Liebe Donggemeinde,

ein achtes Mal können wir die erfolgreiche Beendigung des Dong Open Airs verkünden. Trotz des unfreundlichen Wetters seid Ihr wieder in Scharen auf dem Gipfel erschienen und habt für gehobene Stimmung gesorgt, dafür wollen wir Euch danken. Diesen Dank möchten wir auch im Namen vieler Bands aussprechen, die nach ihrem Auftritt mit strahlenden Gesichtern zu uns gekommen sind.

Vielen Dank auch an unsere Helfer, die uns in diesem Jahr besser als je zuvor unter die Arme gegriffen haben. Ohne dies c.a. 60 Ehrenamtlichen könnte das D.O.A nicht für diesen Preis möglich sein. Danke auch an alle Bands, denn auch diese helfen uns jedes Jahr den Eintritt gering zu halten und sorgten an diesem Wochenende wieder für mächtig Lärm.

Danke auch an die Leute vom THW, der Feuerwehr und den Maltesern für die, wie gewohnt, gute zusammenarbeite.

Last but not least danken wir noch der Technik- und Bühnencrew die wieder einen tollen Job gemacht und dafür gesorgt hat, dass wir keine größeren Verzögerungen zu beklagen hatten.

Es ist noch Abbauzeit, d.h. wir werde wahrscheinlich noch einige wichtige Personen vergessen haben, wir hoffen Ihr nehmt uns das nicht übel.

Grüße und bis zum nächsten Jahr,
Euer D.O.A Team

Hallo everyone,

we got good news just before the commencement.

We managed to book Enemy Within to play the second position on Friday as replacement of Scarlet Fire.
But now we don't want to bore you with additional texting because tomorrow we will rock the heap together.

With slightly stressed out greetings,
Your D.O.A Team

Three more days until we get the party started! 

Unfortunately without Scarlet Fire. The band supposed to be playing on the Friday’s second slot won’t be performing. And considering they didn’t inform us until Monday, all we can currently do is shake our head in incredulity. We can’t name any new band yet, but the spot sure won’t rest vacant. 

As we still have some room here, we’d like to inform you again about our bottle deposit system:
-        Your first beer will cost you two beer coupons – one for the beer, one for the deposit. Along with the bottle you will receive a deposit coin.
-        Each new beer will cost again two beer coupons (you’ll receive an extra deposit coin!) – or of course one empty bottle plus one beer voucher.
-        You cannot get a beer for two empty bottles. It has to be one beer voucher and one bottle.
-        If you want your deposit back, return bottle and deposit coin at the bar and you will receive a special voucher which you can then exchange for money at the box office. 

Please keep in mind: We have to expel anyone from our premises who shows up any earlier than Friday morning, 9 A.M. Past 9 o’clock, you are more than welcome to join us for the party of the year!! J

Your D.O.A Team

D Day is getting close!

The same procedure as every year: We’d like to inform you about a few things so we all can have a great stress-free weekend. It’s a bit over a paragraph, so here’s a little overview

1. Change of Program

2. Journey to the Dong Hill

3. Shuttle service

4. Beer price and deposit system

5. Landscape Conservation Area

This year’s big bang is getting as close as less than two weeks from now and we have yet again news regarding changes in the program (getting used to it, huh?): Masterstroke from Finland, who were supposed to open on Saturday, cancelled on us. Spectacular replacement shall fly in though: The Grailknights will travel to the Dong hill and save world and Grail at the second day of the festival just like in 2006. This time they will bring along both Zapf Beauty and their brand new album “Alliance”!

Upon picking up your wrist band you will also find our D.O.A 2008 booklet including posters, interviews as well as lots and lots of background info – just like last year: for FREE! Take a good look, so you don’t miss out on anything! The line up site on www.dongopenair.de will help you pick out a first selection up front.

When travelling to the Dong Open Air, please keep in mind: The D.O.A. parking as well as the camp ground will be open for public starting at Friday, July 18^th, 2008 at 9AM. Parking is only permitted with a valid parking ticket. The stewards’ instructions are to be followed at all times, cars parked in no-parking zones will be towed. No-parking zones will be signposted until 9AM. If you decide it’s a great idea to just park earlier than that wherever you like, you may find your car towed. Of course we do not want this, so please keep all this in mind when arriving!

At the bottom of the hill, we will have shuttles, just like last year, who will bring you and your luggage up the hill safely for a thrifty 1,50€ per person and ride. Yet, due to two-way traffic, they will most likely pick up people at the beginning of the street that leads up the hill, as opposed to at the stairs, which will this year, for the first time ever, be accessible. Getting up the stairs will be a sweaty work out and is to be done at your own risk! The stairs were built to be a piece of art which includes long parts of steps without recreation stops… Be aware of this!

