THE GREAT ESCAPE! How two pensioners broke out of a nursing home to rock the world's biggest metal festival
Last Friday, attendants at a nursing facility in Germany raised the alarm after they learned that two elderly pensioners had been missing from the care facility. The two men had snuck out in the middle of the night to attend, not an ordinary, but world's biggest - Wacken Open Air Heavy Metal festival.
Much to their surprise, the officers found the two men at around 3 am in the crowd at the music festival in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. While the police were happy to have found them, it looked like the pair were not. They did not want to let go of the fun, as they wanted to stay and attend the rest of the festival.
Giving in to their request, the officers, then left the duo to go back in a taxi while being escorted by the police car.
As reported by Metro, the local police officer said the pair were ‘disoriented and apathetic,’ and that ‘the care home quickly organized a return transport after police picked them up.' The music festival takes place annually in the village of Wacken and never seems to disappoint its fan when it comes to the performances planned for the event. The first metal music festival was held in 1990, as a small event, but since then, it has just grown bigger and better.
It is currently considered the biggest heavy metal festival in the world. As reported by UNILAD, Wacken was sold out with 75,000 people expected to show up for the show. Many metal fans travel half a globe in order to attend the event, and over the years the tickets for the festival have quickly sold out completely.
2018 was no different. The festival traditionally ends on the first Sunday in August. This year, the festival took place from Thursday 2 August to Saturday 4 August. In 2014, all 75,000 tickets were sold out within 48 hours. The most remarkable sale was witnessed in 2015 when all the tickets were sold out with a span of 12 hours. The tickets were sold out even before the performances for the event were announced.
While the crowd who comes to attend the event might have to pay a price to get their hands on the tickets, for people of Wacken things are different. The citizens of Wacken, who have an estimated population of 1,800, have an opportunity to attend the event for free. In fact, the days when the festival takes place the entire place has a holiday, and people can be seen enjoying their time on the streets. Right from bands playing on the roads to people enjoying the beats of the music, it is a celebration that brings the entire place together.
During the festival, people also dress up to express themselves and let the music take control of their evening. At midnight of the day when the festival comes to an end, the tickets for next year's festival are up for sale. As of now, according to the official site of the festival, 40,000 tickets have been sold. So, it does not come as a surprise that these two men would decide to sneak out and attend this festival.