Heavy Metal Festivals, Events, Music, Videos and Discussion At PopFlock.com

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

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

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
Monsters of Rock	England	1980	music festival held in Castle Donington (later it branched into other locations)
Rock in Rio	Brazil	1985-present	1.5 million people attended the first event.
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
Exit Festival	Serbia	2000-present	Exit 2006 had 22 stages.
Download Festival	England	2003-present	heavy metal and alt-rock focus
Hellfest Summer Open Air	France	2006-present	larger heavy metal festival

Current heavy metal festivals

Argentina

Armenia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
MetalFront Fest	Yerevan	Last festival - 2008	November

Australia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Legion Fest^[6]	Australia	Cancelled		Crowdfunded festival; was being organised by John Sankey from Devil You Know to replace Soundwave; cancelled in November 2016 due to 'business decisions'
Soundwave Festival	Australia	Last festival - 2015		In December 2015 Soundwave was cancelled for good.^[7]

Austria

Belarus

Belgium

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Headbanger's Balls Fest	Izegem	2012-	Beginning of May
Heavy Sound Festival	Poperinge	1983-1985	May / June	Slayer performed at this festival for the first time ever outside the US in 1985
Graspop Metal Meeting	Dessel	1996-	End of June	One of the biggest metal festivals in Europe
Alcatraz Metal Festival	Deinze, Kortrijk since 2013	2008-	Beginning of August	Started indoor but changed to an outdoor festival in 2013

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Overthrust Winter Metal Mania Festival^[8]	Ghantsi		May	featuring local and African metal bands

Brazil

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Reference/external link	Notes
Monsters of Rock
Rock in Rio

Bulgaria

Canada

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Heavy MTL	Montreal, QC		August	featuring popular metal, thrash metal, metalcore, nu-metal, hard rock
Heavy T.O.	Toronto, ON	Last festival - 2012		run by promoters of Heavy MTL
Noctis Valkyries Metal Festival	Calgary, AB		September	featuring death, black, thrash metal

Chile

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Monsters of Rock

China

Colombia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Rock al Parque	Bogot		August	rock festival with death, thrash metal

Costa Rica

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Festival Siembra y Lucha

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Brutal Assault	Jarom	Active	August	extreme metal, heavy metal, hardcore punk, experimental music
Fluff Fest	Rokycany	Active	July	hardcore punk, grindcore, crust punk, sludge metal, metalcore, post-metal

Denmark

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Copenhell	Copenhagen	Active	June	featuring death, thrash, black, doom, heavy, power metal and hard rock
Roskilde Festival	Roskilde		June	large music festival with only few metal bands

Ecuador

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Quito Fest

Estonia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hard Rock Laager	Vana-Vigala	Active	June	all subgenres of metal, rock
Howls of Winter	Tallinn	Active	February	black metal

Finland

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Finnish Death Metal Maniacs	Pori	Last festival - 2017	June	death metal
Jalometalli Metal Music Festival	Oulu		July	all subgenres of metal
John Smith Rock Festival	Laukaa	Active	July	heavy metal, rock
Nummirock	Nummijrvi	Active	June	all subgenres of metal
Saarihelvetti	Tampere	Active	August	all subgenres of metal
Sauna Open Air	Tampere	Last festival - 2013	June	metal
Steelchaos	Helsinki	Active	November	black metal
Steelfest Open Air	Hyvink	Active	May	black and death metal
Turku Saatanalle	Turku	Active	March	black metal
Tuska Open Air	Helsinki	Active	July	all subgenres of metal

France

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hellfest Summer Open Air	Clisson	Active	June	large festival, metal of all types
Motocultor Festival	Brittany		August	death, black, thrash metal