Regarding bus shuttles Duisburg main station: We regret to inform you that due to low demand, we will not offer the shuttle service this year. We will offer it again next year though!

Just as cheap as our shuttle is our beer: For the disgustingly high rip-off price of 1.50€ per half liter we shall supply you with the chilled beverage. We expanded the bars and threw in some extra staff to make sure no one dies of thirst. Please do only drink our beer. It’s cheap (and not some kind of watery crap!) and the revenue benefits the festival. Don’t make yourself carry those crates up the hill, but rather do not hesitate to contact our skilled beer personnel!

We also figured out a new way to handle the bottle deposit system. Here’s a quick 4-point-overview of how it’s gonna work:

• Your first beer will cost you two beer coupons – one for the beer, one for the deposit. Along with the bottle you will receive a deposit coin.

• Each new beer will cost again two beer coupons (you’ll receive an extra deposit coin!) – or of course one empty bottle plus one beer voucher.

• You cannot get a beer for two empty bottles. It has to be one beer voucher and one bottle.

• If you want your deposit back, return bottle and deposit coin at the bar and you will receive a special voucher which you can then exchange for money at the box office.

This system will make sure that you won’t have to search your wallet for change and thus that our beer staff will have an easier time serving you as quickly as possible. The problem of people bringing their own beer and returning their bottles at our cost will be taken care of with this system as well.

Glass bottles will only be sold outside the concert area. The deposit system only applies outside the concert area. In the concert area, beer will be served in plastic cups. No glass allowed in the stage area whatsoever!

Very important: Make sure your trash goes into trash bags or into garbage cans and containers we set up. We will set up more cans than in the past and there will be a large public garbage can, also we will be passing out trash bags at the entrance. The dong hill is a landscape conservation area of which we have to take good care to make sure we can use it in the future!

We are looking forward to an amazing eighth year of the DONG!

In joyous anticipation

Your D.O.A Team

Dear metal heads!

An important thing up front: We're still looking for the best story from Dong Open Air 2007! If you have something interesting to tell, write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ! The coolest piece will be rewarded with a flashy Dong Open Air 2008 shirt!

And then there's some good news: Despite all odds we managed to organize a shuttle service from the Duisburg train station to the Dong. The shuttle will run at Friday, the 18^th of July at 13.00h, and will drop you off right at the hill. A one way ticket costs 5€. If your demand for the shuttle is high enough, we will add one or more rides, possibly also at earlier times.

To keep the chaos low, you will not be able to pay cash at the bus. Please transfer the money in advance. All info on this issue will be sent to you via email.

So if you wanna jump on the bus with other festival lovers, click on this link and send an email to Colamann with the subject line "shuttle bus".

So long,
your Dong Team

Hey people,

What’s going on in the metal jungle?! Bizarre things seem to be going an and so far it has not been in our favour. Just lately Morgana Lefay had announced “Morgana Lefay will live for all eternity and spread like a virus...” and now – out of the blue – cancelled their show at the Dong.
Thus we now have to make up for a second headlining band in 2008 and are aware that our credibility is suffering immensely. To prevent further negativity, we’d like to announce the band’s statement, which we owe you for sure, which the band has so far withheld though.
In a mail, the band apologizes for their cancellation, caused by problems in the band not allowing them to play live. The band wants to take a break, to recharge their batteries and allow themselves to get back in shape.
We wish them well and have already come up with a replacement.

We rearranged the running order due to this as well: On Saturday night, Sabaton will switch off the lights on stage. The band has yet again proven to be quite the right choice for this slot at the running order when they rocked the stage at their release party for their new album “The Art of War” in Essen. Due to high demand the party had to be moved to a bigger location to allow the camouflage-Swedes to show what they’re made of to more people, proving yet again that Sabaton stands for party and great shows! Despite the Morgana Lefay cancellation the Dong should thus still have a very happy end!

Slipping right into the Sabaton slot at 20:45h are Hollenthon.Not quite power metal, but rather symphonic black metal coming straight from Vienna to present their brand new album “Opus Magnus” which has already made members of the press swoon from excitement! And if Summer Breeze and Graspop want them, the Dong should take the opportunity to get them, too!;)

You can find the updated running order and info on Hollenthon on www.dongopenair.de

Rock!
Your Dong Team

Hello there!

