The Festival Summer 2025 Is Yours

The 2025 festival season isn't just about the biggest metal acts in the world – it's also about diversity: more voices for women in metal bands and more room for your attitude. It's high time to start planning your summer. While the Full Force Festival is unfortunately not taking place this year, these four events are bringing unstoppable woman power to the stage.

When Dessel calls, the metal world answers: Graspop Metal Meeting remains a must-attend in 2025 for anyone who loves it loud, heavy, and diverse. With over 130 acts across five stages, this festival leaves nothing to be desired.

Headliners like Iron Maiden, Slipknot, Korn, Powerwolf, and Judas Priest bring plenty of male power to the stage. But the women are turning up the heat:

• Spiritbox

• Jinjer

• Epica

• Charlotte Wessels

• Beyond The Black

• Kittie

• Nova Twins

• Julie Christmas

• As Everything Unfolds

• Halocene

• The Warning

• Poppy

• Brutus

• Amira Elfeky

• Bloodhunter

🎟 Thursday, Saturday, and all VIP categories are already sold out. Tickets for Friday and Sunday are still available. 👉graspop.be

Happening at the same time – and just as wild: Hellfest in Clisson, France, is pure madness across six stages, with over 180 acts, 60,000 visitors per day, and an atmosphere somewhere between pilgrimage and chaos.

Major names include Muse, Korn, Scorpions, and the reunion sensation Linkin Park – the only headliner among these four festivals with a female front. Also not to be missed:

• Within Temptation

• Jinjer

• Kittie

• Spiritbox

• Charlotte Wessels

• Epica

• Future Palace

• Heilung

• Nervosa

• Blood Command

• Poppy

• Burning Witches

• Beyond The Black

• Walls of Jericho

• Sun

• Amira Elfeky

🎟 Festival passes are sold out, but day tickets will be on sale soon according to organizers. 👉 hellfest.fr

Once again, the quiet village of Wacken transforms into the loudest town in the world. While 2023 still had room to grow in terms of diversity, 2024 already felt more inclusive – especially thanks to a wave of powerful female-fronted metal acts. Ticket sales reached “sold out” status after eight weeks – a bit slower than in some previous years.

One thing’s for sure: Dark Divas will be back on the ground to report directly from the festival. These legendary acts are confirmed:

• Within Temptation

• Beyond The Black

• Tarja & Marko Hietala

• Hanabie

• Mimi Barks

• Seven Spires

• Dool

• The Butcher Sisters

• Deine Cousine

• Dogma

• Enemy Inside

• Lita Ford

• Lake Malice

• Liliac

• Nightmare

• Setyoursails

• Skynd

• Vulvarine

• Walls of Jericho

🛑 Sold out, but there’s still room on the waiting list. 👉wacken.com

Mid-August in Dinkelsbühl means one last big blowout. The fields of Bavaria become the loudest place in the region. Here too, the female-fronted impact can’t be ignored:

• Tarja & Marko Hietala

• Hanabie

• April Art

• Frozen Crown

• Stellvris

• Charlotte Wessels

• Within Temptation

• League of Distortion

• Hiraes

• Frayle

And there’s something new in 2025 that goes beyond just making a statement: the “Metal Sisterhood Hub“ – a dedicated community space for FLINTA* people, created by and for the scene. This isn’t just about partying – it's about dialogue, learning, empowerment, and connection. Panels, DIY actions, empowerment workshops, meet-ups – all in the middle of a metal festival.

With this, Summer Breeze is doing something that many big festivals have yet to embrace: creating space for perspectives that are often overlooked.

We'll be there too – listening, experiencing, and reporting back.

🎟 Day tickets from €89.99, festival passes from €239.99 👉 sbtix.de

This year’s Dark Divas headliner lineup leaves room for improvement. As in previous years, we feel there’s still a lot of space to grow. Compared to last year, fewer women are represented in the overall festival line-ups.

To warm up and reminisce, check out our recap from W.A.O. 2024. We'll be back again this year at Wacken and Summer Breeze – so stay tuned for everything we’ll be covering after this intense summer of festivals.

And last but not least: We love the “Metal Sisterhood Hub“! Keep it going – and please, make this a thing everywhere!