3-Days-Festival-Ticket incl. Camping: 125.70 Euro
Day ticket (no matter what day): 80 Euro
3-Days-Festival-Ticket incl. Camping + DVD/Shirt: 129.99/134.99 Euro
Caravan-Park-Ticket: 85.60 Euro

8/10 • Mainstage • Obituary - Deicide - Nile - Tribulation - Archspire - Gatecreeper - Angelus Apatrida - Orbit Culture - Mentor
8/10 • Tenststage • Post Mortem - Graveyard - Morbific - Balmog - Helslave - SubOrbital - Jade

8/11 • Mainstage • Hypocrisy - Dying Fetus - Grave Miasma - Decapitated - Midnight - Illdisposed - Urgehal - Kanonenfieber - Yoth Iria - Endseeker - Be'lakor - Brutal Sphincer
8/11 • Tenststage • Sijjin - Black Curse - Concrete Winds - Drowned - Vircolac - Horns Of Domination - Spirit Possession

8/12 • Mainstage • Enslaved - Kataklysm - Borknagar - Endstille - Immolation - Impiety - Skinless - Ellende - Skitsystem - Spectral Wound - Frozen Soul - Atomwinter
8/12 • Tenststage • The Ruins Of Beverast - Heretic - Wound - Arsgotia - Stormkeep - The Night Eternal - Tabula Rasa - Chaos & Confusion - Spearhead

The Biotope For Loonies

[Dajana] Here we are again! :) This year everything feels so much better! Corona is history; there are no more restrictions and no more uncertainties. At least not in this respect. If you take a look at our music scene or the industry itself, it looks quite different. The PARTY SAN OPEN AIR was not entirely spared either. There were (fortunately) only two band cancellations (Vital Remains and Unto Others) and a moderate and expected increase in ticket prices. But with this line-up every cent pays off!
[BRT] As usual, I am already completely jittery days before and look forward like mad. This family reunion is just THE highlight of the festival season.
[Öko] Yes, the PARTY SAN OPEN AIR is always worth a trip!

[Dajana] There were a few innovations on the PSOA 2023, for example, cashless payments at certain locations for the first time. Has anyone tried this? Not me, I had enough cash with me :)
[BRT] Nah, forgot to test that too.
[Öko] Also had enough cash with me and didn't test it.
[Seb] I didn't dare. I'd rather lose a few euros than kick my credit or other cards into the mud at one of the main counters and only notice it the next day... I also had the impression that, while this was quite practical for clumsy visitors without a sufficient supply of cash, in return the queues at the "public" counters were often longer and slower than the year before.

[Dajana] After many a European festival drowned in rain and mud the weekend before (our hearts and crossed fingers go out to Slovenia to the Metal Days people), we anxiously looked towards Schlotheim. But Beelzebub had a mercy and let the sun come out perfectly for Wednesday :) Hell is here, right? ;)
[BRT] There's no more drowning at the PARTY SAN METAL OPEN AIR. Only boozing...
[Öko] There was a bit of rain only on Saturday, so everything was OK!
[Dajana] Perhaps two or three rain drops…
[Seb] That would have been it: I let myself be talked into camping for the first time in this millennium, and then there is a mud fight like in 2010 (where the tent was there, but the attempt to build it up was not started). Et hätt still allet joot jejange or whatever exactly you say a few kilometers down the Rhine.

[Dajana] The PSOA makers have put some delicacies on stage again this year, also some rather unknown names to discover something new. Downer was no doubt the racist/fascist Destroyer 666, a completely dispensable band on the bill.
[BRT] Misogyny has to be included in the bio by now as well. What a disgusting guy!
[Öko] Unfortunately, the PARTY SAN METAL OPEN AIR is not very consistent! Also in terms of the large amount of right-wing patches!
[Seb] I was a little disappointed that on none of the evenings a "real" Black Metal band had made it among the headliners (in a broader sense). However, I had assumed that ENSLAVED would play a modern set. All in all, I found the line-up quite successful and old-school death metal has rarely done me any harm so far. And even if it wasn't late in the evening, there were already some top-class Black Metal bands on the program, first of all URGEHAL, who are back on stage more than ten years after the death of Nefas.

:: Thursday :: Friday :: Saturday :: Summary :: Impressions ::

[Dajana] For the first time, I had the opportunity to already arrive on Wednesday. Finally, a festival kick-off without stress... So I thought. But, as it is said, work comes before the pleasure. Monster construction sites around Kassel caused monster traffic jams - bang, an hour extra. Then the road directly in front of the PSOA airfield was closed so that there was only one access road to the festival area. Guess what... boom, another hour extra. But everything else went smooth and quickly :)
[Öko] Ha! Two hours? I was on the road 3.5 hrs. longer than planned.

[Dajana] On the festival site almost everything was ready on Wednesday. Esmeralda was still missing and was screwed together in the evening. The camping area and the party tent were already extremely packed on Wednesday. According to various people, more than in the previous year. Beer was available for 4 euros, mixed drinks for 5, water for 2 euros, the rest 3 euros plus 2 euros cup deposit. At the food stands, the prices were also within reasonable limits: 7 euros on average for a proper meal.
[Öko] I found it was significantly more crowded on all days than last year!
[Seb] Seven euros was already the lower end and for one or the other dish, you could also spend more than double. Cheaper it was actually only at the fried potato and bratwurst stand: just the fried potatoes are together with the whiskey tent "Seven Lords" one of the indispensable ingredients for the success of the festival ;-) But the merchants have now also increased costs, what can you do. For most visitors it should hardly matter in relation to the drinks anyway, and those have remained unchanged in price. The fact, that the "Seven Lords" still serves (decent, even single malt!) Whisky from three Euros, is already unusual and should be hereby expressly appreciated.

Stories • BRT, Seb, Öko, Dajana • Pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography