Since 2006 in Clisson, France, a tremendous event has been celebrated that some have called “the Disneyland of metal” with complete justice. Dozens of bands -consecrated or on the rise- come together at the macro festival, combining various genres, including metal, hardcore, punk, and hard rock.
It is an authentic city where thousands of fans from many countries camp for several days. The previous edition, being a post-pandemic resumption, lasted seven days — a whole week of pure metal.
Clisson is a small town located in northwest France, about 30 minutes from Nantes by train and a little less if you go by car. On the way, we didn’t see anything unusual beyond the many advertisements at the Nantes train station and, curiously, an improvised sign at boarding gates 8 and 9: “Hellfest this way.” It was handy since I didn’t have to look at the screens to know my gate.
After a relatively calm and silent trip, the arrival at Clisson clearly showed that something was happening: many people walking through the streets with the respective metal clothing, shirts alluding to rock bands, some people disguised as things ranging from Pikachu to some ‘natives’ with plumage on their heads.
There were indications everywhere of where you should go to take the bus that brought you to the festival, showing your respective ticket. It is very organized from the beginning, with no lines of more than 4 or 5 people, and extremely fast.
Also, if you couldn’t wait, some individuals would bring you to the site for only 3 euros. Rock was already in the air, so much so that even though there was no background music at the station exit, you could almost hear classic tunes from Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, or Iron Maiden in the background (or maybe someone was listening to a song through a speaker, who knows).
Upon arrival, the scene at the entrance was already impressive; as some French journalists would say, it seemed that you were arriving at a Disney amusement park but for rockers, metalheads, and punks.
Everywhere you looked, there were skull sculptures, the Hellfest “H” branding all over the place of all sizes and colors, a giant arched entrance, and decorations to take your picture and let everyone know you made it to the place where several of the greatest rock bands in the world are going to play.
Once you passed the entrance, you found yourself in a city with stores with all kinds of themes alluding to rock, records and vinyl, Rock T-shirts, sunglasses, musical instruments, and even a Nuclear Blast record store where several bands like Testament, Venom and Municipal Waste would be signing autographs.
Also, of course, the bars and restaurants where beer was the main offering. In front of one of the stands is a “scream” competition with a screen measuring the decibels in which you could win prizes.
The first time I went there, hearing someone yelling into a microphone was bizarre for no apparent reason. A few hours later, inside the festival, you get used to hearing a scream every three minutes when you pass near there.
Right next to the “screamers,” a custom sunglasses shop improvised a stage where you could go up, take the instrument you wanted, and play the song you wanted, alone or with others who wanted to join.
I was able to sing a couple of Pantera songs and join two more musicians on drums to play “Smoke on the Water.” I’m pretty basic on drums, but I enjoyed it a lot.
You kept going and saw the grand entrance to the stages and another longer path to the campsite.
Within this road, there were showers for which you had to pay a total of 6 euros for the four days (quite reasonable if you ask me), water points, lockers, more food and drink shops, recycling stalls where they distributed garbage bags for each person who wanted it and even “solidarity” breakfast stalls where for just two euros you could buy the classic french “croissant” and a coffee to start your day.
In the camping area, we had a “VIP” place reserved in advance on the website, in which attendees had their showers, lockers, and even trailers that they could rent depending on the size of the family group, from 2 to 8 people per trailer.
Having a limited capacity, a few days after the festival pre-sale opened, these spaces were sold out so the rest of the attendees could have one of the typical camping places that the festival has.
The 5-hectare plot of land where the Hellfest takes place belongs to the company and its founders, Ben Barbaud and Yoann Le Nevé, both from Clisson. It has six areas distributed by color for camping, so you can easily find your tent after the shows.
Once the doors were opened for those privileged people with press credentials like myself (yay), we could see all the surroundings and the organization before the general public entered.
Two main stages next to each other, of epic proportions and with sound towers and three giant screens that reached at least 20 meters in height, two more miniature stages for the bands and more “extreme” tastes called curiously, “The Temple” and “The Altar.”
Large structures distributed throughout the field where we could find toilets, first aid tents, a “bank” where people could recharge their bracelets to avoid receiving or paying with cash in the internal establishments of the festival, and in the middle, two giant showers for those who they would like to cool off a bit from the French summer heat and a food fair for when the hunger could not be held no matter how much you wanted to keep seeing all the bands live.
From all the structures and the walls around the arena, flames of fire were coming out every 30 or 45 seconds for 24 hours, all four days that the event lasted.
After you passed the food fair, you arrived at the area of the other two stages for a total of 6: the “War Zone,” dedicated to thrash-style bands and where the “mosh pit” was the norm, and another called “Valley” for the most conceptual and “underground” bands.
In this area, you can also see a massive sculpture in honor of Lemmy Kilmister from Mötorhead — very metal.
