Old Men Escape Nursing Home, Make Way to Heavy Metal Festival

by | Aug 6, 2018 | WTF?!

Wacken Open Air Festival in southwest Germany is the largest gathering of heavy metal bands in the world. This year, scions of the heavy metal world like Judas Priest, Sepultura, Dimmu Borgir, and Nightwish converged once again to bring planet Earth the heaviest music in the known universe. Which is precisely the kind of event that two aging pensioners were hoping to make before their plans were foiled by the local police.

According to FOX 8, the two men were found making their way to the festival before being reported missing by their nursing home. The pensioners appealed to the police’s sensibilities, but ultimately were escorted back to their taxi as a “precaution.”

It is not clear if they were among the 75,000 people who purchased tickets to the festival. This is the 29th year the festival has taken place and to metal fans of all ages, we say, “for those about to rock, we salute you.”

RVA Staff

RVA Staff

Since 2005, the dedicated team at RVA Magazine, known as RVA Staff, has been delivering the cultural news that matters in Richmond, VA. This talented group of professionals is committed to keeping you informed about the events and happenings in the city.




more in community

As Funding Shrinks, Richmond’s Safety Net Is Full

She decided to finally leave. Maybe it was after years of abuse, or after one violent night too many. Maybe it was the first time she truly believed that if she stayed, she might not survive. Whatever brought her to that moment, making the call took courage.  On...

Seeing Richmond Through Their Eyes

Editor's Note: Writers Block is an occasional series featuring personal essays, reflections, and creative nonfiction from Richmond-area writers. In Seeing Richmond Through Their Eyes, Gabriella Ryan shares how a month spent showing her Italian cousins around Richmond...

Can Firehouse Put Richmond on the National Theatre Map?

In the electric and perpetually sincere terrain of Richmond’s theatre culture, there are institutions that do more than merely reside, they lead. They serve as a measure of our city's potential beyond its natural aspirations. I've witnessed Firehouse Theatre inhabit...

Photos | Warriors in Bloom at Agecroft Hall

For one weekend, Agecroft Hall stopped being a museum and became a kingdom.  What began as a fundraiser to help launch Richmond's first Renaissance Faire has grown into a destination of its own. Warriors in Bloom, created by the folks at Virago Alley, returned with...

Dispatch from the Lewis Ginter Picket Line

An on-the-ground account of the strike that prompted Jesse Welles and Graham Nash to cancel their Richmond performances. Tensions escalated as Jesse Welles called off his performance at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden yesterday amid an ongoing union fight for higher...

Far-Right “Remigration” Propaganda Targets Bhatti Campaign

Several campaign signs for Democratic congressional candidate Salaam Bhatti were vandalized over the weekend with professionally printed flyers telling him to "return to your homeland" in multiple languages. The flyers also featured the hashtag #Remigration, a term...

In Plan 9 We Trust

This weekend, Plan 9 Music marks 45 years in Richmond with a party at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. Over the past four and a half decades, the Richmond institution weathered some of the most turbulent periods in music history. It closed stores, sold its warehouse and...