News flash from the Dong hill! Unfortunately we have to start out with bad news. We are incredibly sorry, but we have to inform you that Primordial cancelled their show at the Dong Open Air for the second time! Despite spending several months of both their booking agency and ourselves, it was not possible to make the band around Alan Nemtheanga fullfill their contract and to let happen their show at the festival.
Last year the band cancelled their show due to early recording sessions, but offered to play at the Dong Open Air 2008 to make up for their cancellation. It seems like the band didn't take the written contract seriously at all though. Last year Alan told us that Primordial were very serious about their shows and the audience, still this year's show fails due to bizarre shuttle route suggestions all the way through Germany and/or the Netherlands as well as band members missing someone's birthday. The only thing we could do is realize that this exceptional band can apparently afford to act this way. They will be playing on several well-known festival this year. Despite the attention they have been getting and all the shows they will be playing, the band calls themselves unprofessional, still complains about playing a very early show at the Wacken Open Air. Unfortunately the Dong Open Air team has to confirm this “unprofessional“ impression strongly.

We received another cancellation: This time from Sheephead. Due to important exams the band will not be able to perform.

Wipe that tear from your eyes! We would now like to present to you the complete billing of the Dong Open Air 2008! Replacing Sheephead we got you the Swiss thrash grenades of Roots of Death. Primordial will be replaced by the fine and of course professional guys of Suidakra, who just returned from their US tour! We'll never forget, and neither will some of you, how they played at the Armageddong 2004. They had to play most of their songs as an acoustic set and eventually played with the PA working, but without light... Just one insane fan and our dear Atze took turns holding a lantern on stage. We are looking forward to seeing that fantastic troop around singer Arkadius back on our hill!

Check out our website for the complete running order, info on the bands and links to their websites at http://dong.walismus.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=246&Itemid=78!

And once again we start collecting your stories for the D.O.A program guide! Tell us your weirdest Dong experiences and best ideas and find it printed in the guide at the festival! Please send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Last but not least we want to ask for your support regarding a very important issue! You all know that the Dong hill is a landscape conservation area. That's why we'd like you to help us keep the hill as far from a waste dump as possible! I know, this is a festival and not your Mom's kitchen floor. Still we want to ask you to, please and thank you, use the trash bags we give out when you pick out your wristband. Use the garbage bin and don't wreck bottles. This saves us and you money, time and injuries and will help the reputation of the Dong Open Air and its audience skyrocket!

See you soon!
Your Dong Team

You guys almost made our servers crash this year!

Now that we've overcome this shock, we're launching this newsletter to let you know about the record facts:

Last year's record of 190 tickets sold after one day was beaten fairly easily this year: By the time the sale had been on for 6 minutes, 198 tickets had been ordered. By the end of the first day we had sold half the tickets - 800! And since Monday, the 24th of March 2008, we're officially sold out. Last year it took us over two month to do so, this year we did it within less than one week!

We want to thank all of you Dong Open Air fans and other supporters for showing us this unconditional support!

Currently we're working on the feedback we got to improve this year's festival. Yet we do need some help from you guys for this. Especially regarding one subject: Trash.

We will be passing out trashbags at the cash desk throughout the festival and we would love you guys to use those trash bags troughout the festival! You'd be an incredible help to us because this would reduce the time and money we spend cleaning up the hill immensely. It would also help a lot if you reduced the junk you leave up there to a minimum. The Dong hill being a landscape conservation area sure does look better without any trash "decorating" it.

It'd absolutely rock if you kept supporting us and kept the trash problem as small as possible!

Once again: Thank you very much!

Your Dong Team

This was some mad tuesday for our server: You were so crazy for the tickets, half of them have already been sold by twenty past nine this evening. We're not bullshitting you! A big thanks from the whole team for this enormous demonstration of trust, you blew us off our feet!

Those among you still without a ticket should hurry and get them while they last. Otherwise, you might wake up to find another newsletter in your mailbox, titled: Sold Out!

Madness...
Your Dong team

The advance ticket sale for the 2008 edition of the Dong Open Air has officially commenced! As every year, you can only buy the tickets via our website.

This year's price is 26,66€, no forther fees will be added from our side. Get them wile they're fresh, last year's festival sold out after only two months!

See you at the festival!
The Dong team

Hey there!


Well, guys, let me tell how things are gonna be this year at the Dong stage: Ralf, the ninja and I, we figured it'd be a neat idea to chip in some money together and to get you DARK TRANQUILLITY! When in the year of '89 the Berlin wall was taken down, they were all like "Dude, there's all kinds of stuff happening in the world... Just Sweden is kinda boring!" So they sat down with In Flames and decided to invent this music called Melodic Death metal, which the kids these days like soo much. Yeah, back in the day...