The line-up was impressive. Legendary bands like KISS, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and Mötley Crue caused the logical excitement of the case. However, there was so much more.
Black Flag, Melvins, Alter Bridge, Hollywood Vampires (with Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Johnny Depp), Generation Sex (with Billy Idol and various punk legends), Rancid, Porcupine Tree, Papa Roach, Pantera’s clever alternate line-up, among many others.
The truth was there was nothing you could take away or add to this majestic installment of Hellfest in its 16 years.
The bands started playing at 5:15 pm, much later than they would during the next three days, in which rock started playing at almost 10 am.
(June 15. Day 1): Billy Idol, Hollywood Vampires and KISS
start a festival for the history books.
The bands Code Orange, Coheed and Cambria and I Prevail were in charge of making way for the heavyweights of the day: Billy Idol and Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) with their Generation Sex, In Flames, Parkway Drive, Hollywood Vampires and KISS.
Generation Sex: A ’70s Punk Fan’s Dream Come True
I never thought I would see something like the Sex Pistols live, nor would I see anything like Generation X. Billy Idol, Steve Jones, Tony James, and Paul Cook gave us both in one show: Generation Sex.
Two musicians from each band do a typical punk show but for thousands of people instead of a small London pub: mocking, sexy, rebellious, loud, and above all, pure fun.
After opening with the soundtrack of Kubrick’s classic “A Clockwork Orange,” they played several classic Sex Pistols songs such as “Pretty Vacant,” “Black Leather,” and “God Save the Queen” that made everyone jump and others like the super classic “Dancing With Myself” with which we all danced and sung.
They ended with an exciting punk version of “My Way,” popularized by Frank Sinatra, creating the perfect atmosphere for what would come next.
Hollywood Vampires: exquisite hard rock and the usually transgressive Alice Cooper
After a thrilling performance of In Flames, came the “horror show” of the Hollywood Vampires, the supergroup consisting of the great Alice Cooper, a happy-go-lucky Johnny Depp, and the always flashy Joe Perry of Aerosmith.
Kicking off with “I Want My Now,” Hollywood Vampires literally dragged the slightly scattered audience onto the stage to sing and jump with a scene reminiscent of the greatest moments in hard rock history.
Cooper dancing as we are used to, Perry with the typical hard rock solos in blues scales, and an always charismatic Depp who generated collective hysteria every time he approached the audience gave us an exceptional show.
There was no shortage of covers such as David Bowie’s “Heroes” in the voice of Johnny Depp, “Baba O’Riley” by The Who, “People Who Died” by The Jim Carroll Band, and also classic Alice Cooper songs like “I’m Eighteen,” which the entire audience chanted from start to finish.
Hollywood Vampires offers the quintessential hard rock concert, guitar solos, histrionics, fun, alcohol and transgressive lyrics. A show to remember and a perfect appetizer for KISS.
KISS: Historic Farewell Show at HellFest
Some time ago a friend who usually goes to concerts and festivals told me jokingly, but in all seriousness: “Out of the ten best shows I’ve been to, seven of them were KISS shows.” At the time we laughed, but also knew that he was right.
The guitar began to play, the mythical curtain with the huge logo of the band fell, and KISS started with their classic “Detroit Rock City”… Nothing else mattered that day.
Hellfest attendees returned home with memories of the masks, makeup, fire, and lights — pyrotechnics typical of the KISS of a lifetime.
The band also covered the classics, including: “Shout it Out Loud,” “Deuce,” “Calling Doctor Love,” “I Love It Loud,” “Lick It Up,” “Love Gun,” “Beth,” “I Was Made For Loving You,” and of course the closing with “Rock and Roll All Night.”
50-foot-tall inflatables of the four KISS members graced the stage as the heat of fireworks and explosions blared through every song.
An incredible Paul Stanley who manages the audience at will, the always dangerous Gene Simmons demonstrating that he can still “spit blood” during “God of Thunder,” making the audience scream in ecstasy.
Tommy Tayer impeccable on guitar, and the hilarious Eric Singer, who almost at the end performed only the famous ballad “Beth” on a piano covered with shiny mirrors, made the KISS show a simply unforgettable show.
And we are watching their last shows! In his monologues, Stanley reminded the audience that it was the last time they were coming to HellFest, which they had already participated in several times, and affectionately said that he would never forget this audience, even having the courtesy to say a few words in French, drawing applause from everyone.
This being the case, we witnessed a historic event that will remain marked in the memory of those of us who were there and in the rock history books as one of the last massive shows of a music legend such as KISS.
This was the summary of Hellfest 2023, day one; I will publish the rest during the following days, so stay tuned!
BTW: The look of Hellfest is much more impressive by night; here’s proof:
