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
	; ; ;

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 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.^[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	1980-1996	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
Sweden Rock Festival	Sweden	1992–present	classic rock, hard rock and metal.
Graspop Metal Meeting	Belgium	1996–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
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	Approx. time of year	Notes
Overthrust Winter Metal Mania Festival^[6]	Ghantsi	2010–present	May	featuring local and African metal bands

Namibia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Swakop Rocks	Swakopmund	2019-present	September	1 day festival - Rock / Hard Rock / Punk
MothFest	Swakopmund	2021-present	February	1 day Rock / Hardrock / Metal

Asia[]

India[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year
Bangalore Open Air	Karnataka	2012–present	July
NH7 Weekender		2010–present
Thunderstrock Festival	Ranchi, Jharkhand	2008–present	September

Indonesia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bandung Berisik	Bandung	1995–present	June–September
Brotherground	Surabaya		November–December	deathmetal, metalcore, deathcore, hardcore, etc
Doomsday Open Air	Bandung		October	all heavy music
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
Download Festival	Chiba City	2019–present	March

Mongolia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Noise Metal Fest	Ulaanbaatar	2014–present	April-May	featuring local and international metal bands

Nepal[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Silence Fest	Kathmandu	2011–present	September & November	featuring local and international metal bands

Philippines[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Pulp Summer Slam	Quezon City	2001–present	April	large festival featuring metalcore, hardcore, thrash, death metal

Europe[]

Austria[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year
Nova Rock	Nickelsdorf	2005–present	June
Kaltenbach Open Air		2003–present	August
Rise up Festival	Judenburg

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 Metal Festival	Deinze, Kortrijk since 2013	2008–present	Beginning of August	Started indoor but changed to an outdoor festival in 2013
Smaller festivals
Headbanger's Balls Fest	Izegem	2012–present	Beginning of May
Blast from the Past Festival	Kuurne	2013–present	December	Old school heavy metal festival
Metalworksfest	Kuurne	2017–present	Beginning or mid March

Bulgaria[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Hills of Rock

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
Fluff Fest	Rokycany	2000–present	July	hardcore punk, grindcore, crust punk, sludge metal, metalcore, post-metal
Masters of Rock (festival)	Vizovice	2003–present	July	heavy metal, power metal
Metalfest	Pilsen	2007–present	June	heavy metal, power metal
Obscene Extreme	Trutnov	1999–present	July	grindcore, death metal, hardcore punk

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	all subgenres of metal and rock
Howls of Winter	Tallinn	2014–present	February	black metal
Barbar Feast	Saula	2019–present	July	all subgenres of metal and rock

Finland[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Dark River Festival	Kotka		August	all subgenres of metal
John Smith Rock Festival	Laukaa	2016–present	July	heavy metal, rock
Nummirock	Nummijärvi	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	large festival, metal of all types
Motocultor Festival	Brittany	2007–present	August	death, black, thrash metal
Plane'R Fest	Colombier-Saugnieu, Montcul	2012–present	July	metal of all types
Sylak Open Air	Saint-Maurice-de-Gourdans		August	metal of all types, hardcore

Germany[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bang Your Head!!!	Balingen	1996–present	July	heavy, thrash, death metal
Chronical Moshers Open Air	Mühlteich Hauptmannsgrün	1982–present	June	death/black/thrash
Dong Open Air	Neukirchen-Vluyn	2001–present	July	all styles of metal
Elbriot	Hamburg	2013–present	August	one-day festival featuring rock, heavy metal, hardcore punk
Euroblast Festival	Cologne	2008–present	October	progressive rock/metal
Full Force	Löbnitz	1994–present	July	hardcore, metalcore, punk, and metal
In Flammen Open Air	Torgau		July	death/black/thrash metal
Metal Frenzy Open Air Festival	Gardelegen, Saxony-Anhalt	2014–present	June
Party.San Metal Open Air	Schlotheim, Thuringia	2005–present	August	death, black, thrash metal
Ragnarök Festival	Lichtenfels, Bavaria	2004–present	April	pagan, viking, black, death metal
Rhön Rock Open Air	Hünfeld-Oberfeld, Hesse	2017–present	August
Rock Hard Festival	Gelsenkirchen	2003–present	June	heavy metal
Rock um zu helfen	Freiberg, Saxony		October	rock genres
Summer Breeze Open Air	Dinkelsbühl	1997–present	August	death, black, thrash metal
Wacken Open Air	Wacken	1990–present	August	largest metal festival in Germany

Greece[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Rockwave Festival	Lamia, Athens	1996–present	August

Hungary[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Rockmaraton	Dunaújváros	1991–present	July	Mostly Hungarian bands(Black, Thrash, Metalcore, Deathcore, Punk rock)

Iceland[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Eistnaflug	Neskaupstaður	2005–present	July	featuring death, black, thrash metal and other rock music

Italy[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Agglutination Metal Festival	Chiaromonte	1995–present	August
Gods of Metal	Monza	1997–present	June	hard rock, heavy metal, metalcore

