HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Hellfest (), also known as Hellfest Summer Open Air, is a
rock festival A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular eve ...
focusing on
heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a Music genre, genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal band ...
, held annually in June in
Clisson ''For other uses, see Clisson (disambiguation)'' Clisson (; Gallo: ''Cliczon'', ), is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department, in the region of Pays de la Loire, western France. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Sèvre Nan ...
, France. Its high attendance makes it the French music festival with the largest turnover. It is also one of the biggest metal festivals in Europe and the biggest to exist in France. It originated in another music festival, the Fury Fest, held from 2002 to 2005, in different areas of
Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; but can also mean 'Lower Loire') is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, located on the country's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital an ...
. Hellfest took over in 2006 and over the years has seen a continuous rise in visitors, from 22,000 in the first edition, to 55,000 tickets sold per day in 2017. In 2022, the seven-day festival featured 350 bands and was attended by 60,000 people per day. Its programming is primarily focused on
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
and metal on the two main stages, while each of the four other festival's stages are dedicated to more
extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...
, making the presence of a wide variety of groups possible.


Overview

The festival was the successor of Fury Fest, which was held in 2002 and 2003 in Clisson and
Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
respectively, and 2004 and 2005 in
Le Mans Le Mans (; ) is a Communes of France, city in Northwestern France on the Sarthe (river), Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the Provinces of France, province of Maine (province), Maine, it is now the capital of ...
.
Drakkar Productions Drakkar Productions is a French record label that has released many recordings of black metal bands throughout the world, on CD, cassette and vinyl. They have usually limited the prints to 1,000 copies or less, but some have been known to vary. ...
also hosted a yearly
black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...
festival titled "Drakkar Hellfest - Darkness and Hate" in 2000 and 2001 in southern France and held a third year in 2002 in the Netherlands. In June 2009, numerous groups concerned about the concert name asked the festival sponsors to disengage from Hellfest.
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
announced a few days later that they will no longer support the festival. In March 2010, two days before local elections, Prime Minister
François Fillon François Charles Amand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a French retired politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of The Republicans (previously known as the Union ...
and the leader of the MPF
Philippe de Villiers Philippe Marie Jean Joseph Le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon, known as Philippe de Villiers (; born 25 March 1949), is a French entrepreneur, politician and novelist.Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; but can also mean 'Lower Loire') is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, located on the country's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital an ...
. In front of 1,500 people Mr De Villiers reiterated his support for the candidate and attacked the metal music festival Hellfest: "Our values are not like those of the Regional Council (PS); to be funding a satanic festival!". The same month, former minister and leader of the Parti chrétien-démocrate Christine Boutin wrote to Kronenbourg asking them to stop supporting the festival. The 30 March, questioned by deputy
Patrick Roy Patrick Jacques Roy (; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, executive and former player who is the head coach for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Roy previously served as head coach for ...
, the minister
Frédéric Mitterrand Frédéric Mitterrand (21 August 1947 – 21 March 2024) was a French actor, screenwriter, producer, and politician who served as Minister of Culture and Communication of France from 2009 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. Early life ...
declared to the Assemblée Nationale that the detractors of the festival should calm down. During the 2011 edition an homage was paid to Patrick Roy who died two months before. On 9 June 2010, the AFC (Associations Familiales Catholiques) sued the Hellfest, asking them not to allow people under 18 years old to attend the festival and to give them the titles of the songs to be played during the 2010 edition. On 14 June, the judge refused their demand.


History


Early years

The first association was created in 2000 in Clisson as "CLS CREW", in order to organize concerts of hardcore and punk in the region of Nantes. The success of these concerts made it possible to launch the first festival in June 2002, named Fury Fest. It gathered 400 people to attend Agnostic Front in Clisson at the sports complex of Val-de-Moine. The festival continued the following years. It attracted 7,000 people to attend concerts of Sick of It All and Youth of Today (in) in 2003. The format changed to two days. Because no room was available in Clisson, the Hall of Trocardière (Rezé) hosted the second edition. The organization of the festival also changed: the "MAN.IN.FEST" association was created to take charge of the organization. In 2003, the festival had reached €30,000 in profit, allowing Benjamin Barbaud, one of the founders, to become an employee of the structure. In 2004, the festival moved to Le Mans and took place in the halls of the 24 Hours circuit where it attracted 21,000 spectators for bands such as Slipknot and Soulfly. After a deficit in 2004, the 2005 festival inherited liabilities so that the organizing team decided to give the rights of the festival to other promoters in order to focus on organization. This time 30,000 admissions were recorded at Le Mans over three days, as fans came to see acts such as Slayer, Motörhead and Anthrax, across three stages. But financial problems worsened, particularly with the disappearance of the promoters with €600,000 in receipts. These losses marked the end of the festival, at least temporarily. File:Hellfest2017 01.jpg, First entrance portal File:Hellfest2017 10.jpg, Overview File:Hellfest 2017 08.jpg, At night File:Hellfest2017DeepPurple 05.jpg,
Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...
show File:Hellfest2017Slayer 03.jpg,
Slayer Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them ...
show


Cancellations for 2020 and 2021 editions

On 8 April 2020, Benjamin Barbaud announced to
Ouest-France ''Ouest-France'' ( ; French for "West-France") is a daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on both local and national news. The paper is produced in 47 different editions covering events in different French départements within the régi ...
that the 2020 edition of the festival would be cancelled due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The festival organization announced on 9 April 2020 that they paid on 17 December 2019 to
Albingia Albingia is a French insurance company specializing in risk management, based in Levallois-Perret. Albingia is currently the only independent French insurance company specialized in Risk management. History Albingia was founded in 1901 in Ha ...
, their
insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...
, €175,000 for cancellation risks, including
pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...
risks, but that the company refused to pay for the cancellation. The contract was sold before the development of the pandemic in China. It was reported that representatives from Albingia were claiming that the contract did not cover the pandemic because "respiratory diseases were excluded from the contract". On the day after its cancellation, it was announced that Hellfest was rescheduled to 18–20 June 2021. On 19 February 2021, it was announced that Hellfest had once again been cancelled, due to "uncertainties about the health situation and the latest government regulations", and would be rescheduled to 2022.


References


External links


Official website

Pictures of Hellfest 2009
{{Coord, 47, 05, 45, N, 1, 16, 05, W, type:landmark_source:frwiki, display=title Music festivals in France Heavy metal festivals in France