Posted by Dylan Du Toit
30 June 2011
Live Concert Reviews
The little town of Clisson in western France has hosted the notorious Hellfest Open Air Festival every year since 2006.
The 2011 edition was the first time I attended, and I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but with a line-up including Rob Zombie, Scorpions, Black Label Society, Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to have one hell of a good time. I made the journey alone, but met an American couple and a bunch of crazy French metalheads who welcomed me to camp with them. While we all came from different backgrounds, countries and traditions, we were all brothers and sisters of heavy metal and not even the language barrier could keep us from becoming friends and partying hard.
The campsite, which only had a handful of scattered tents being pitched when I arrived, had turned into a labyrinth of thousands and thousands of tents by Thursday evening. Not too surprising considering Hellfest tickets were sold out weeks in advance and around 70,000 people were expected to attend!
The festival area consisted of two identical, large outdoor main stages standing side by side, as well as the Terrorizer and Rock Hard tents, various bars, food stalls and the Extreme Market. The main stages were smaller than I expected them to be, but the sound was MONSTROUSLY loud and crystal clear most of the time, so kudos to the sound crew for a job extremely well done!
The Terrorizer and Rock Hard tents also housed stages, albeit much smaller than the main stages. Still, the sound was excellent and I saw some great performances there. Several food stalls were located just outside the Terrorizer tent, and with the huge variety of meals available there was definitely something for everyone.
Metal merchandise galore could be found in the Extreme Market: CDs, vinyl, t-shirts, hats, sunglasses, boots, flags, posters, drinking horns, jewellery, badges, cloth patches, belts and buckles... you name it, it was there. If you had the time to browse carefully you could probably have gotten quite a few bargains.
Throughout Friday I saw many incredible bands like Dodheimsgard, Church Of Misery, Alter Bridge, Primordial, Karma To Burn, Vader, Meshuggah, Iggy And The Stooges and In Flames.
Of course, the main attraction for the evening was none other than Rob Zombie! It had been two decades since he last played in France, so his appearance at Hellfest was what you may refer to as a HUGE deal. The setlist was great and included songs from his days in White Zombie right up to his latest albums. The Rob Zombie performance was definitely one of the highlights of the festival.
On Saturday the likes of Crucified Barbara, Hammerfall, Municipal Waste, Thin Lizzy, Apocalyptica, Sodom, Black Label Society, Kreator and Triptykon took to the stage. Great performances by all of them! The headliner for the evening was the Scorpions. It’s embarrassing to admit, but the only song I really know from this legendary band is “Rock You Like A Hurricane”. Still, I enjoyed their showmanship and had a pretty awesome time even though I wasn’t too familiar with their music.
Sunday had the best line-up in my opinion, consisting of the likes of Turisas, Firewind, Anathema, Doro, Judas Priest, Therion and Opeth! The main attraction of the evening, and in fact of the whole festival, was the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne! The Ozzman was in top form and performed all the greatest hits from his solo career as well as his Black Sabbath years. Seeing one of the grandfathers of heavy metal live on stage for the first time was an experience I will treasure forever.
As the festival grounds emptied, many of us headed to the Metal Corner for the after party. DJs played classic heavy metal tunes to an enthusiastic crowd until the early hours of the morning. When the music - the one reason we were all there together at Hellfest - was turned off, a sea of drunken metalheads resorted to creating their own tunes by beating garbage cans like drums and stomping their feet on the wooden floors until security eventually convinced us to leave peacefully. The remaining hours until daybreak were spent talking, drinking, laughing and starting circle pits and walls of death between the tents.
Hellfest was undoubtedly one of the best festivals I have ever attended and I hope to return again someday.
I have also totally enjoyed interviewing all these great bands such as Apocalyptica, Turisas, Alter Bridge, Thin Lizzy, Firewind and Opeth, so don’t forget to
listen to these, they are amazing.
Please also check out the full
Hellfest photo gallery.
Dylan Du Toit
Comments