Rockharz Open Air 2026 takes place from July 1 to 4 at the Ballenstedt airfield in the Harz region of Germany. Festival tickets have been sold out since presales opened in July 2025 – gone in under three days. Day tickets are still available.

Headliners by day

All four daily headliners are confirmed:

• Wednesday, July 1: Helloween
• Thursday, July 2: Alice Cooper
• Friday, July 3: Kreator
• Saturday, July 4: Feuerschwanz

The mix says a lot about the festival: Helloween deliver power metal in its purest form, Alice Cooper is an institution from a different era, Kreator represent German thrash at an international level, and Feuerschwanz close the weekend with a Saturday night that promises more campfire atmosphere than mosh pit. Four headliners, four completely different temperatures.

The lineup

More than 50 bands are confirmed. A selection:

Metal & Thrash: Kreator, Emperor, Helloween, Kataklysm, The Haunted, Avatar, Harakiri For The Sky, Black Label Society, Crypta, Necrotted, Hämatom, Dominum, Ex Deo, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Hiraes, Majestica, Warmen, Drone, Tailgunner, Tungsten

Rock & Hard Rock: Alice Cooper, Airbourne, Danko Jones, Doro, P.O.D., Soen, Motorjesus, Watch Me Rise

Folk & Medieval: Feuerschwanz, Ensiferum, Finntroll, Steve ‘n’ Seagulls, Fiddler’s Green, Subway To Sally, Soulbound, Sagenbringer

Punk & Hardcore: Agnostic Front, Biohazard, Betontod, Annisokay, Walls of Jericho

Other: Knorkator, Gothminister, Heavysaurus, Die Habenichtse, Rauhbein, Rodeo 5000, Haggefugg, Mittel Alta, Paradise Lost, Final Cry, Dogma, Stahlmann

The day-by-day schedule for non-headliners has not yet been fully released.

Tickets

All festival tickets including camping are sold out. Anyone still looking to attend has one option: day tickets at €90 each. They do not include access to the campsite; day visitors have a separate entrance.

The festival

Rockharz Open Air is one of the established metal festivals in the German-speaking world. The venue – an airfield at the foot of the Teufelsmauer in Saxony-Anhalt – has shaped the atmosphere for years: open, expansive, with a Harz panorama you won’t find at any other festival.