We couldn't quite afford an entire division with the money we were left with, so we figured we'd just go get a panzer battallion this year! Of course we're talking about SABATON who have made themselves a name on the board of awesome live bands during the last festival season. Coming from traditional heavy metal, the Swedes join bellicose true metal posing with fascinating tunes, bombast drama and lyrics about war, war... oh and did I mention war? Rather untypical for the genre, but working perfectly with the music, singer Joakim's vocals cover the deeper range than what might be expected, winning over even people who claim to be rather skeptical of true metal.


Those of you who honored us with their visit in 2006 are probably going to have pleasant memories regarding COMMANDER. The Bavarians sound like Bolt Thrower were jamming with Bloodbath and both bands felt like playing a bit of thrash.
Don't get in their way for they will chop down anything with the deep rumbling and aggressive growls. Frantically fast and relentlessly stomping riffs along with breaks en masse, short shreds of tune spice up the carnage. This all combines to modern and authentic death metal that makes any metal head turn their head.
Just like last time the guys are going to show up bringing a brand new album to wow even the veterans among you. Fans of brute metal should not miss out on this show.


SCARLET FIRE are going to be a bit smoother. Haven't heard of that? Well, asking Dr Google, you'd find out that's either a beer from Pennsylvania or a rock band from Gießen. We had meant to not tell you which one is to play at our hill, to keep things interesting and to throw in a bit of an extra thrill, but unfortunately someone in our forum has already spilled the beans. So here it is:
Scarlet Fire play groovy heavy rock with mosh part and funk elements, blending in nicely with fast riffs. The wonderfully diverse vocals of singer Christina will certainly enchant the audience. If you enjoyed Cheeno last you, you should make a huge red mark next to the gig of this band on your festival schedule.


The award for the most charming application of the year is to be awarded to NOHELLIA who are from sunny Nice. These Frenchies do not only have the prettiest handwriting ever, but are mostly known for their symphonic avant garde black metal at its finest!
Naturally, their music can't be described satisfactorily here, but be assured: Friends of unorthodox and different kinds of music shall have a great time!



Last, but not least another piece of information lots of you have waited for so dearly. Tuesday, March 18th, at midnight (0:00) we are going to start out ticket sale! So if you really want one of those first tickets (at this year's price of 26,66€), stay up on Monday night and don't leave your computer until you ordered your ticket!
Of course we'd also like to remind you of the possibility to sign up for our newsletter to make sure you don't miss out on anything!


Until Tuesday... take care,
your Dong team

Hello again, friends
who appreciate the sound
of louder guitars!

No special reason
for turning today's update
into a haiku

DRONE are now confirmed
Playing their old school thrash
right on the Dong stage

The band from Celle
got down the sound of Machine Head
and Sepultura

MASTERSTROKE are from
the uppest north and have been
around for a while

They got their spot on
our billing to play their awesome
power metal live

Melodious Death
with a progessive something
played by RAINTIME

They're from Italy
joyfully proclaming their
gig at our Dong hill

Five friends who like it
loud, our neighbors from Krefeld
Also known as GRIND INC.

We know those guys well
for they have all been to our stage
just ne'er together

Loud, smashing guitars
with singer Chris' harsh vocals
Make you beg for more

Today's final call
shall be MORGANA LEFAY
A Stranger to few

Melodic but hard
Delighting the audience
of various styles

A great performance
Is sure to be expected
for those who show up

Do not miss the next
news item which will complete
the entire line up

Get the Newsletter
so you do not miss out on
the ticket presale

We hope you had an enjoyable New Year’s Eve and still keep on rockin’! So do we while getting the 2008 Line-Up together.

To give you something to shorten the waiting, we may finally announce the D.O.A 2007 Online-Streaming at #Musik! On Friday, 11. January, starting at 5pm, and on Saturday, 12. January from 2pm recordings of the shows of Verdict, Cheeno, Black Messiah, Nitrolyt, Eluveitie, Runamok, Galskap, Synasthasia and Skyclad are waiting for you! In addition there’ll be some first news on the festival’s 2008 edition!
Just visit www.rautemusik.fm and click „eXTreMe“.

Have fun and best wishes for 2008!
Your Dong team

Hey guys and girls!

Time lies when you're waiting for the Dong Open Air 2008! We have almost made it through the first half of the year expecting the next summer! If you feel like going back in time a bit, pretty much back to the last Dong, go and check out the Orphaned Land video by Century Media of their show last summer! This link, which is now also available in our archive section, takes you to youtube to get you in the right mood for their new album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnTNR2Sc1qc
If you're curious about how 2008 will be, check out our new design at www.dongopenair.de! The 8^th Dong Open Air is approaching quickly! The 18^th and 19^th July will be themed “More Evilor Than Skeletor“!

