FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Hellfest Open Air 2019

Ahh, France. It has the city of love in Paris, the football World Cup safely for another year and a half and, as made famous in a quote by historic leader Charles De Gaulle, 246 different types of cheese. But this article isn’t about the tourist attractions and cuisine of this fantastic country – it’s about the ooh-la-laarrrrgh and the sacre bleugh of Hellfest Open Air, the country’s biggest rock and metal festival. Every year on the third weekend of June, the peace and calm of Clisson in the southwest is shattered as tens of thousands of rockers, punks and metalheads make their way through the town for three days of loud, lairy music and copious amounts of beer.

For the first time ever, Distorted Sound will be hopping across the English Channel to cover the festival in all its glory, and this is just a sneak preview of what can be expected at the French pantheon of the metal gods not just for this year’s edition, but also as an enticing hand for you, dear reader, to potentially look at booking yourself a small excursion there next year. Let’s get stuck in.

The layout

Unlike the major festivals in the UK, Hellfest is a purpose-built site with fixed stages and grounds; it’s even a landmark on Google Maps. This means changes to the arena, merch village and campsites are virtually non-existent, save for the odd boundary move if necessary. It might not seem like much, but humans are wired to be more comfortable in familiar surroundings and if they can come back to a place year on year with very little in the way of relocation, it gives it a far more homely atmosphere. As an added bonus, even if you camp in the furthest tent away from the arena, you’re never looking at more than a 15 minute walk to the stages, which makes the trek from some of the outer campsites at Download to the bands look like a full marathon.

The stages

There are six stages at Hellfest – Main Stage 1 and 2, The Altar, The Temple, The Valley and The Warzone. Whilst both main stages are diverse in their lineups and can showcase a whole plethora of genres, the remaining four are more specific in terms of the acts that feature on them. The Altar and The Temple house bands who lean towards the more extreme end of things, particularly black and death metal. The Valley is the place for doom, stoner and desert rock, while The Warzone centres itself around punk, hardcore and crust. Each stage is paired with another and their band times are staggered, so there’s only ever a five to ten minute wait between one band finishing and the other beginning. In the case of the Altar and Temple, this involves two stages at either ends of a massive tent, so if you want to stay there all day, simply plonk yourself in the middle of the two and turn around every so often.

The cherry on the cake is that the six stages stagger in a unified three-on, three-off system, meaning that whenever a punter walks into the main arena, they have at least three bands to choose from to see. To add even more sparkle, the bands start at 10:30am and don’t finish until 2:05am the following day; that’s fifteen-and-a-half hours of continuous live music, which is something that no UK festival could ever hope to achieve.

The bands

The main headliners this year are MANOWAR, KISS and TOOL, with the latter’s fellow Download headliners DEF LEPPARD taking the main support role to KISS on the Saturday night. However, it’s on other points at the bill that things get more interesting. Main Stage 2 on Friday is branded ‘100% French’ and lives up to its name, with seven bands playing home country shows and topped off by the mighty GOJIRA. The same stage on Sunday is dubbed ‘100% thrash and features SLAYER’s last ever French show along with the likes of ANTHRAX, LAMB OF GOD and Testament. Elsewhere, there’s the likes of CAVE IN on Saturday at The Valley, MYRKUR bringing her Folkesange to the Temple on the same day, the classic rock vibes of LYNYRD SKYNYRD on Sunday and the demonic shrieks of KING DIAMOND on the Friday. However, this year, there’s an extra special bonus…

Knotfest

For the first time ever, the Thursday of Hellfest – usually the first day to camp, set up and drink beer – has been dubbed ‘Knotfest meets Hellfest’ and sees SLIPKNOT take over the site for their first show there since 2015. They’re bringing bands like ROB ZOMBIE, SABATON and BEHEMOTH with them and it’s going to put the rest of the festival on notice, particularly given the Iowa juggernaut’s sensational show at Download Festival last weekend. It’s going to be the most hellish party on Earth – and that makes it all the more fun.

Merch, Food, Beer

Hellfest is a fully cashless festival which, as its capacity is around 60,000, so is much more manageable than others who have attempted it in the past; it can be topped up via the mobile app. Prices are generally around the same as UK festivals, although obviously in Euros as opposed to Sterling, and there is a specialised food court with plenty of benches and seated areas. Beer isn’t served in pints but thirds and two thirds of a litre or – if you’re feeling a bit extra – you can get a litre and a half jug of the stuff instead. Bottoms up!

Weather

Given that Hellfest goes on over the longest weekend of the year in terms of sunlight and it’s in the south west of France, the weather is usually rather favourable. This year is no exception, with temperatures looking to hit the late 20’s and not a drop of rain in site until the Monday. If that isn’t enough reason to go, then who knows what is?

The Price

If all of the above is making you think ‘Yeah, I might attend Hellfest from 2020’, then you’ll want to know prices. Generally speaking, if you’ve done something like Download or Sonisphere in the past, the price is very similar, however you’ll have to factor in travel on the top of that. Additionally, tickets sell out VERY quickly – you’ll have to keep your eye on the release dates and save accordingly, because they won’t be around forever!

Hellfest takes place from June 21st – 23rd in Clisson, France, with Knotfest Meets Hellfest taking place on June 20th.

For more information on Hellfest like their official page on Facebook.