Lifestyle

2 Nursing Home Escapees Attend Heavy Metal Concert Because, YOLO

by Julie Scagell
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Image via Gina Wetzler/Getty Images

These two are the definition of ‘forever young’

When people think about their golden years, most picture the serenity of being able to kick back and take it easy — no more kids, no more schedules, and some well-deserved peace and quiet. Unless, that is, you’re these two guys from Germany who plotted their escape from a nursing home to attend a heavy metal concert together.

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That’s right, folks. Two elderly men decided to throw caution (and their walkers) to the wind last week by ditching their nursing home in lieu of the Wacken Open Air music festival. What is the Wacken festival you may be asking yourself? Only the largest heavy-metal festival in all the world, that’s what.

According to Deutsche Welle, police found the two metal heads around 3am at “the Metal Mecca” after being alerted by nursing home staff that they were missing. Just to recap, they were busted by authorities at 3 o’clock in the morning jamming to heavy metal after breaking out of a nursing home.

If you needed a hero in your life, it’d be these guys.

This year’s festival included bands like Judas Priest, Vince Neil, and hundreds of others, and at that time of the evening the acts were finally wrapping up for the night. Police told Deutsche Welle the pair were “disoriented and dazed,” when found (and probably a little pissed off their Taco Bell stop was thwarted), but were generally in good spirits.

This was the 29th edition of the annual metal concert, which was fully sold out. It’s unclear if the old dears had someone help them preorder tickets online or if they scalped them at the door. An expected 75,000 people were set to attend the four-day festivities but it’s doubtful anyone wanted to be there more than these two.

The men were apparently reluctant to leave the festival so police escorted them home with the help of a taxi and a patrol car. “They obviously liked the metal festival,” police spokeswoman Merle Neufeld told public broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk. “The care home quickly organized a return transport after police picked them up.”

I’m sure the staff (and their families) were just happy the pair was delivered safe and unharmed. Here’s hoping with any luck next year the nursing home can turn it into a field trip of sorts, busing interested residents back and forth, offering neck braces and Advil to headbangers of all ages.

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