We would also like to take the chance to remind you of our band application deadline: Only few more days until the final due date at December 20^th! If you are considering to take part and introduce yourself, go right ahead and do so quickly. Go to www.dongopenair.de and click on “band applications“ right on the main page. You can send in your application via mp3 download or by snail mail!

Anyone who already applied through the mp3 upload, but didn't get a confirmation mail yet, should know that you have to click the “Finish“ button to complete your application! Otherwise you will not receive a confirmation mail.

Take care,
your Dong Team

Hi Metalheads,

after a while of silence regarding news from our side, we are back and can finally announce the beginning of our phase of application for 2008! Go to www.dongopenair.de and find your way through “backstage“ to “band appliations“ to the online appliation form through which you can bombard us with your band's application until shortly before Christmas. Or just click the link on the main site. Any band who thinks they have the guts and the talent to play at our festival is more than welcome to sign up. Record deals, publications etc are not a prerequisite, a bit of demo material will do. Same procedure as every year!
Actually... no, not exactly! As you might have noticed, it took us a bit longer to get started on the applications. Why? We managed to provide you with an mp3-upload tool for you to apply. This gives you an additional option to supply us with your songs, even though you can still mail in your demos through regular mail. The mp3 option thus saves time and money! So go get started!
If you yourself are not much of a musician, but have a favorite band you would absolutely love to see play the D:O:A, let them know about us and the application and have them apply! Help us make the D:O:A 2008 become just the festival you want!

Just to make sure we don't leave out the important bits: The next D.O.A will take place at the third weekend of July, 2008. That'll be July 18^th and 19th.

Of course the mp3 upload update is not the only thing we've been working on. We are eagerly working on finding awesome headliners for 2008! Thank you very much for giving us lots of feedback through our feedback form. We are currently analyzing it!
We hope to present new stuff on our website soon, as regards of content and looks!

Take care,
your Dong Team

PS.: Please do reapply, even if we rejected you in earlier years!!! Lots of D.O.A bands of the past years made it into the line-up after numerous applications!

Hey Dong!

Done with another festival and we're both happy and proud to announce it was a very successful festival! Considering all the notions we heard through out the festival, you were happy with us, also the bands left us plenty of positive feedback regarding their shows and their audience!

A huge Thank You goes out to our technicians who stuck to the schedules and did a great job with the instrumental challenge of Eluveitie! Thankfully Skyclad, who had lost most of their instruments on the flight, could still perform thanks to Synasthasia and Stefan Huth helping out with their equipment. Thank you very much!

Another big Thanks goes out to all our helpers without whom this festival couldn't have taken place! We appreciate your help a lot! But you guys know who you are :-)

We, the team of organizors, are going to take a short break for once and will continue our work for 2008 some time during the late summer. Until then we would love to get some feedback from you through our feedback form, so we can find out what you liked, what you didn't like and how we can improve things. We were very happy to see that the new beer coupon thing and the plastic cup idea worked out so well!
The feedback form is right here:
D:O:A 2006 -> Feedback

Please do not send in band applications for 2008 until we re-launch the band application site. We cannot take care of this right now and applications would get lost!

Another big thank you to all of you for an incredible Paraksavedekatriaphobia show!
Yours,
the Dong Team

P.S.: Please be patient with us regarding pictures and reports about the festival. They will definitely be there in a few weeks.

Ohwow, almost there!

Preparations at the hill have started and it's only another three days til the big event! The weather seems to be getting better towards the weekend, yet we don't wanna miss out on reminding you – being the mommy of the camping ground – to bring warm clothes for the nights! ;)

Also we would like to point out once again that the hill including the parking lot will be accessible no earlier than Friday, 9:30AM! Camping and parking is not permitted any earlier than that. Local authorities and our staff will be checking on your cooperation. Please do us the favor and don't show up early to spare us the extra work. We're busy enough as it is.

Please also keep in mind that glass bottles etc. are not permitted in the stage area. Avoid causing long lines by not bringing any glass items to the stage area.
For your own savety, please also take a look at our important info posted both at our website www.dongopenair.de and all over the festival area.

We are extending our offer of the shuttle service up the hill. We will be picking you up starting Friday 10:00AM right after the corner bend at the drive way to the hill. This is 500m earlier than last year!

Breaking News: Chainsaw cancelled their show at the Dong Open Air due to personal reasons. We have not come up with an alternative yet.

One last thing has to be corrected! The promised streaming of the Dong will not be a live streaming, but a recording whose streaming date will be announced by the guys of #musik.

See you soon,
your Dong Team