Hellfest review

honru

"Extreme music festival" held last weekend in western France. 2011 was my first year and it was absolutely fantastic, highly recommended if the lineup is your thing.

Usually when you come back from festivals there's a long list of aspects you feel the organisers could improve on, but Hellfest had a lot of things checked in my book. I love the way the two outdoor stages were placed side-by-side, with bands rotating between them. The two tents weren't too far away either. Compare that to Download, where you're walking miles to get from stage to stage. Hellfest was so much more compact in comparison. Campsite was very close by too.

One of the only bummers was that the bars ran out of pitchers on Sunday. Also: not the easiest festival to get to, compared to the multitude of festivals in Belgium where you simply hop on a train and voila. Hopefully Ryanair will have a more accommodating flight schedule in the future as they do fly to the nearby city of Nantes from Dublin.

So, the headliners: The Stooges got a great reception, but I was disappointed that the "stage invasion" during No Fun seems to have been retired. Iggy's showing a bit more sag than usual! Rob Zombie was great, had loads of energy, feel bad for the folks burnt from the cancelled Dublin gig. Scorpions were OK, they won me with the drum solo, but I'm not a fan of their singer. Maybe he's lost the vocal chops with age? Judas Priest were fantastic although I was hoping for a longer set. And, while he's a very good at what he does and put a lot of energy in to his performance, I found it hard to adjust to the new guitarist. I mean, he's more than half the age of "elder" guitarist Glenn Tipton. A huge blow that K.K. Downing left before the tour, but that's the way it goes. And finally, Ozzy, great setlist, but I definitely feel that Ozzy's getting too senile for the live stage. Almost like all the drugs he's done has added ten years to his life, because sometimes it felt like watching the ramblings of a man in his 70s or 80s, and Ozzy's in his early 60s.

Other highlights: Maximum the Hormone, The Cult, The Exploited, Meshuggah, Deez Nuts, Coroner, The Haunted, Athiest, The Ocean, Kyuss Lives!...

So I'd definitely make return to Clisson or wherever in the future... just fingers crossed that, now that the festival is selling out in advance, it doesn't "jump the shark" next year, especially with the location changing.

--LOS--

nice review there, good to know they have better organisational skills than your typical uk festival, unfortunately only heard about this when it was already sold out. Mind telling me how exactly you got there?

Mushy

Definitely a festival that interests me. Wouldve loved to see Clutch, but im just desperate for them now. Kyuss lives wouldve been incredible.

honru

Flew from Dublin to Paris-Beauvais, airport bus to Paris, metro from west to the east of the city, festival bus directly to the site in Clisson. The festival bus left on Friday at about half 2 in the morning (the one and only departure) and arrived at the festival site six hours later... yeah, it really took that long. And it was an uncomfortable mofo too, like barely any legroom. Decided to skip sleep on arrival as music started at 10am... made it through the day with coffee before moving to beer later on but was really feeling the deprivation as the night hit. The festival bus then left the festival at half 3 in the morning for Paris once the music on Sunday had finished.

I dug Clutch, Mushy, though the tent was quite full for them. I spent a lot of time in the Terrorizer tent.

NIBBS

Yeah Mushy, Clutch are definitely a band you should catch live, have a great groove about them.......

great line up this year freak - would kill to have caught Coroner.......must try and get to Bloodstock