Sabaton is a heavy metal band from Falun, Sweden formed in 1999. The band‘s main lyrical themes are based on war and historical battles. This is heard in the albums Primo Victoria, Attero Dominatus, Coat of Arms, Carolus Rex and Heroes, in which all of the songs contain these motifs, except final tracks which are tribute songs to influential heavy metal bands. Lyrical content drawn from World War I, World War II and other conflicts is prevalent and includes songs about battles and leaders on all sides of said conflicts.

Dream Theater is an American progressive metal and progressive rock band formed in 1985. The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines. Dream Theater has sold over two million albums in the United States alone and over ten million albums around the world. Sharing stages with musical titans Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Porcupine Tree, Megadeth and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (to name a few) has contributed to the rightful perception of Dream Theater as one of rock’s greatest live acts. Petrucci and Myung have known each other since before they were in high school. They assembled what would become one of the world’s most impressive musical collectives together with fellow Berklee College of Music student Mike Portnoy.

In 1986, introduced to each other by executives at Atlantic Records, two special men met for the very first time. The actually unlikely pair hit it off and, from then on, formed a team that would eventually write and release album classics like „Hall Of The Mountain King“, „Streets“, and „Dead Winter Dead“. The constant strive to push the boundaries of rock and metal evolved into the formation of the band Savatage, that soon was considered to be the world‘s first progressive metal band. Beyond that, it was the duo‘s vision, to raise the dynamics of progressive rock to a new level. By taking the best from the two worlds of rock and classical music and putting it together with multiple singers they were able to act without any musical limits – Trans-Siberian Orchestra was born. The two said men, Paul O‘Neill and Jon Oliva together on one stage – and here in Wacken, they will show us their past, their present and their future. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is performing live on stage at Wacken 2015, followed immediately by a Savatage reunion gig, that also marks their first live perfor¬mance in over a decade. Furthermore, these is the only live appearances of both bands in Europe in 2015!

The Hurricane Festival – Germany’s leading Alternative and Rock Festival takes place every year in the beautiful countryside of Northern Germany between Bremen and Hamburg since 1997. Line-up: THE WOMBATS, DROPKICK MURPHYS, PIXIES, INTERPOL, THE SUBWAYS, THE SOUNDS, FLOGGING MOLLY, BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB, FRANZ FERDINAND

Having entered the charts at No. 3 with ‘This Modern Glitch’ (2011) The Wombats subsequently became one of the stand-out names on summer festival circuits with headline sets at Lovebox and Wakestock as well as other major events including Glastonbury, V, Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Rockness. Always a resolutely popular live band, past UK tours were entirely sold-out and included major London dates at the Brixton O2 Academy and the HMV Hammersmith Apollo.

On February 24th 2010 Bombay Bicycle Club won the Best New Band award at the NME Awards up against nominees such as The xx, The Big Pink, La Roux, The Olivers and Mumford & Sons; just before their release of Flaws which debuted No. 8 on the UK Album Charts. In 2011 the band released their third studio album A Different Kind Of Fix which charted No. 6 in the UK. Only one year later Bombay Bicycle Club was among the bands chosen to perform at the BT London Live concert in Hyde Park, which marked the end of the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Up to this date the band has toured worldwide as a headlining act, playing North America, Australia, Europe and the Far East. Their studio album “So Long See You Tomorrow” (2014) topped the UK album charts and the US Top Heatseekers.

With 80,000 festival visitors, and including personnel a total of roughly 86,000 attendees in 2011, the Wacken Open Air Festival attracts all kinds of metal music fans and hard rock from around the world. The festival, first held in 1990 as a small event for local bands, is now one of the biggest festivals worldwide. Line-up: AVANTASIA, ACCEPT, APOCALYPTICA & AVANTI! ORCHESTRA, SAXON, STEEL PANTHER, HAMMERFALL, DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT

Interpol’s debut album ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ (2002) was critically acclaimed, making it to tenth position on the NME’s list of top albums in 2002 as well as No. 1 on Pitchfork Media’s Top 50 Albums of 2002. Subsequent records ‘Antics’ (2004) and ‘Our Love to Admire’ (2007) have confirmed the band’s initial success and turned them into a commercial and critical success. Having first performed at Luna Lounge along with other notable bands like The Strokes, Longwave, The National and Stellastarr, they are one of the bands associated with the New York City indie music scene, and were one of several groups that emerged from the post-punk revival of the 2000s.

Dropkick Murphys’ 2004 single “Tessie” became the band’s first hit and one of their biggest charting singles to date. The band’s final Hellcat release, 2005’s The Warrior’s Code, included the song “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”; the song was featured in the 2006 Academy Award-winning movie “The Departed”, and went on to become a Platinum-selling single. 2007’s “The Meanest of Times” made its debut at No. 20 on the Billboard charts and featured the successful single, “The State of Massachusetts”, while 2011’s “Going Out in Style” was an even bigger success, making its debut at No. 6, giving the band their highest-charting album to date. Dropkick Murphys’ eighth studio album, Signed and Sealed in Blood was released in 2013 making its debut at No. 9 on the Billboard charts.

In their early years, Pixies’ jarring pop sound influenced bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead, The Strokes and Weezer and are subsequently credited with having a big influence on the alternative rock boom of the 1990s. The Pixies’ legacy and popularity grew in the years following their break-up (1993), leading to sold-out world tours following their reunion in 2004. In June 2013, the indie-rock legend released their first new material in almost ten years! The latest album ‘Indie City’ charted #6 in the UK album charts (#3 on US Top Alternative Albums and #1 on US Top Tastemaker Albums) and is after ‘Bossanova’ (UK #3, 1990) their biggest chart success in the UK.