20-06-2015 Hellfest

Location: Clisson (France)
By: Sandra Nunes

Day 2 – 20.06.2015

Another day that promised to be complicated, I woke up tired and still went by the lunch time to the festival grounds, to know the sound of the Finnish Ghost Brigade in MainStage 2, they were playing with great effort under a scorching sun, I would prefer they could be scheduled to play at the Altar or the Temple, where their performance would gain a more intimate and less dislocated ambiance because they gave everything, even with the solar obstacle and problems in the sound.From the little bit I could see, I liked the performance of this band that I hope to continue to follow because they deserve more opportunities to show what they are worth.

Then I went to the refreshing shadows of the Press / VIP area where I was killing time for an event that aroused my curiosity, the press conference of Faith No More, whose return was one of the most anticipated at the festival. Mike Patton has been absent for some reason, only Bill Gould, Mike Bordin and Roddy Bottum appeared and were kind enough to answer the questions that were done by various journalists, the band is excited with the return to the stages and hopes to give its better on this tour and perhaps continue to do more albums, certainly the break helped them to reflect and to ponder well their return.

After the conference, it was time to remember my teenage years with the performance of irreverent and brilliant L7 in the Mainstage 2. Donita Sparks and company still have the power to kick some asses live since the old generations to the new ones, and no one was indifferent to the rock n’roll show of these ladies with class, “Pretend We’re Dead” was the highlight of the performance.

After the concert of L7, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators attacked the MainStage 1 and I realized that Myles would have been a better singer for Guns n’Roses than Axl Rose, but unfortunately time does not go back, great successes as “Nighttrain”, “You Could Be Mine “or even” Paradise City ” were brilliantly sang by Myles. Slash, in his turn, proves that he doesn’t need Guns’n’Roses to keep on adding success. His virtuous solos speak for themselves.

Time to review another band that generated controversy because of its leader and his speeches of all kinds, but maintains a loyal base of rap core metal followers. I’m referring to Body Count and obviously its leader, Ice-T, that smashed the Warzone stage from the first theme “Body Count’s In The House” ,and became unbearable to be there due to crowd surf in such a small area, and photographers had to jump the fence to reach the photo pit, so you are already having an idea about the proportions that this concert took. I immediately had to leave the place at the second theme because Warzone became a battlefield… its name says it all.

It was wonderful to see Zz Top in good shape in the MainStage 1 that gave a magnificent concert and put a large majority of metalheads dancing (!!!!) in the synthetic grass for an hour. “Gimme All Your Lovin ‘” – oh yeah, they truly did and spread happiness to those metalheads that have decided to check them out and to many families that came to see them. A great choice from the Hellfest promoters, without a doubt. Again, ” old are the rags.”

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The delirium arrived at the MainStage 2 with the arrival of the true headliners of the day, in my humble opinion, the great Faith No More, under a scenario covered with nice flowers and all the band members wearing white clothes as if they were leading some religious ceremony. But it was obviously Mike Patton the center of the attentions, he was all jokes “heavy metal, heavy merde, hellfest in heaven, fuck hellfest” and as he saw this castle with the burning tops from the bar area, “oh I see a castle in fire, hope everything is ok there”, the good interaction between the band is quite notorious and admirable. Mike still screams, growls, sings and whispers and is still charming and enchanting the ladies. It was with a lot of “Evidence” that Faith No More really got the audience on their hands and gave an “Epic” and “Easy” concert and I hope to see them again. Another great bid from the Hellfest promoters.

Then by 23 pm, the surprise of this day came in shape of a beautiful and amazing fireworks that made everyone stuck with eyes on the sky, celebrating in ecstasy, trying to capture every second of it, taking pictures, filming or even contemplating it, so it was the 10th edition of Hellfest and this couldn’t be certainly left in blank.

About 30 minutes later, I came back to the Temple and grabbed a good spot to see one of the pioneers of the extreme movement that originated the thrash/black metal, the almighty Venom, still setting the audience ablaze all the ways and with a new album in the luggage, “From The Very Depths”, it makes us travel through the time and relive all the mystic from the heavy 80s and that’s what the effect that Venom concert caused to all the proud fans, from new to old ones, in the front rows. Cronos and company simply conquered the Temple with their old and heavy/thrash blackened metal.

Kudos for the roadie that rescued 2 little boys and sat them on the stage side, they were watching the gig with their parents in the front, saving them from the crowd surfers.

Photo’s by Ozirith, Nicko Guihal and CSAOH

Links:
Hellfest Official