Germany

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bang Your Head!!!	Balingen	Active	July	heavy, thrash, death metal
Dong Open Air	Neukirchen-Vluyn	Active	July	all styles of metal
Doom Shall Rise	Gppingen	Last festival - 2013	April	doom metal
Elbriot	Hamburg		August	one-day festival featuring rock, heavy metal and hardcore punk
Euroblast Festival	Cologne	Active	October	progressive rock/metal
Force Attack	Sderholz	Last festival - 2012	July	punk, ska, oi!, hardcore, psychobilly and metal
Monsters of Rock	various	Last festival - 2006	Summer	between 1980-1996, and 2006
Ragnark Festival	Lichtenfels, Bavaria	Active	April	pagan, Viking, black, death, metal
Rock Hard Festival	Gelsenkirchen	Active	June	heavy metal
Summer Breeze Open Air	Dinkelsbhl	Active	August	death, black, thrash metal
United Metal Maniacs	Bitterfeld	Last festival - 2010	month
Wacken Open Air	Wacken	Active	August	largest metal festival in the world
Winternoise Festival	Georgsmarienhtte	Last festival - 2009	January
With Full Force	Lbnitz	Active	July	hardcore, metalcore, punk, and metal

Greece

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Rockwave Festival	Lamia, Athens	Active	August

Hungary

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Rockmaraton	Dunajvros	Active	July	Mostly Hungarian bands(Black,Thrash,Metalcore,Deathcore,Rock,Punk,)

Iceland

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Eistnaflug	Neskaupstaur	Active	July	featuring death, black, thrash metal and other rock music

India

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bangalore Open Air
NH7 Weekender

Indonesia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bandung Berisik
Hammersonic Festival	Jakarta	Active	March-April	all heavy music
Hellprint	Bandung	Active	November-March	All heavy music
Rock in Solo	Surakarta	Active	October-November	heritage metal

Ireland

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Day of Darkness	Ballylinan	Last festival - 2008	July

Italy

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Agglutination Metal Festival	Chiaromonte	Active	August
Gods of Metal	Monza		June	hard rock, heavy metal, metalcore
Monsters of Rock	Como	Last festival - 2004	July	hard rock, heavy metal
Play It Loud! Festival	Orzinuovi	Last festival - 2009	February

Japan

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Loud Park Festival	Saitama City	Active	October	active since 2006, featuring heavy, thrash, power, death, metalcore, nu metal

Latvia

Lebanon

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Beirut Rock Festival	Beirut	Unknown	July	featuring rock and metal; does not occur every year; last festival was 2013
Summer Fusion Open Air	Jounieh	Unknown	August	featuring rock and metal; does not occur every year; last festival was 2010; next festival was scheduled for August 2015

Lithuania

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Devilstone	Anykiai	Active	July (mid)	rock, metal
Kilkim ?aibu	Varniai	Active	June (end)	black, Viking metal, and folk music

Malaysia

Malta

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
SinFest Metal Festival	Paola	Active	May	3 Day Open-Air Metal Festival

Mexico

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hell & Heaven Metal Fest	Mexico City	Active	May 4 & 5, 2018	Since 2010
Knotfest	Mexico City	Active	November 3, 2018	Since 2015

Moldova

Namibia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Windhoek Metal Fest	Windhoek	Last festival - 2014	June	featuring local and international metal bands

Nepal

Netherlands

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Amsterdam Metalfest	Amsterdam		April & October	one-day festival
Arnhem Metal Meeting	Arnhem	Last festival - 2007	December
Dynamo Open Air	Eindhoven	Last festival - 2005	May
Dynamo Metalfest	Eindhoven	2015 -	July
Fields of Rock	Nijmegen	Last festival - 2007	June
Neurotic Deathfest	Tilburg	Last festival - 2015	May
ProgPower Europe	Baarlo		October	featuring power, progressive metal
Roadburn Festival	Tilburg	Active	April	large festival featuring doom, stoner, death, black metal
Fortarock	Nijmegen	Active	June/july	large festival featuring al kinds of metal

New Zealand

Norway

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hole in the Sky	Bergen	Last festival - 2011	August	active between 2000-2011
Inferno Metal Festival	Oslo	Active	April	featuring black, death, thrash, doom metal

Pakistan

Philippines

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Kaguluhan Music Festival	Cavite	Last festival - 2013	November
Pulp Summer Slam	Quezon City	Active	April	large festival featuring metalcore, hardcore, thrash, death metal