Latvia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Metal Show	Jekabpils	2005–present	August	all metal subgenres; 2-3 day festival
Zobens un Lemess	Bauska	2014–present	June	folk, pagan, metal subgenres; 3 day festival

Lithuania[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Devilstone	Anykščiai	2009–present	July (mid)	rock, metal
Kilkim Žaibu	Varniai	1999–present	June (end)	black, viking metal and folk music

Netherlands[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Amsterdam Metalfest	Amsterdam	2015–present	April & October	one-day festival
Dynamo Metalfest	Eindhoven	2015–present	July
Fortarock	Nijmegen	2009–present	June/July	large festival featuring all kinds of metal
Into the Grave	Leeuwarden	2010–present	August
MidsummerProg	Valkenburg	2017–present	June
Netherlands Deathfest	Eindhoven (Effenaar)	2016–present	May
ProgPower Europe	Baarlo	1999–present	October	featuring power, progressive metal
Roadburn Festival	Tilburg	1999–present	April	large festival featuring doom, stoner, death, black metal

Norway[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Inferno Metal Festival	Oslo	2001–present	April	featuring black, death, thrash, doom metal
Karmøygeddon Metal Festival	Kopervik	2004–present	May	wide range of metal subgenres

Poland[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Metalmania	Katowice	2017–present	March
Siekiera fest	Wrocław	2019–present	September	3 days, various rock & metal subgenres

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
Paredes de Coura Festival	Paredes de Coura	1993–present	August	large rock festival
Rock in Rio Lisboa	Lisboa	2004–present	May	featuring rock, pop, metal
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
Vagos Open Air	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 gothic, doom, folk, heavy metal, progressive
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	Maximum Rock Festival	Bucuresti	2006–present	Late August	gothic metal, heavy metal, death metal

Russia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Big Gun	Moscow	2019–present	July	4/5-day heavy, power, mdm, thrash
Metal Over Russia	Moscow		July	3-day doom, death, black, dark, pagan, folk metal

Serbia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Exit Festival	Novi Sad	2000–present	July	not strictly a metal festival; features pop, rock, electronic, hip hop, but has some death, black, thrash, doom metal

Slovenia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Metaldays	Tolmin	2004–present	July	previously known as Metalcamp, featuring death, black, folk, thrash metal

Spain[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Resurrection Fest	Viveiro	2006–present	July	featuring hardcore, metalcore, thrash, death, black metal, punk,
Rock Fest Barcelona	Barcelona	2014–present	July	featuring hardcore, metalcore, thrash, death, black metal, punk
Leyendas del Rock	Villena	2006–present	August	mostly power and gothic metal

Sweden[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Gefle Metal Festival	Gävle	2016–present	July	all subgenres of metal
House of Metal	Umeå	2007–present	February or March	all subgenres of metal and rock
Sabaton Open Air	Falun	2008–present	August	organized by Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton, featuring bands from all subgenres
Sweden Rock Festival	Sölvesborg	1992–present	June	featuring popular metal and rock bands worldwide
Jönköping Metal Fest	Jönköping		Spring and fall	black, death, thrash metal

United Kingdom[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Bloodstock Open Air	Catton Hall, Walton-on-Trent	2005–present	August	outdoor festival featuring death, black, thrash, folk metal, with attendance of 13,000 (2013)
Damnation Festival	Leeds, England	2005–present	November	one-day festival featuring death, black, thrash, doom metal
Darkness Guides Us	Glasgow, Scotland		November	two-day indoor festival featuring black, pagan, extreme 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 l
Hammerfest	Prestatyn, Wales	2009–present	March
Hard Rock Hell	Gwynedd, North Wales	2007–present	November	featuring heavy metal, hard/heavy rock, rock
Incineration Festival	London, England	2014–present	May	extreme metal festival for fans of death metal, black metal, doom metal, thrash metal, and slam.

North America[]

Canada[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Covenant Festival	Vancouver, BC	2012–present	June-July	underground black and death metal.
Heavy Montréal	Montreal, QC	2008–present	July-August	featuring popular metal, thrash metal, metalcore, nu-metal, hard rock

