, thrash and power metal.

Sweden

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
House of Metal	Umeå	2007–present	February or March	all subgenres of metal
Sweden Rock Festival	Sölvesborg	1992–present	June	classic rock, hard rock and metal
Huskvarna Metal Fest	Jönköping		Spring and fall	black, death, thrash metal

United Kingdom

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bloodstock Open Air	Walton-on-Trent, Derbyshire	2005–present	August	outdoor festival featuring death, black, thrash, folk metal, with attendance of 13,000 (2013)
Damnation Festival	Manchester, England	2005–present	November	one-day festival featuring death, black, thrash, doom metal
Download Festival	Donington Park, Leicestershire	2003–present	June	large rock festival featuring hard rock, nu-metal, metalcore, death metal, black metal and pro wrestling from NXT UK
Hard Rock Hell	Gwynedd, North Wales	2007–present	November	Three day metal festival held at a resort[14]
Incineration Festival	London, England	2014–present	May	extreme metal festival for fans of death metal, black metal, doom metal, thrash metal, and slam
Slam Dunk Festival[15]
Stonedead Festival	Newark, Notts, England	2018–Present	August	One Day, One Stage, One Monster Rock Show[16]

North America

Canada

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Gaspesian Metal Fest	Matane		June	Underground metal festival
Hyperspace Metal Festival	Vancouver		April	Canada's premier melodic & power metal festival

Mexico

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Candelabrum Metal Fest	León		September
Hell & Heaven Metal Fest	Mexico City (Toluca)	2010–present	November - December	3 Day Open-Air Metal Festival, featuring death, thrash, black, doom, heavy, power metal & hard rock
México Metal Fest	Monterrey	2016–present	November	1 Day
Total Death Over México	Mexico City	2018–present	May	3 Day Underground Death, Black Metal Festival

United States

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
98RockFest	Tampa, FL	2007–present	April	Metal, grunge and hard rock festival[17]
Aftershock Festival	Sacramento, CA	2012–present	October	Hard rock and heavy metal festival[18]
AURA Fest[19]	Savannah, GA	2017–present	June	All Underground Rock All Day[20]
Full Terror Assault[21]	Cave-In-Rock, IL	2021–present	September	European style Open Air Festival for extreme music fans[22]
INKcarceration[23]	Mansfield, OH	2018–present	July	Rock music and tattoo festival[24]
Legions of Metal Fest[25]	Chicago, IL	2017–present	June
Louder Than Life	Louisville, KY	2014–present	September	Hard rock/heavy metal festival[26]
Mad With Power Fest[27]	Madison, WI	2018–present	August	Power Metal/Traditional Heavy Metal festival[28]
Maryland Deathfest	Baltimore, MD	2003–present	May	Extreme Music[29]
Mass Destruction Metal Fest[30]	Atlanta, GA	2017–present	November	Extreme Metal Festival[31]
Milwaukee Metal Fest[32]	Milwaukee, WI	1987–2004, 2023–present	May
New England Metal and Hardcore Festival	Worcester, MA	1999–2018, 2023–present	September
ProgPower USA	Atlanta, GA	2001–present	September	Progressive and Power Metal[33]
Rocklahoma	Pryor, OK	2007–present	September	Hard rock and metal festival[34]
Sick New World Festival[35]	Las Vegas, NV	2023–present	April	Nu-Metal Fest[36]
Sonic Temple	Columbus, OH	2019, 2023–present	May	Hard rock and metal festival[37]
Welcome to Rockville	Daytona Beach, FL	2011–present	April/May	Hard rock and heavy metal music festival[38]

Tours

The following is an incomplete list of traveling metal festivals, both active and defunct:

• 70000 Tons of Metal
• Clash of the Titans
• Crüe Fest
• Family Values Tour
• Doomination
• G3
• Gigantour
• Headbangers Boat^[39]
• Jägermeister Music Tour
• Knotfest
• Magic Circle Festival
• Mayhem Festival
• Metal Masters Tour
• Monsters of Rock Cruise^[40]
• No Mercy Festival
• Ozzfest
• Sonisphere
• The Summer Slaughter Tour
• Taste Of Chaos
• The Unholy Alliance
• Uproar Festival
• X-Mass Festival