Poland

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Metalmania	Katowice	tivecc	March	activated in 2017
Sonisphere Poland	Warsaw	Last festival - 2014	July	part of a touring rock music festival, occurred in Poland in 2010 to 2014

Portugal

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Paredes de Coura Festival	Paredes de Coura		August	large rock festival featuring rock, pop, and few metal bands
Rock in Rio Lisboa	Lisboa		May	large rock festival featuring rock, pop, and few metal bands
Vagos Open Air	Calvo	Active	August	featuring power, death, black, thrash, doom metal

Puerto Rico

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Festival de Metal Boricua	Cayey	Last festival - 2006	November

Romania

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Artmania Festival	Sibiu	Active	August	art festival featuring gothic, doom, folk, heavy metal

Russia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Moscow Music Peace Festival	Moscow	Last festival - 1989	August	one-time festival featuring heavy and glam metal

Serbia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Exit Festival	Novi Sad	Active	July	not strictly a metal festival; features pop, rock, electronic, hip hop, but has some death, black, thrash, doom metal

Slovakia

Slovenia

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Metaldays	Tolmin	Active	July	previously known as Metalcamp, featuring death, black, folk, thrash metal

South Africa

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
RAMFest	Cape Town/Johannesburg	Last festival - 2014	March	featuring rock, pop, metal, metal core

Spain

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Resurrection Fest	Viveiro	Active	July	featuring hardcore, metalcore, thrash, death, black metal, punk,
Sonisphere	Madrid/Barcelona	Last festival - 2013	May/June	part of a touring rock music festival, last occurred in Spain in 2013
Via de la Plata Festival	Me;rida	Last festival - 2008	July	only active in 2008

Sri Lanka

Sweden

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Gefle Metal Festival	Gvle	Active	July	all subgenres of metal
House of Metal	Ume	Active	February or March	all subgenres of metal, rock
Metaltown Festival	Gothenburg	Last festival 2013	June or July	featuring various metal bands including nu metal, metalcore, groove metal
Sweden Rock Festival	Slvesborg	Active	June	featuring popular metal and rock bands worldwide

Switzerland

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Sonisphere	Yverdon-les-Bains	Last festival - 2012	May	part of a touring rock music festival, last occurred in Switzerland in 2012

Tunisia

Turkey

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
RockIstanbul	Istanbul	Last festival - 2005	June
Rock'n Coke	Istanbul	Last festival - 2013	September	featuring rock, indie rock, with some metal
Sonisphere	Istanbul	Last festival - 2011	June	part of a touring rock music festival, last occurred in Turkey in 2011
Unirock Open Air Festival	Istanbul	Last festival - 2011	August

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Dubai Desert Rock Festival	Dubai	Last festival - 2014	May	active until 2009, but continued on as Dubai Rock Festival

United Kingdom

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bloodstock Open Air	Catton Hall, Walton-on-Trent	Active	August	outdoor festival featuring death, black, thrash, folk metal, with attendance of 13,000 (2013)
Butserfest	Waterlooville, Hampshire		September	small alcohol/drug-free festival, targeted at people aged 14-20
Damnation Festival	Leeds, England		November	one-day festival featuring death, black, thrash, doom metal
Download Festival	Donington Park, Leicestershire	Active	June	large rock festival featuring hard rock, nu-metal, metalcore, death, black metal
Hammerfest	Prestatyn, Wales	Active	March
Hard Rock Hell	Gwynedd, North Wales	Active	November	featuring heavy metal, hard/heavy rock, rock
Hellfire Festival	Birmingham, England	Last festival - 2009	November	active from 2008-2009
In-Fest	London	Last festival - 2010	August	small indoor festival which featured metal, punk, and rock
Monsters of Rock	Castle Donington, England	Last festival - 2006	Summer	active between 1980-1996, and 2006
ProgPower UK	The Centaur, Cheltenham UK	Last festival - 2007	March

