Once a year thousands of metalheads come from all over the world to visit one particular festival in Northern Germany. For those who tend to become claustrophobic amidst 80,000 sweaty metalheads, but like to enjoy a top-quality lineup nonetheless (and don't happen to live close to Clisson) Summer Breeze in Dinkelsbühl, South Germany is a more than worthy alternative.

For the first time since its creation in 1997 this year's Summer Breeze will have three stages blowing out a total of 90 bands. The blast starts already the night before the actual festival with a newcomer contest to determine the opening act of the festival and an extreme metal selection which itself is already worth the travel: Lay Down Rotten, The Rotted, Born From Pain, Fleshcrawl and as headliners the Dutch supergroup Hail Of Bullets invite to an opening ceremony which will screw your heads off!

The lineup of the following three days is as varied as that of the great competitor in the north, tending a bit more to gothic and less to metalcore. Summer Breeze occasionally also offers some gems which have declined offers by bigger festivals, but gladly perform in front of the 20,000 visitors of Dinkelsbühl. What has been the case for Bolt Thrower in the previous year, is the case for the British goth/black metal legend Cradle Of Filth in 2008. Together with Six Feet Under, Arch Enemy, Kataklysm, Behemoth and many more they hold up the extreme metal flag. The other, more melodic half of the metal spectrum is represented by Helloween, Subway To Sally, Paradise Lost, Anathema, Primal Fear and Metal Storm's favourite pet Diablo Swing Orchestra among many others. And with End Of Green's dark rock, H-Blockx's crossover, Mad Sin's psychobilly or Jesus On Extasy's industrial rock there are also many occasions to take a break from all the metal and enjoy some alternative soundscapes.

So how do you get there? Dinkelsbühl is located in South Germany halfway between Stuttgart and Nuremberg. It is in close proximity to the autobahns A7 and A6, so getting there by car is rather easy.
Getting there by public transport isn't as easy as the next train station is 22 km away (Crailsheim), so from there you'll have to make your way via busses. Check out the page of the Deutsche Bahn and enter Dinkelsbühl as destination to find a schedule that suits you best.
If you come from further away you might want to consider flying. The nearest airports are Nuremberg Airport (95 km), Munich Airport (180 km) and Frankfurt Airport (220 km). Check the Wikipedia links to find out whether an airport in your area is connected with either of these three airports. If you happen to arrive at Frankfurt Airport, get in touch with me (Promonex), I might be able to pick you up.

Three day tickets (incl. the opening night, parking, camping and free use of the bus shuttle between Dinkelsbühl and the festival area) are officially sold out, but there might be some left at selected ticket agencies. There will also still be a handful of one day tickets obtainable at the box-office which opens each day at 10 am.