Heavy metal festivals that are no longer active

Europe

Slovenia

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
MetalCamp	Tolmin	2004–2012	August	replaced by Metaldays, featuring death, black, folk, thrash, doom metal
Metaldays	Velenje	2013–2023	August	replaced Metalcamp and previously held in Tolmin, featuring death, black, folk, thrash, doom metal

See also

• Rock music portal

• List of music festivals
• Heavy metal music

References

1. Du Noyer (2003), p. 96; Weinstein (2000), pp. 11–13.
2. "The History of Heavy Metal". musicianwave.com. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
3. Weinstein (2000), pp. 14, 118.
4. Fast (2005), pp. 89–91; Weinstein (2000), pp. 7, 8, 23, 36, 103, 104.
5. Walser (1993), p. 6.
6. "As much as Sabbath started it, Priest were the ones who took it out of the blues and straight into metal." Bowe, Brian J. Judas Priest: Metal Gods. ISBN 0-7660-3621-9.
7. "African Heavy Metal Bands Give Back to their Communities". BORGEN. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
8. "Kaltenbach Open Air". kaltenbach-openair.at. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
9. "History". alcatraz.be. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
10. "Live Report: HARD ROCK LAAGER 2017 Festival: "A Hidden Treasure In Deep Forests Of Estonia"". metalshockfinland.com. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
11. "John Smith Rock Festival 2023 in Laukaa (FI)". festivalsunited.com. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
12. "John Smith Rock Festival". johnsmith.fi. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
13. "Elbriot Festival 2016". tilogo.com. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
14. "Hard Rock Hell 2002". musicfestivalwizard.com. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
15. "Slam Dunk Festival". slamdunkfestival.com. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
16. "One Day, One Stage, One Monster Show". stonedeadfestival.co.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
17. "98ROCKFEST lineup". tampabay.com. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
18. "Aftershock Festival Featuring Guns N' Roses, Queens of the Stone Age, Megadeth, Tool, Incubus, Pantera, and More Taking Place This Fall". 955klos.com. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
19. "AURA Fest announces". savannahnow.com. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
20. "AURA Fest announces". savannahnow.com. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
21. "Full Terror Assault". fullterrorassault.com. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
22. "About". fullterrorassault.com. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
23. "INKcarceration". mansfieldnewsjournal.com. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
24. "Inkcarceration announces lineup for 2022 rock festival at Ohio State Reformatory". richlandsource.com. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
25. "Legions of Metal Fest". reggieslive.com. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
26. "REVIEW: Here's What We Experienced At Louder Than Life 2022". leoweekly.com. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
27. "Mad With Power Fest". madwithpowerfest.com. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
28. "Mad With Power Fest". madwithpowerfest.com. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
29. "About Deathfests". deathfests.com. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
30. "Mass Destruction". massdestructionmetalfest.com. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
31. "MASS DESTRUCTION METAL FEST". earsplitcompound.com. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
32. "Milwaukee Metal Fest". milwaukeemetalfestival.com. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
33. EvilG. "Heart of Steel: Interviews Glenn Harveston Organizer of ProgPower USA". Metal-Rules. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
34. "Rocklahoma To Include MEGADETH, ROB ZOMBIE, DEVILDRIVER And More This Year!". metalinjection.net. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
35. "Sick New World Festival". sicknewworldfest.com. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
36. "Sick New World Festival Announces 2024 Lineup". stereogum.com. 9 October 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
37. "Sonic Temple 2023". consequence.net. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
38. "Welcome to Rockville gives first look at 2022 lineup". clickorlando.com. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
39. "Headbangers Boat". headbangersboat.com. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
40. "Monsters of Rock Cruise 2024". monstersofrockcruise.com. Retrieved 17 January 2024.

External links

• All Metalfest - all metal festivals around the world
• Heavy metal festivals in Europe
• Festivalticker
• Metalstorm.Net Search events
• Metal festivals in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz
• Heavy Metal.nl - festivals and concerts
• Lords of Metal ezine - gig guide