Mexico[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Candelabrum Metal Fest	León		September
Domination Mx	Mexico City		May	2 Days
Force Fest	Mexico City	2012–present	November
Fronterizo Fest	Tijuana	2017–present	October
Hell & Heaven Metal Fest	Mexico City	2010–present	March	2 Day Open-Air Metal Festival
Knotfest México	Mexico City	2015–present	November
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
Aftershock	Sacramento, CA	2012–present	October	featuring hard rock, heavy metal
Epicenter	Concord, NC	2019–present	early May	featuring hard rock, classic rock, post-hardcore, heavy metal, progressive metal
Inkcarceration	Mansfield, OH	2018–present	September	featuring hard rock, heavy metal
Louder Than Life	Louisville, KY	2014–present	September/October	featuring hard rock, heavy metal, grunge, melodic death metal, post-hardcore, metalcore, power metal, gothic metal
Maryland Deathfest	Baltimore, MD	2003–present	late May	featuring death, black, doom, grind, with attendance of 2,000-3,000
Mass Destruction Metal Fest	Atlanta, GA	2017–present	November	featuring black and death metal
ProgPower USA	Atlanta, GA	2001–present	early September	featuring power and progressive metal
Rebel Rock	Orlando, FL	2020–present	September	featuring heavy metal, nu metal, metalcore, power metal, hard rock, post-hardcore
Rock Fest	Cadott, WI	1994–present	July	featuring rock, metal
Rocklahoma	Pryor, OK	2006–present	late May	featuring hard rock, heavy metal, alternative rock
Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival	Columbus, OH	2019–present	May	featuring heavy metal, rock
Welcome to Rockville	Daytona Beach, FL	2011–present	April/May	featuring hard rock, heavy metal
70000 Tons of Metal	Fort Lauderdale, FL	2011–present	January	featuring thrash, power, symphonic, folk, death and black metal, with about 2,000 attendees on a cruise ship

Oceania[]

Australia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Download Festival^[7]	Melbourne and Sydney	2018–present	March	Melbourne and Sydney in 2019

South America[]

Brazil[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year
Rock in Rio	Rio de Janeiro	1985–present	September
Maniacs Metal Meeting	Rio Negrinho	2016–present	December
Armageddon Metal Festival	Joinville		May/June

Colombia[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Rock al Parque	Bogotá	1994–present	August	rock festival with death, thrash metal

Ecuador[]

Festival name	Location	Active	Approx. time of year	Notes
Quito Fest	Quito	2003–present	September

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.
^ "African Heavy Metal Bands Give Back to their Communities". BORGEN. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
^ "Download Festival | Australia 2020". www.downloadfestival.com.au. Retrieved 5 October 2021.

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] "African Heavy Metal Bands Give Back to their Communities". BORGEN. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2016.

[7] "Download Festival | Australia 2020". www.downloadfestival.com.au. Retrieved 5 October 2021.

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Subtypes	List of folk festivals List of heavy metal festivals List of jam band music festivals List of punk rock festivals List of gothic festivals List of industrial music festivals
Traveling (italics = ongoing)	Anger Management Tour Area Festival Big Day Out California Jam California Jam II Crüe Fest Curiosa Deconstruction Tour Doomination Family Values Tour Festival Express Fuji Rock Festival G3 Gigantour Good Things Hard Electric Tour H.O.R.D.E. Ilosaarirock Knotfest Kuopiorock Lilith Fair Lollapalooza Mayhem Festival Magic Circle Festival Monsters of Rock Montebello Rock Nintendo Fusion Tour Persistence Tour Provinssirock Qstock Rock am Ring and Rock im Park Rock in Rio Rock in Roma Rock Boat Ruido Fest Ruisrock Ozzfest Projekt Revolution Rock Never Stops Tour Sauna Open Air Metal Festival Sonisphere Festival Soundwave Summer Sanitarium Tour Taste of Chaos Tuska Open Air Metal Festival The Unholy Alliance Tour Uproar Festival Vive Latino Warped Tour
Culture	Deadheads Hippies La Onda Moshpit Pogo (dance) Punk rock Headbanging Stage diving Crowd surfing Sign of the horns Summer of Love Rivethead
Related events	Rock concert Concert tour

v t Heavy metal
Subgenres and fusion genres	Alternative metal Avant-garde metal Beatdown hardcore Biker metal Black metal National Socialist Symphonic Unblack Blackened death metal Blackgaze Celtic metal Christian metal Crossover thrash Crust punk Death metal Melodic Technical Death 'n' roll Deathcore Death-doom Djent Doom metal Drone metal Electronicore Extreme metal Folk metal Funk metal Glam metal Goregrind Gothic metal Grindcore Grunge Groove metal Industrial metal Kawaii metal Latin metal Mathcore Medieval metal Metalcore Melodic Progressive Neoclassical metal Neue Deutsche Härte Nintendocore Nu metal Pagan metal Pirate metal Pornogrind Post-metal Power metal Progressive metal Rap metal Sludge metal Speed metal Stoner rock Symphonic metal Thrash metal Viking metal
Musical elements	Bass Fuzz bass Drumming Blast beat Cymbal choke Gallop drumbeat Guitar Distortion Guitar solo Palm muting Power chord Shred guitar Lyrics Vocals Death growl Screaming
Notable scenes and movements	African heavy metal Argentine heavy metal Australian thrash metal Australian heavy metal Bangladeshi heavy metal Bay Area thrash metal Brazilian thrash metal Chinese heavy metal Florida death metal Hungarian metal Indigenous metal music Japanese metal Les Légions Noires New wave of American heavy metal New wave of British heavy metal Early Norwegian black metal Palm Desert Swedish death metal Teutonic thrash metal Ukrainian metal
Culture	Bands Fashion Festivals Headbanging Heavy metal subculture Poseur Umlaut
Hard rock Category