United States

Festival name	Location	Status	Approx. time of year	Notes
Mass Destruction Metal Fest	Atlanta, GA	Active	November	active since 2017, featuring black and death metal
70000 Tons of Metal (cruise ship)	Miami, FL to Caribbean	Active	January	active since 2011, featuring thrash, power, folk, death, black metal, with about 2,000 attendees on a cruise ship
Flight of the Valkyries	Baltimore, MD	Active	January	active since 2007, featuring classic, power, folk, and death metal
Aftershock Festival	Sacramento, CA	Active	October	active since 2012, featuring Heavy metal, Hard rock, Post-Hardcore, Thrash metal, Death metal, Nu metal, Alternative Rock
Carolina Rebellion	Concord, NC	Active	early May	active since 2011
Chicago Open Air	Bridgeview, IL (suburb of Chicago)	Active	July	inaugural year was 2016 attracted 160,000 people over its first two years; features many genres of metal
Maryland Deathfest	Baltimore, MD	Active	end of May	active since 2003, featuring death, black, doom, grind with attendance of 2,000-3,000
New England Metal and Hardcore Festival	Worcester, MA	Active	April/May	active since 1999, featuring metalcore, hardcore, death metal
ProgPower USA	Atlanta, GA	Active	early September	featuring power, progressive, traditional metal
Rock on the Range	Columbus, OH	Active	May	featuring Heavy metal, Hard rock, Post-Hardcore, Thrash metal, Death metal, Nu metal, Alternative Rock, Hair Bands, Classic Metal with an attendance of 120,000
Rocklahoma	Pryor, OK	Active	Memorial Day Weekend - Late May	active since 2006, featuring Heavy metal, Hard rock, Post-Hardcore, Thrash metal, Death metal, Nu metal, Alternative Rock, Hair Bands, Classic Metal
Scion Rock Fest	Pomona, CA/various	Active	March/June	featuring death metal, grindcore, doom metal, metalcore
Emissions from the Monolith	OH/IL/TX	Last festival - 2007	late May	active between 2000-2007 featured doom, stoner, sludge metal
Flight of the Valkyries	St. Paul, MN/Baltimore, MD	Last festival - 2011	November	featured metal with female lead vocalists
Milwaukee Metal Fest	Milwaukee, WI	Last festival - 2007	July/August	active between 1987-2007, one of the first metal festivals in the United States to have international metal bands^[9]
Robot Mosh Fest	Milwaukee, WI	Last festival - 2008	June	active between 2001-2008, featured metalcore, hardcore, metal
Saints & Sinners Festival	Asbury Park, NJ	Last festival - 2007	November	active between 2006-2007, feature nu metal, metalcore

| KNOTFEST OZFEST || San Bernardino, CA || || September-October|| 2014-present, All different metal genres |}

Tours

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

References

^ Du Noyer (2003), p. 96; Weinstein (2000), pp. 11-13.
^ Weinstein (2000), pp. 14, 118.
^ Fast (2005), pp. 89-91; Weinstein (2000), pp. 7, 8, 23, 36, 103, 104.
^ Walser (1993), p. 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.
^ http://legionmusicfest.com/
^ http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/soundwave-music-festival-cancelled-20151217-glpwbn.html
^ "African Heavy Metal Bands Give Back to their Communities". BORGEN. 2015-09-10. Retrieved .
^ http://www.metalupdate.com/interviewfest.html

External links

[1] Du Noyer (2003), p. 96; Weinstein (2000), pp. 11-13.

[2] Weinstein (2000), pp. 14, 118.

[fast-3] Fast (2005), pp. 89-91; Weinstein (2000), pp. 7, 8, 23, 36, 103, 104.

[Walser_1993,_p._6-4] Walser (1993), p. 6.

[5] "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.

[6] ttp://legionmusicfest.com/

[7] ttp://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/soundwave-music-festival-cancelled-20151217-glpwbn.html

[8] "African Heavy Metal Bands Give Back to their Communities". BORGEN. 2015-09-10. Retrieved .

[9] ttp://www.metalupdate.com/interviewfest.html

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